Thousands to hold prayer for lasting peace

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

As the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are expected to sign a peace deal in Helsinki on Aug. 15, the Acehnese kneel for two days of prayers beginning on Sunday, invoking lasting peace in the land where decades of armed struggle for independence in the resource-rich province has killed over 15,000 people.

No less than 60 tents to accommodate some 15,000 Acehnese have been erected inside the compound of Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Charismatic Acehnese Muslim leader, Tgk. Djamaluddin Waly, will lead the mass prayer.

Giant screens have been installed inside the mosque to allow the Acehnese to witness the signing of the peace agreement, which will be held at around 9 a.m. local time, to be aired by a private TV station.

"I heard about the peace deal which has been reached between the government and the GAM leadership from the newspapers and television, but I don't really know the content of the peace pact. Well, if it is true, I feel good that we can live in peace," said Hafnisah, who teaches at an elementary school in Krueng Raya area.

"We have suffered because of the tsunami, now we just need to live without conflict," she added.

The peace pact will be signed by Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin representing the Indonesian government and self-styled prime minister Malik Mahmood representing the GAM leadership.

Facilitated by the Finnish-based Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), a series of peace talks between the government and GAM, which started in January, were made possible only after the tsunami hit the province on Dec. 26, killing over 130,000 people.

The peace pact grants greater autonomy for the Acehnese to manage their own political and economic affairs. It also arranges for a pardon for GAM members and other political prisoners. Under the pact the government will withdraw a large number of its troops and police personnel from non-local units.

In return, GAM agreed to drop its independence demand for the province and surrender its weapons.

Both sides have agreed to invite representatives from EU and ASEAN countries to monitor the implementation of the peace deal in the field.

Meanwhile, about 50 members of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) have arrived in Banda Aceh and set up an office on Jl. Lorong Gembira.

The monitoring team, comprising 150 EU representatives and 100 ASEAN representatives plans to set up more than 10 posts across the province.

Chairman of the monitoring team, Pieter Feith of the Netherlands, will arrive on Sunday (today), and plans to prepare the peace mission program in detail in line with their mandate "to show the team's commitment to the conflict resolution in Aceh".

Separately, the police have begun to withdraw their personnel from non-local units deployed in several regencies in Aceh on Saturday in support of the peace process in Aceh.

Two batches of a total of 708 policemen left from Malahayati port in Aceh Besar and Krueng Geukueh in Lhokseumawe regencies for Medan aboard the KRI Teluk Saleh.

"I'm glad that we can finally go home. I'm glad to be alive and happy that I will meet my wife again, and that the peace agreement has been reached," Adhie, a low-ranking police officer from South Sulawesi who has been assigned in Aceh Besar regency for about six months, told The Jakarta Post.

Adhie is among a total of 12,000 police personnel from units outside Aceh who have been deployed in Aceh since President Megawati Soekarnoputri imposed martial law across the province in May 2003 and declared war against the separatist rebels.