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.