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Megawati to Visit Aceh Saturday
JAKARTA, Sept 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri will visit the disputed province of Aceh on Saturday, State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo said Monday.
"The President will visit Aceh on September 8th, that is confirmed. I think it will only be a one-day trip," Bambang said.
Aceh has been wracked by violence involving the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and security forces. More than 1,200 people have been killed this year alone in the conflict.
The GAM claims that thousands more have been killed in the past two to three years, adding that human rights abuses has been on the rise in the province.
The GAM has stated that it does not intend to accept any formula for peace from Jakarta if the latter does not include independence as an option.
Megawati, however, made it clear that independence was out of the question and advised the Acehnese to start pondering over the autonomy they were granted in August.
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais on Saturday said the GAM did not represent the Acehnese people, urging Megawati to spend more than a day in Aceh. He said the President should take more time to talk to the people.
"The President should stay a day or two instead of a two-hour visit," Amien said.
"The previous dialog [during Abdurrahman Wahid's presidency] was not intensive since the former president only made a two-hour visit to the province.
"Therefore I hope Ibu [title given to women in Indonesia] Megawati will not stay for only two hours in Aceh, but spend one or two days to visit the province's regions," Rais said.
Rais himself visited Aceh two years ago and came back to Jakarta clearly disturbed by reports of abuse and killing in the territory. An emotional Rais said at that time that he understood why the people of Aceh wanted independence.
The leader of the MPR said everybody must show patience in the Aceh conflict, and invited the GAM to lay down its arms in order to give peace a chance.
He added that the use of force against the GAM should resume only if the GAM rejected all efforts for a peaceful solution.
Megawati has pledged to prioritize dialogue in her effort to defuse the crisis, but observers still believe she might be tempted to use force to end calls for independence.
In August, she inaugurated an autonomy law, which allows Aceh to get 70% of its oil and gas revenues, and implement limited Islamic Shari'ah law.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last week that Megawati wanted more "intensive and effective" talks with the GAM in two months time, but warned that the government would not stop crackdowns on the activists.
On the other hand, the Jakarta Post daily said an East Timorese claimed on Saturday that several members of the GAM have made secret contacts with pro-independence East Timorese, asking how the latter won their freedom from Indonesia.
The paper said the contacts were made through the Internet. The GAM has its own online news magazine, Atjehtimes.com.
"They [GAM members] often ask [me] about the East Timorese struggle until we got the chance to determine our future through the United Nations-organized plebiscite...I answered all their questions honestly."
I hope Indonesia would be careful. Do not let the provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya become independent like East Timor," said a former worker of the Indonesian telecom who was posted in East Timor.
A. Santos, currently working for an Internet service company in Dili, further noted that the GAM took the initiative to make the secret contacts.
"The communication between the two groups has intensified because the GAM rebels have begun paying serious attention to the struggle of the Falintil and CNRT, especially in winning the hearts and minds of the international community," he said.
Falintil was the armed wing of the National Council for East Timorese Resistance (CNRT).
Santos recounted that many East Timorese felt that Indonesia had done many good things for them.
However, he said, due to the military's brutality in handling the insurgency, the sympathy of the East Timorese toward Indonesia vanished.
He said military operations carried out in East Timor ought not be carried out in Aceh or Irian Jaya because antipathy was one of the reasons East Timor wanted to separate from Indonesia, he said.
With additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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