Talks with GAM must be intensified: House leaders
Talks with GAM must be intensified: House leaders
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
To avoid more bloodshed following the killing of military
commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) Tengku Abdullah
Syafi'ie, the House of Representatives (DPR) urged the government
on Thursday to intensify dialog with the insurgents and resolve
the Aceh question through peaceful means.
House members, however, emphasized that secessionist movements
should be dealt with by military means.
"After the killing of Syafi'ie, dialog (with GAM members) is
worth pursuing," said Ibrahim Ambong, chairman of House
Commission I, which oversees foreign affairs and defense issues.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung commended the Indonesian military
on Thursday for killing Aceh insurgent military commander
Syafe'ie, saying it (the killing) had been carried out to defend
the country's sovereignty.
"We congratulate the military for its tough measures against
those trying to secede from Indonesia," Akbar said.
Syafi'ie, his wife Fatimah and six insurgent members,
presumably Syafi'ie's guards, were killed in a shoot-out with
military personnel at Cubo, Pidie regency, Aceh on Tuesday
morning.
His death will likely be a serious blow to the proindependence
movement, which has been under severe military pressure since
President Megawati Soekarnoputri ordered a crackdown shortly
after assuming office in July.
The rebel movement was launched in 1975 after years of
military abuses in the region. Since then, thousands of people
have been killed, including at least 1,400 last year and about
100 in the first weeks of this year.
Akbar expressed the hope that Syafi'ie's shooting would not
affect efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Aceh issue.
Meanwhile, Aceh Civilian Task Force Chairman Imam Syuja'
expressed regrets on Thursday over the killing of Syafi'ie,
saying his death would worsen the situation in the province.
"Efforts to resolve the Aceh question through dialog are now
in jeopardy," Imam Syuja' told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Imam Syuja' was elected chairman of the Aceh Civilian Task
Force, set up to articulate the interests of civilian Acehnese at
a meeting attended by, among others, Aceh deputy governor and
representatives of GAM in exile, in Washington in mid-2001.
Chairman of Aceh security monitoring team Muhammad Daim said
dialog on the Aceh issue now depended on the Acehnese themselves.
"If the people still want to resolve the conflict through
peaceful means, namely dialog, the killing of Tengku Abdullah
Syafi'ie would not hamper the dialog processes," he said.
He said his team was still trying to fathom the aspirations of
the Acehnese people after Syafi'ie's shooting.
"Tomorrow, we shall visit Pidie, Bireuen and North Aceh," he
told the Post.
Akbar also hailed the government's move to revive the Iskandar
Muda military command in Banda Aceh, the capital of Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam.
"The revival of the Iskandar Muda military command will
reinforce TNI's strength in Aceh," he said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda said,
after a hearing with House Commission I on Thursday, that the
government would pursue peaceful solutions to the Aceh question
by holding dialog with the separatists.
He said a third party could mediate the peace talks as neither
Jakarta nor GAM trusted each other.
"The third party, either a facilitator or mediator, could be
individuals or institutions," said Hassan in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to Hassan, the next peace talks with the separatist
group would be aimed at finding out if the separatists would
accept special autonomy status for Aceh.
He refused to specify the time or name of the government
representatives at the dialog.
However, he said that the government would wait initially for
the reaction from the separatist group to the killing of its
military commander.