Defusing the Aceh crisis

UNDER THE PRESIDENT, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid's initiative, there have been two positive signals from Indonesia. A week ago, a ceasefire agreement was clinched in Davos between Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Later, varying sentences have been handed down to 24 soldiers in connection with the massacre of 58 civilians in the troubled province last year. By themselves, these two steps cannot deliver peace or a movement forward in reconciling differences between the Indonesian Government and rebels in Aceh. They must be seen as part of a larger initiative by the President to reassure the Acehnese people that the days of intimidation, massacre and the writ of the army are over. The Wahid administration, in its desperate bid to prevent the secession of Aceh (after East Timor voted for independence last year), is trying to salvage the situation and provide greater political space to the provinces. A Constitutional amendment is also in place to delegate greater political and financial powers to the provinces and encourage them to remain part of the Republic. How far Mr. Wahid succeeds in this effort will depend both on how his Government implements the promises and on how the people of the troubled regions such as Aceh and Ambon respond to these measures. It should not be a case of too little, too late.

The ceasefire deal signed in Davos, with the exiled separatist leadership of GAM, provides for a three-month cessation of hostilities and the setting up of two committees with representatives from the Government and Aceh. One group will look at development projects and the other evolve security modalities to keep the controversial armed forces out of the way of the embittered Acehnese. In these three months, there will have to be visible progress on all fronts to inspire confidence and carry forward the reconciliation process. Similarly, the sentencing of 24 soldiers tried by a special court in Banda Aceh sends out a strong signal to both the armed forces and the people - that such atrocities will not be condoned. But the Acehnese and the families of the victims are not satisfied with this verdict. They feel that the real culprits - the senior army officials who ordered the massacre - have gone scot free and the poor soldiers who carried out the instructions were made scapegoats. The soldiers will go on appeal and the last word on this trial has not been said. Its final outcome will determine how genuine the trial was.

On another front, the former chief of the armed forces, Gen. Wiranto, who was suspended a few months back as Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, has resigned. This may well be an acceptance of the inevitable by a top military official who was all powerful till a year ago. Ever since the President called for his resignation and then suspended him when that was not forthcoming, there has been speculation in Indonesia of a coup. Some senior military officials, perhaps with skeletons in their cupboards, were probably assessing such a possibility. But they must have realised that the Indonesians, even if they are not too happy with their lot, will never tolerate or accept another coup in the archipelago. On the contrary, they want the powers of the military to be curbed even more, so that it is confined to looking after the security and defence of the country, without interfering in its socio-political processes - a role that the former President, Mr. Suharto, granted to the armed forces. The rest of Southeast Asia and the international community must strengthen the hands of Mr. Wahid and assist him in sorting out these major problems in Indonesia, so that he could get on with the much-needed economic, political and constitutional reforms. Economic recovery and political stability are the need of the hour.

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