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House Refuses Civil Emergency In Aceh
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - On Sunday, the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) rejected a proposal for a declaration of civil emergency in the restive province of Aceh.
In response, the government said it will comply with the decision by the DPR and will continue negotiating with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) group.
The rejection of the proposal by the DPR showed a strong split among politicians in Jakarta. While President Adurrahman Wahid and close associates, as well as members of the army, pressed for an emergency declaration in both Aceh and Irian Jaya, the Democratic Party of Struggles (PDI-P) of Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri urged the house to reject the offer.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Social, and Security Affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said last week that the government would impose a state of civil emergency in Aceh if peace talks between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) failed to reach an agreement.
The government expected the meeting would see the House agree to impose a civil emergency. But the House rejected the plan, instead advising the government to seek a more peaceful way to resolve the separatist issue in the province.
A National Working Meeting of the PDI-P concluded on Sunday asking the government to cancel and review the wish to impose civil emergency in Aceh and Irian Jaya.
"Internal political conditions in Aceh and Irian Jaya are being discussed at present and therefore, the government should stick to cautionary principle before making a certain policy," said Pramono Anung, Assistant to PDI-P Secretary General, over the weekend.
PDI-P again expressed its hope that the government could apply religious, social and cultural approaches in settling conflicts in the two regions in a bid to prevent bloodshed.
"We still call on the government to defer or review the plan to impose civil emergency in Aceh, as inputs gained from our representative office in the troubled province indicated that imposition of civil emergency will bring about another new problem,” said the PDI-P Assistant to the Secretary General.
According to Anung, the two regions have been severely affected by human rights violations, political mistreatment and separation in the past.
"Anything having to do with separatism must be crushed, but we have to be cautious in the handling of human rights issue[s]. We don’t ever expect that those who want to claim his rights will then become the victims," he said.
Yudhoyono yesterday denied that during the consultative meeting, the government had sought approval from the House to impose a state of civil emergency in Aceh.
He said the government would be very cautious in resolving problems in Aceh because imposing civil emergency would have bad psychological implications for the people of Aceh.
“Imposing a state of civil emergency could be interpreted as imposing a second military operation,” said Yudhoyono, referring to the military operation against separatists imposed between 1989 to 1998, believed to have killed thousands of Acehnese.
“Therefore, in the near future, we will continue our dialog with GAM and other elements of the Aceh people,” said Yudhoyono. He, however, also urged all parties, including the Aceh fighters, to avoid violence so that there would be no more killings in the province.
Yudhoyono also urged GAM not to continue its plan on December 4th to proclaim its independence, saying that such a movement is not in line with the humanitarian pause agreement.
Meanwhile, Ackbar Tandjung of the Golkar Party said that the House supported any effort from the government to intensify its dialogs with the people of Aceh people in
trying to resolve the problems.
But, he warned that the government must not ignore laws and other regulations in implementing any policy.
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said early yesterday that the government would crack down on separatists and refuse to extend a ceasefire if they did not resume peace talks within seven weeks.
He said a ceasefire in place since June 2nd, and which expires on January 15th, had not helped efforts to end decades of bloodshed and had been used by the separatists to slaughter security forces.
“Yes, we are preparing an ultimatum for GAM,” he said. “We will not extend it [the ceasefire]. Why? Because we think it has not helped us in settling problems in Aceh.
GAM and the government were due to resume a series of peace talks in Geneva this month, but refused to do so after security forces killed several people in Aceh ahead of a major pro-independence protest in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
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