'Winning the hearts of Acehnese key to peace'
Annastashya Emmanuelle and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Aceh conflict can't be resolved instantly but winning the hearts of the Acehnese by respecting their rights to live in peace could be a starting point, Indonesian chief negotiator said on Tuesday.
"We need to respect people, a human being is God's creature, we must respect its life because the right to live is the first fundamental right and we must not violate it," Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, the Indonesian government's chief negotiator in talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said in an interview with The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Wiryono has just returned from the May 8 to May 9 peace talks with GAM in Geneva, Switzerland, in which GAM accepted the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam special autonomy law as a starting point for an all-inclusive dialog.
The dialog, scheduled for between 2003 and 2004, will involve all elements of Acehnese society and will be facilitated by the Henry Dunant Center. The next peace talks, as agreed last year, would take place in Aceh in one or two months.
Wiryono, however, said that any further dialog could only proceed in a stable and peaceful atmosphere.
"In any situation of conflict the first step is to cease the hostilities (by both sides). The government must now act more generously ... to win without humiliating because what we want is to win the hearts and minds of the Aceh people," he said.
The negotiation could only bring results if there was solid coordination between the relevant departments as the team's main task was to reach the most visible agreement, he said.
"I can negotiate the agreement but the implementation has to be by different departments ... we need the support of every single Indonesian for this effort and to bring peace to the people of Aceh.
"Including the military because the military has been playing an important role, both negatively and positively ... that's why they need to reform," Wiryono told the Post at his office.
Earlier, at the office of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Wiryono said that the government had considered reducing the number of troops deployed in Aceh.
"It is impossible for the government to allow any security disturbances to take place in the country. But in lieu of the agreement, the government will consider to stop sending more troops to Aceh province, or even plan to reduce the existing troops deployed there," Wiryono told a press conference after a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Currently, there are more than 21,000 troops in Aceh, backing up thousands of policemen. The total number is almost the equivalent of an entire regional military command.
Susilo said the government would evaluate a number of presidential decrees that stipulated the deployment of troops in Aceh following the peace talks.
At least three decrees issued within the last two years dealt with troop deployment in the restive province.
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that security operations were still needed in the province as "the government is obliged to protect its people."
He said that the cutbacks of security personnel in Aceh "will be held in separate discussions."
Armed Forces Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. refused to give any comment on whether or not the military would withdraw its troops from Aceh.