'Winning the hearts of Acehnese key to peace'

'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.