Tokyo meeting doomed to fail from the start

Tokyo meeting doomed to fail from the start

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was almost midnight in Tokyo when Indonesia's chief
negotiator, Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, waited inside a holding room
at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office for
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders to reply to the third draft of
the joint statement to salvage peace in the province.

Wiryono was with the rest of the Indonesian delegation when an
official from peace broker the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) came in
and asked him how long he would wait for an answer.

"Until hell freezes over," Wiryono answered, pensively.

At home, thousands of miles away, Indonesian Military (TNI)
troops in Aceh were ready for an order to fire from their chief,
Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, who was in Medan to inspect his troops'
preparations for the operation.

A few minutes before midnight, GAM flatly rejected the draft
statement, prompting Jakarta to declare martial law in Aceh and a
full-blown military operation there.

The result of the dialog was something of a foregone
conclusion.

An HDC official said that, soon after the meeting, it was
difficult to reach a deal, as the Indonesian government had
proposed additional terms that GAM was unlikely to comply with.

"The government put forward additional conditions. It made any
discussion or dialog impossible," HDC spokesman Andy Andrea said,
as quoted by Reuters.

"The only reference to acceptance of the autonomy law was a
starting point (of negotiation)," he said.

The draft proposed by Jakarta made it impossible for the peace
deal to come through, as it simply demanded the dissolution of
GAM.

Without questioning the Indonesian government's right to
defend its territorial integrity, it simply made no sense to
expect a 27-year-old separatist movement to give up, just like
that, as soon as the government asked it to do so.

The draft statement was changed three times before the peace
talks finally broke down.

The initial draft statements obtained by The Jakarta Post
suggested that both sides agreed "GAM fully accepts special
autonomy within the framework of the Unitary State of Indonesia
and consequently agrees not to seek independence for Aceh."

It also stressed, "GAM commits itself to handing over
immediately its weapons, ammunitions and ordinance and to
completing the process by July 9, 2003."

To put further pressure on GAM, Coordinating Minister for
Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in
Jakarta that a military operation would commence if GAM refused
to accept the conditions.

After almost seven hours of discussion, GAM came up with its
rejection of the five-point draft, refusing to mention the
acceptance of special autonomy in its proposed draft.

"GAM is committed to dropping the armed struggle ... (and)
within the context of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement
(COHA), will refrain from advocating independence."

The separatist movement also stated that it would agree to lay
down its arms only if Indonesian troops reciprocally shifted
their position to one of defense.

Answering the second draft, the Indonesian delegation returned
it to the GAM delegation, reiterating its demand for GAM to give
up the independence bid and disband its paramilitary.

"In this regard, GAM is committed to dropping the armed
struggle, to disbanding the "Tentra Negeura Atjeh" (the
paramilitary) and to participating in the political process, as
stipulated in the COHA."

It was the third draft that GAM flatly rejected.

Malik Mahmud, who lives in exile, was quoted by Reuters as
saying that his supporters in Aceh would go on fighting "forever,
as (long as) the Acehnese people exist".

"We have been fighting Indonesia for 27 years ... we are
confident that we shall be able to resist it. We have to claim
back what it has stolen from us. It is the robber and we have to
demand the return of the property that it has taken -- with
interest," Malik said.

As the two sides refused to back down on their stance with
regard to the independence issue, war began and inflicted more
suffering on Aceh's population of four million.

Before his return to Bangkok, head of the international
monitoring team of the Aceh peace deal Thai Maj. Gen. Tanongsuk
Tuvinum expressed the hope of all that peace be maintained for
the sake of the Aceh people.

"I think they (the Acehnese) deserve much better, because they
have suffered for too long, and too much," he said.