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Aceh: Jakarta whistles the same old
tune
By Kafil Yamin and Andi Asrun
JAKARTA - The Indonesian government's latest
ultimatum on Aceh - that rebels give up their
independence demands by December - is strong on military
threats but weak on genuine efforts to address Acehnese
restiveness that has built up over the years, critics
say.
The announcement, made on Monday by
Coordinating Minister for Social, Political and Security
Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, comes after weeks of
waiting for a decision by the Indonesian government on
how it was going to address the 26-year-old quest for
independence by Aceh province.
Before that, talk
was rife that the government of President Megawati
Sukarnoputri was considering martial or emergency rule
in the resource-rich province, home to some of
Indonesia's biggest natural-gas projects. In June, the
government began calling the Aceh separatists
"terrorists".
Earlier this month, Megawati said
her government would soon quell the rebellion in Aceh,
which lies at the northern trip of Sumatra island.
Monday's announcement did not impose an outright,
immediate military solution. But the signals it sends
are no less that.
Jakarta's setting of the
deadline - it says Acehnese must start talks accepting
special autonomy by the end of the Muslim fasting month
of Ramadan on December 7 - has prompted some rights
activists to say the only solution may lie in a popular
referendum on Aceh's fate.
"The only solution
for Aceh is ask the Acehnese what they want through
referendum. So far, the government has only held talks
with the Acehnese leaders, either rebel leaders in Aceh
or the Free Aceh Movement," said Gazi Yousof, a member
of the Independent Committee for Aceh.
Yousof
said it is time to go straight to the 4.5 million people
of Aceh. The Megawati government, however, would be
against a referendum, fearing a repeat of East Timor's
separation from Indonesia after a 1999 vote.
Most of the attempts at dialogue between Jakarta
and leaders of the Free Aceh Movement, the last round of
which took place in Switzerland in May, failed because
the guerrillas and the Indonesian armed forces could not
arrive at a ceasefire in Aceh.
Many say the
civilian government should take the lead in seeking a
lasting solution to the troubles in Aceh, where some
10,000 people have been killed since the rebellion in
1976. More than 800 people have been killed so far this
year, amid a recent increase in clashes between rebels
and soldiers. Politicians and analysts agree that
Indonesia's central government has not even addressed
one of Acehnese main, legitimate concerns - human-rights
abuses that peaked during military operations from
1989-98 that remain unresolved.
"The government
has not done enough in dragging rights violators into
court. This is the essential issue to convince the Aceh
people that the government is serious in finding a
solution," said Sutardjo Surjoguritno, House co-Speaker
from the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle,
Megawati's party.
"Taking the culprits of
human-rights violations during the period of the
Military Operation Territory is the entry point [to a
solution]. Without this entry point, it will be hard for
the government to initiate and intensity dialogue with
Aceh's people," said Kusnanto Anggoro, a military expert
at the University of Indonesia.
There have been
some attempts in the past to bring to trial some
soldiers accused of rights violations in Aceh, but there
has been little movement on that so far.
Politicians such as Agus Widjojo, vice chairman
of the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's
highest legislative body, expressed frustration that the
Megawati government did not seem to be pursuing any
other approach than a military one. In fact, he said,
the government has not implemented the instructions
given by the assembly, known by its Indonesian acronym
MPR, about Aceh.
The MPR's annual session this
month issued 10 recommendations on Aceh. Apart from
calling for continued dialogue with the Free Aceh
Movement and Acehnese, it strongly asked the government
to pursue cases against rights violators in Aceh.
Widjojo pointed out that security measures, in fact,
made up only 15 percent of the MPR's recommendations.
"But it's the military who reacted faster in
their job [exploring military solutions], while civilian
ministers have been so slow in taking their roles [in
pursuing a wider solution]. This partly reflects the
weakness of civilian officials," he said.
The
private Central Information Referendum Aceh (SIRA) also
urged the government and rebels to continue peace talks.
"Increasing military operations will only make people
more suffer, who are already living in a fear and poor
conditions," said Syaiful, a spokesman for SIRA.
A key reason for the lack of progress on Aceh in
the post-Suharto period is the central government's view
of the issue as a problem only with the separatist
guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement, known by its local
acronym GAM.
"Conflicts in Aceh are not only
triggered by GAM. They come from the public feeling of
distrust, injustice and traumatic experiences. Instead
of issuing an ultimatum to GAM, it would be much better
for the government to see first whether it has done what
it has been recommended to do by the MPR and the House
of Representatives," said said Johnson Panjaitan,
secretary general of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Association.
So far, the autonomy offer from
Jakarta includes control over part of the revenues from
the region's natural resources - a cause of Aceh's
resentment over the decades. Separatists say that wile
the central government benefits from the revenues Aceh
bring - including from the US-based Mobil Oil Corp's
liquefied-natural-gas operations in Arun, northern Aceh
- these have left the province desperately
poor.
GAM representative Sofwan Dawood has said
that the group is willing to enter into dialogue with
the military, "but not with the requirement we should
accept special autonomy, because our demand is full
independence".
But for Indonesian Minister
Yudhoyono, the December time limit is important. "We
cannot, as every civilized people in the world cannot,
let innocent people die every day," he said.
(Inter Press Service)
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