Axis of Hope: papers

Nurdin Rahman: Peace in Aceh?

Nurdin Rahman is an Achenese peace activist.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very honoured to be here, to present or to give some information to you about what's going on in Aceh and the peace process, the current peace process in Aceh, prospects and problems. This peace process, as probably most of you have known, has been started, was began in 2000, in April 2000, under the mediation from the Humanitarian Dialogue Centre in Geneva. In April, 2000, this organisation invited delegates from the two parties in conflict, the Indonesian Government and also the Free Aceh Movement to Geneva and they discussed how to come to a lasting peace in Aceh and how to solve this conflict through a peaceful means.

As the fist step of this peace process, on May the 12th, 2000, both sides signed an agreement on Aceh but this agreement did not last long because of the breaches and violations during six months of its implementation. And then they came up with new agreement which was called Moratorium of Hostility. Even with both sides strongly committed to this agreement in the first two months, but later they could not hold this agreement because of several violations still took place, especially a lot of people who tried to return home, people who had been displaced for some time, tried to return home but they were harassed by the military and then they had to leave their villages again. And this led to more conflict and more atrocities in Aceh. So then Humanitarian Dialogue Centre in Geneva called both sides again to sit the dialogue again and they came up with an agreement which was called Moratorium Two, between the two sides. But this Moratorium Two was then withdrawn or was not obeyed by both sides because each side accused the other side of having violated this agreement, so again this agreement did not last long.

In December 2001, Humanitarian Dialogue Centre called both sides again to Geneva to sit together to find ways how to develop a kind of concrete solution, concrete steps toward peaceful solution to the conflict. At that time, they also invited several intellectuals from Aceh, Aceh intellectuals, so they received a lot of feedback from this intellectuals as to how this conflict could be solved. In February 2000, what was called at that time Joint Statement about several steps that should follow toward peaceful solution to the conflict in Aceh. This statement, this Joint Statement paves way to further dialogue, which was then held in May, where they decided to bring two parties into a cessation of hostilities agreement. A lot of other discussions also took place in Aceh, also in Geneva, about ways, how to get all Acehnese people involved in the solution. More Acehnese intellectuals then were called to Geneva again to sit together with Humanitarian Dialogue Centre officers there to discuss this ways. And then, in December, on December 9th, both parties were invited again to Geneva and they agreed to sign Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which is now in place. With this agreement, people in Aceh have been able to work again on the farm and return to their activities in the market and they can also travel freely at night, because one of, because among the clauses in this agreement, there is a statement or there is a decision that both sides allow people to travel freely and to return to their homes and to carry out their day to day activities on the farms and also in the market.

One of the most important, one of the clauses which is seen as very good step toward a solution of this conflict is the statement or the clause which says that both sides, Government of Indonesia and also Free Aceh Movement, share the common objective: to meet the aspirations of the people of Aceh, to live in security with dignity, peace, prosperity and justice. In order to meet the aspirations of the people of Aceh and permit them to administer themselves freely and democratically, the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement agree to a process which leads to an election in 2004 and the subsequent establishment of a democratically elected government in Aceh Indonesia, in accordance with review of the autonomy law, as provided in point one of the May 10, 2002 Joint Statement. This has been seen as a kind of allowing the people to choose their own democratic elected government, democratically elected government in Aceh. But the interpretations of this clause has caused a great deal of confusion also among the Acehnese, because the Indonesian side interpreted this as the national, this election as a general election, which is conducted by Jakarta government as a national general election, as part of the national general election. But on the Free Aceh Movement side, this clause is interpreted as a special general election, a special election in Aceh which is separate from the general election of the entire Indonesia. While on the people's side, I mean the ordinary people, see this agreement as a kind of another word for referendum on Aceh. This has caused confusion in the people and this has been used by the military, Indonesian military to crush any demonstrations or protests from the people who propose referendum on Aceh.

Toward the last week of February, four of these referendum activists were detained by the police, accusing them of spreading anti-government to the people, anti-government propaganda to the people. But there is still a great hope with this agreement, because of the presence of international monitors. Right now, two countries in South East Asia have been involved in providing members of monitoring team in Aceh, with is called Joint Security Committee.

Okay-the prospect for this agreement to be successful is quite high, so long as both sides are seriously committed to all the clauses that they have signed and also with the presence of international monitoring team, the hope that this agreement will be successful is quite high. Right now, there is a kind of a signal from Indonesian Government that they want to withdraw from the peace agreement because they see it as a kind of defeat to them, especially with the clause which says that Indonesian military troops cannot carry weapon when they are travelling in the village level. And also this clause which allows Acehnese people to elect their own government through a democratic election, this also has been seen by the military as a kind of allowing the Acehnese people to choose their own government without any attachment or political attachment to Jakarta government.

Okay. With some recent statements from a number of countries, especially the US and also I think Australia, Australian Government also have expressed their intention to improve military tie with Jakarta government. This has been taken as a sign, as a signal to the military to use force to solve the problem in Aceh and also in West Papua. We strongly urge that Australian Government should stop military tie with Indonesia and also to stop military providing weapons or military exercises to Indonesian military and police. We would suggest then instead of providing money for the Indonesian military, it would be better to provide money for social activities, for justice activities and also for human rights campaign. And also to help people in countries where health is still a problem for them. Also, in Aceh right now, there are thousands of torture victims and also thousands of children who have been left orphaned by their missing parents, that need help not only in economic activities, also in education and mental counselling. So instead of providing money to the military Indonesia we suggest or we advise please provide our, switch your support from the military to the community development or health development in the countries where the need is quite high. Like in Aceh or in West Papua with these victims of torture and also the victims of military atrocities. Thank you very much.