Acheh: Trust Rebuilds
As a former militant commander for the separatist Free Aceh Movement who says he was tortured and beaten in jail, Marzuki Abdurrahman has few reasons to trust the Indonesian government.
And yet, Mr. Abdurrahman and almost 60 other separatists from GAM, as the group
is called, showed up in a small government office. They were there to register
their names in a week-long reintegration drive that serves as the next benchmark
of the peace process to end nearly 30 years of war.
Abdurrahman says that he and the other separatists in this office have come
in because they have nothing to lose. As former prisoners released from jail
under an amnesty, they are already known to police and they can be picked up
at any time. But more importantly, GAM members feel now is the time to test
the peace process, while European observers are still in Aceh to keep an eye
on both parties.
"It is very difficult to trust the Indonesian government," says Abdurrahman,
who like most of the separatists in this office was released from jail as part
of an amnesty on Sept. 1. "We have no faith in the government, we only
trust AMM [the European-led Aceh Monitoring Mission].... If they are here, maybe
the peace process will continue. If not, then maybe the Indonesians will not
keep their promises."
Both the government and the separatists lost hundreds of fighters in the Dec.
26 tsunami, and many Acehnese took the disaster as a sign from God that the
war must end. But while the process so far has gone well - with several phases
of weapons hand-overs and the withdrawal of thousands of Indonesian troops already
completed - the process is not irreversible.
"If one of the parties is not committed" to the peace process, says
Zainal Arifin, a government representative to the AMM, "then that is maybe
why the process would stop. If the GAM does not give its weapons, it may not
stop the process. But perhaps the Indonesian Army will not relocate some of
its troops out of Aceh." He smiles. "It's a balance."
To date, both sides have honored their commitments to the memorandum of understanding
signed by both parties on Aug. 15. GAM has handed over 693 of the 840 weapons
it has promised to decommission by the end of the year. And the Indonesian Army
has withdrawn most of the 19,000 non-Acehnese troops and police from the province,
leaving behind what it calls an "organic" force of 14,700 local troops
and 9,100 police.
Key worry: pro-government militias
Plenty of issues could still stop the peace process. Most worrisome are pro-government
militias in the central highlands of Aceh, which have neither disarmed nor joined
the peace process. GAM members worry that militia members could still kidnap
or kill those supporters who come out of hiding and disarm.
But perhaps the first hurdle will come in January, when the decommissioning
of GAM weapons has been completed. Government spokesman Arifin says that the
government has plans to begin sweeps for further GAM weapons, something that
GAM members say would destroy any confidence built over the past four months.
"We have laws that people can't have weapons. We trust the leaders, but
if they lie in the peace process, then it will reduce the trust," says
Arifin.
Juri Laas, spokesman for the AMM, admits that there is still much to be done.
"It's quite natural for there to be some mistrust," he says. "This
conflict has been going on for 30 years, and the peace process has been going
for three months. It's in the initial stages."
After the disarmament and withdrawal phase, the focus will shift to local elections
in which GAM members will be allowed to run, assuming the Indonesian parliament
passes a law allowing local parties to form. Elections are scheduled for April.
Some demobilized GAM fighters say there's still no program to give them land
or jobs as promised in the peace plan.
AMM observers see the value of staying on, Mr. Laas adds, but to do that, the
government of Indonesia and the GAM must ask for it. "Our mandate is to
the 15th of March. If there is a request from the government or the GAM leadership
to stay, it's hard to see how we could refuse that."