ACEH: PEACE IS NECESSARY FOR RECONSTRUCTION

By Hasballah Saad and - - Reprint | | Print |

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JAKARTA, Jun 1 2005 (IPS) - As the Indonesian government embarks on the formidable task of rebuilding the province of Aceh, which suffered the full brunt of the December 26 tsunami, peace is becoming indispensable, writes Hasballah Saad, chairman of the Tifa Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that promotes human rights, democracy, and civil society in Indonesia. He is also a commissioner of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights. In this article, Saad writes that without peace, any reconstruction effort may go nowhere. Infrastructure built by the government in the morning could be burned down by unknown people in the evening. The recent initiation of the fourth round of peace talks between the rebels and the Indonesian government in Helsinki, Finland, has rekindled hopes for peace and reconciliation in the troubled province. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has hinted at giving up its struggle for independence in favour of self-government. What GAM means by self-government, however, remains unclear. GAM, whose strength seems to have been reduced considerably by the military offensive by government troops in the past few years, has to spell out what it means by self-government. Does it mean independence, a federal system, or special autonomy? Independence is certainly out of question, while the other options open to GAM must not violate the country\’s constitution.

As the Indonesian government embarks on the formidable task of rebuilding the province of Aceh, which suffered the full brunt of the December 26 tsunami, peace is becoming indispensable. Without it, any reconstruction effort may go nowhere. Infrastructure built by the government in the morning could be burned down by unknown people in the evening.

The unprecedented catastrophe of the tsunami, which claimed more than 130,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Aceh and Nias alone, has taught Acehnese to help each other and forget about the three decade-long conflict that has killed over 15,000 people, mostly innocent civilians.

The recent initiation of the fourth round of peace talks between the rebels and the Indonesian government in Helsinki, Finland, has rekindled hopes for peace and reconciliation in the troubled province. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has hinted at giving up its struggle for independence in favour of self-government. What GAM means by self-government, however, remains unclear.

GAM, whose strength seems to have been reduced considerably by the military offensive by government troops in the past few years, has to spell out what it means by self-government. Does it mean independence, a federal system, or special autonomy? Independence is certainly out of question, while the other options open to GAM must not violate the country’s constitution.

The government, on the other hand, must formulate some kind of political and economic concessions for GAM members to induce them to return to the fold of the law. Amnesty alone is not a sufficient incentive for the rebels to lay down arms and give up their decades-long struggle for independence.

The government must ask GAM what it wants now that it has apparently abandoned its goal of independence and must prepare answers if GAM leaders demand that they be allowed to establish a local political party to join elections in order to win power through democratic means.

The Aceh problem, however, must not be resolved by GAM and the government alone without engaging the Acehnese people, who have fallen victims to the conflict. GAM considers only its own interests, while the government thinks only about territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Little attention, if any, has been paid to the aspirations of the Acehnese people. Both GAM leaders and the Indonesian government –in this case the military– also claim they are acting to protect the Acehnese civilians. However, in reality, both sides have killed and continue to kill many innocent Acehnese civilians.

Representatives of Acehnese civilians such as university students, non-governmental organisations, ulemas, and women must be involved in the peace talks even as observers. However, the civil society in Aceh is very weak. Community leaders in the province are divided and are supporting both GAM and the government. Thus, they have lost their credibility. Civil society organisations have to play a greater role in Aceh, but the polarisation between the Indonesian military and GAM make this difficult.

Any agreement that comes out of the Helsinki peace talks has to be implemented under the supervision of a third party. If a clear agreement is reached, we have to make direct action on the ground to end the conflict. Both the government and GAM have to effectively control their people on the ground.

Lasting peace may prove hard to come by, however, as a lot of people in Jakarta and in Aceh are not pleased by the prospect of imminent peace in the western province. Certain elements are benefitting from the conflict, which has led to endemic corruption. Who is involved in illegal logging in Aceh? The marijuana business and illegal logging have thrived in this abnormal situation. If the drawn-out conflict is brought to an end, these people would lose their wealth.

To date, it is very unclear who leads the recovery efforts in Aceh. Is it the government, NGOs, or the people themselves? Village heads in Aceh griped that if the government or one NGO wants to rebuild a school, for example, they bring everything — even their own workers, although there are plenty of local workers who are left doing nothing.

Reconstruction and reconciliation must run simultaneously. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or Vice President Jusuf Kalla must co-ordinate the reconstruction team and reconciliation team. With the lifting of the state of civil emergency in the province, everybody must be free to move around. This should make it easier for the Acehnese to show what they want. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)