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Aceh Granted Autonomy While Fighting Continues
JAKARTA, July 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Warring factions in the restive province of Aceh were still at arms length while the House of Representatives (DPR) voted late Thursday into law an initiative providing special autonomy to the secessionist state.
The autonomy law entitled in Indonesian language, the Naggroe Aceh Darussalam, meaning the State Of Aceh Darussalam, grants 70% of oil and gas revenue to the province and 30% to the central government.
The bill had initially requested that 85% of all oil and gas revenues go to the province.
The law also regulates that the province of Naggroe Aceh Darussalam - the new name officiated by the law - will receive 80% of the total revenue from agriculture and fisheries as provided for in the bill.
Profit sharing will be effective within eight years, instead of the 10 years proposed in the draft law. After eight years, profit sharing will be 50/50, the law stipulates.
During the same session of the house, lawmakers also agreed on the implementation of shari'a (Islamic law) for Muslims in the province, as was proposed in the initial bill.
The law also stipulates that the governor of Aceh will approve the appointment of the police chief and provincial prosecutors.
The law will be gradually implemented over the coming year from the date it was passed.
Antara news agency reported that the Acehnese national red-and-white flag was seen flying in all corners of Banda Aceh, the capital city, soon after the autonomy bill was enacted into law.
The Acehnese national flag has rarely been hoisted in the restive province in the last two years. The Indonesian government, in general, "dislikes" the hosting of the flag.
A member of the Aceh Human Rights Organization (SIRA) was jailed earlier this year for hosting the flag, and for demanding independence of the state.
IslamOnline contacted the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for an official reaction to the voting of the Autonomy bill. The movement had yet to reply to our queries at the time of filing and posting this report.
However, a GAM spokesman, Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, told The Jakarta Post that the GAM had yet to accept the law "as it was not the Acehnese who deliberated it".
"The Acehnese at the House and the provincial legislature cannot claim to represent all of the Acehnese as most of us skipped the [Indonesian] 1999 general election.
"[The]GAM will accept the law after all Acehnese have an opportunity to express their stance [toward the law] through a free and democratic referendum, monitored by international organizations."
He said that the GAM was still skeptical about the law. "The central government could withdraw it and annul it whenever it wants."
In the meantime, the Indonesian army beefed-up troops in the province with the arrival of three battalions, bringing with them 1,600 soldiers.
Additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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