Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar (2nd L) and Sutarto (1st L) inspect police and soldiers during a rehearsal for Aceh election (AFP)

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, February 29 (IslamOnline.net) –  Parliamentary and local elections in Aceh will be fair and free and foreign observers will be allowed to visit the province during the election process, said the Indonesian military chief on Sunday, February 29.

However, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) stressed that elections will be held without GAM representation and that the struggle for the independence of Aceh will continue.

"We welcome election monitoring teams from overseas. We want to prove that elections can be democratic even under martial law," Gen. Endriartono Sutarto was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

"We would not prevent foreign observers from monitoring elections in the conflict-torn province," he told some 5,000 civilians who would join hands in organizing the upcoming elections.

The Election Commission of Indonesia announced Saturday, February 28, that foreign observers will be given special identification cards and will be allowed to go anywhere in the province, but will be escorted by the military.

Sutarto, however, stressed that there would be no "special" foreign observers specifically assigned to monitor elections in Aceh.

"Foreign monitors are registered nationally and may monitor elections anywhere in the country, including Aceh," he explained.

Legislative elections will be held on April 5, followed by a presidential election on July 5 while a possible presidential runoff is scheduled for September 20, in what is called the Election year in the world's largest Muslim nation.

Foul Play

Ahmad Sheikh Daud, a GAM representative in Medan, told IslamOnline.net that the military operation in Aceh has since last May been extended indefinitely with the purpose of ensuring that GAM members do not participate in the polls and that areas in the province that favor GAM would not have a free choice in the voting process.

The military declared martial law in Aceh on May 19, 2003.

"There is a war on in this province and they want to tell the world that the Acehnese will finally chose a proper local government to represent them while the main force in the province, the GAM will be sidelined? Is that free and fair?," asked Daud.

The five million people of Aceh will be called to elect representatives in the Indonesian parliament as well as those who will take over the local assembly, which will be given absolute powers to decide on the future of the territory.

The province will have 11,036 polling booths serving 2,476,986 voters or half of the registered population.

However, Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh said at least 153 villages in the province were not yet ready for the elections due to the ongoing conflict, reported Antara.

Another 200 villages had to be well-guarded to enable residents to go the poll safely, while more than 200,000 eligible voters had not yet registered to vote, he added.

More than 9,016 police and 3,622 soldiers are already deployed to secure the elections.

According to GAM, less than a quarter of the population will be able to vote while the rest of the voting able people will either desist or will not have their chance to vote.

Delay Calls

Daud reiterated GAM's support for calls by human rights activists to delay the polls in Aceh.

"We can just order a total boycott and the percentage of vote will show that a huge majority of the people in the province would have boycotted the votes," he said.

On Friday, human rights advocates in Aceh said elections should be delayed, asserting that free and democratic elections could not take place under martial law.

"The province is still under martial law, unless this is done without and all parties are given the chance to participate in the polls, these polls will never be free and fair," said Syuga Aliana, a member of the GAM's women's wing.

She told IOL on Sunday that the military had to be given a lesser role in the polls but that would never happen since the central government in Jakarta had a clear agenda of hijacking the polls and eventually the province.

Aliana, who is campaigning for the removal of the martial law in Aceh, cited a visit by high-level Indonesian government officials to Bandah Aceh Saturday.

The visit was only made possible thanks to the heavy presence of the military and that was itself an example of what was to become of Aceh under the control of Jakarta, she said.

"Jakarta wants to control the province, installing its people in power in what we call truncated elections since the true people of Aceh will not be able to participate in such polls under the prevailing circumstances," Aliana charged.

GAM has been fighting for independence of the resource-rich province since 1976.

Over 10,000 people, largely innocent civilians, have been killed since then mostly during military campaigns.