By: Ahmad S, an observer on political issues, a researcher in Menara Institute, resides in Jakarta, Indonesia
RADAR ACEH | Its been eleven yearssince the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Helsinki in August 15th 2005, by Indonesia government and Aceh representative to mark a new era of peace between the two parties after long-term conflict. Since then, there have been significant changesin the westernmost province of Indonesia, politically, economically, and of course in terms of security.In this article I am not going to elaborate those changes either in terms of achievement or failure, rather I will merelyallude to the recent situation in Aceh and try to asses the futureof the regionssecurity.
Despite some incidents remainoccurred during the peace periodthat seemingly betray the 2005 peace agreementin Aceh, the security condition in the Land of the Rencong is clearly way much better than it was before the agreement attained.Those incidents were also managed greatly by the Indonesia government, by building up good communications with all parties and elites in Aceh, thus did not end up to serious tension. However, there are still couples ofmajor politicalissues thegovernment needs to pay attention to, such as the Qanun (local regulation) on flag and emblem, pros and cons ofsplitting Aceh into two new provinces, and most currently, the implementation of 2017 simultaneous regional head elections in 20 regions in Aceh including gubernatorialrace.
One of the main concerns of Indonesia security forces in Aceh is the raising of moon-star flag considered as the same flag of Free Aceh Movements (GAM) flag in the past. Despite opposing one of the clauses in Helsinki MoU saying that Aceh is prohibited to adopting separatist symbols, the illegal-act remains occurred in some areas, which mainly follows or to response certain event or issues. In most ofthe cases, both motives and perpetrators remain unclear. The problem is, the Qanun on which the Aceh flag is based, is not yet official, so the new flag can not be used.Aceh Governor, Zaini Abdullah, has repeatedlyinsisted that the decision to adopt GAM flag as the provincial standard reflects the popular sentiment in the province. However, although the flag is not regarded as a sovereign flag, Article 4.2 of the Helsinki Peace Accord clearly stipulates that GAM members should no longer wear uniforms or display the emblem or military symbol in public.
Regarding the idea of regional proliferation (pemekaran wilayah)to establish two new provinces, Aceh Leuser Antara (ALA) and Southwest Aceh (ABAS), several prominent activists and local politicians like Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, an independent policy development institute, and Nasir Djamil, a provincial legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said that the proposals were unrealistic and would threaten the fragile peace agreement betweenGAM and the Indonesian government. They rather called for boosting development and keeping the peace across Aceh instead.The idea of establishing the two new provinces has raised pros and cons among the people and has raised specters from a past conflict that left many people bereaved, impoverished and without hope said Elfian as quoted from Jakarta Post.
Whereas, those who initiate and support the idea of splitting Aceh into two provinces keep insisting that no matter what, the dream of Aceh people must be fulfilled. The chief of Southwest Aceh Province Establishment Executive Committee (KP3 ABAS), Tjut Agam, in February this year, stated that the proliferation is solely aimed for the prosperity of whole peopleof Aceh. He said, the idea toestablish ALA province has begun since 1999, while ABAS has been campaigned since 2003. Another chief of KP3 ABAS, Abdya, Said Marwan Saleh, denied the accusation that there is political interest behind the idea.On the other hand, the President Jokowidodo said during his visit to North Sumatera on 19 August 2016, the government has decided to delay the creation of new autonomous regions due to the budget issues. We will conduct serious evaluation to ensure that any plan for the creation of new autonomous provinces, districts, and municipalities is subject to thorough calculations," he noted as cited from skalanews.com.Well, the issue has been separatedthe activists and political elites in Aceh into the pros and the cons.Fortunately, the moratorium policy of the government would likely reduce the tension between the two sides for a while, at least until the simultaneous electionsheld in February 2017 accomplished.
Since the resignation of Helsinki agreement in 2005, Aceh has conducted two gubernatorial elections, which produced Irwandi Yusuf (2007-2012) and Zaini Abdullah (2012-now) as the governor, respectively. Since then, local elections in Aceh become crucial and have likely been a competition between political elites either in district/city level or province level. In the 2017 gubernatorial election for instance, there are six pairs of Aceh governor and deputy governor hopefulswill compete.Five of them are the former of GAM prominent figures witheach have supporters and followers among GAM ex-combatants.They are, Irwandi Yusuf, the former GAM leader, the incumbent candidateZaini Abdullah who is also the former of GAM Foreign Minister, Muzakkir Manaf aka Mualem isthe Chairman of Aceh Political Party(PA), Abdullah Puteh is the former Governor of GAM, and Zakaria Saman, the former GAM Minister of Defense. The only GAM outsider of the six candidates is Tarmidzi Karim who spends most of his career in the Ministry of Domestic Affair with experiences of the Acting Governor in both North and South Borneo.
The rivalry between those candidates would likely increase the tension in Aceh especially in terms of politic and security.As the regional head elections enter the key stages such as campaign stage and the Election Day, various potential threats,which have already been shown up, could accumulate into actual threats. Dispute on Aceh flag and other political as well as security issues in Aceh could be involved in the elections process. Such situations with such potential threats if not managed well, could jeopardise the peaceful condition and reintegration programme in Aceh.
Hence, in order to maintain the peaceful conditionin the region, several steps should be done. First, mutual trust between Aceh and the central government should be fostered. The settlement of flag and emblem issues must be undertook with cool heads to reach a solution between the central and Aceh governments.If Aceh government want to have their territorial symbol, they should create one according to the existing Laws and one that represent the social power and the culture of Aceh. One should be noted that, several regencies of Aceh, especially in the south, rejected the GAM flag and symbol. Second, the solution on the plan of establishing a new province in Aceh - ALA ABAS should be immediately searched for, through a research with objective goal to make Aceh better both in social economic and security sector. Third, ensuring a peaceful, calm and well organised election in order to produce legitimate, competent and qualified governor, regents and mayors in Aceh.
We all may do agree that no one should take peace in Aceh for grantedsince major social and political tensions remain there. Yes, there are challenges, threats and dangers ahead, however, since the level of violence has been overall low, where most of the incidents have not taken place along the fault lines of the old conflict between GAM and the central government, the full peace apparently keeps closer. It is therefore, the regional elections held in February 2017 would be decisive for Aceh to gain momentum in creating a peaceful and prosperity region within the framework of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
