Talks with GAM again?

Talks with GAM again?

Minister of Defense Mahfud MD announced on June 15, 2001 that
Indonesia would send Coordinating Minister for Political, Social
and Security Affairs Agum Gumelar to peace talks between the
government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Geneva (The
Jakarta Post, June 16, 2001).

In my opinion, this is a wrong step and the only result will
be to boost the morale of GAM, which is now in a difficult
military position. This is due to the military action conducted
by the combined forces of the police and the military (TNI), as
well as the increasing support of the population for the security
forces. Even now GAM is becoming increasingly brutal and very
aggressive and destructive, causing human and material losses to
TNI and the police, and the people at large.

For TNI this kind of settlement of a rebellion through
negotiation is actually unacceptable, because they are not used
to it. The policy of previous governments was clear and tough, as
there was no compromise with violators of the law.

Public opinion at present is that the government lacks the
courage to act in accordance with the constitution, even when the
President has stated clearly that he will spare no effort in
defending the Constitution and maintaining national unity, even
if it costs him his life (what if it costs him his presidency?).

Slowing down the military operation by restarting talks will
create a suspicion that there is some ulterior motive, especially
when we take into consideration the political situation and the
effort by the President to create an atmosphere conducive to his
plan to stay in place until 2004. If the President is serious in
defending the 1945 Constitution, then he should order the army or
police to arrest those people who want to become independent and
to separate from the unitary republic of Indonesia.

I hope the government stops these talks because after so many
talks, moratoriums and establishment of peace zones, no
improvement has yet been achieved. Fortunately, military
operations to establish law and order have begun to show some
success. If the government insists on continuing talks, don't
send a foreign ministry official, but one from the Ministry of
Home Affairs, because GAM is an internal matter. Better still if
we send a military officer to lead the team. This is to show to
the GAM that the talks are not between two equal political
entities, but a government and an internal rebel group.

The government should pay more attention to the fate of the
nation as a whole rather than the interests of political parties,
let alone ambitious politicians.

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