Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia expects to reach a peace pact with rebels in Aceh province by mid-year, but will not grant any form of direct self-rule to the separatist organisation, vice president Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday.
Kalla said Indonesia needed to study what Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels meant by "self-rule," a concept which they proposed at peace talks this week in Helsinki, in return for dropping a 30-year-old fight for independence.
The latest round of talks ended on Wednesday. GAM has previously rejected Indonesian offers of special autonomy for the gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
"I am confident with the progress. I am confident that around June-July this matter can be resolved," Kalla told government officials during an open meeting in Jakarta.
Asked by reporters later about the use of the term "self-rule," Kalla said: "We will study the definition, but what's important is that independence is no longer an issue."
"Self-rule actually is a stronger form of autonomy. We have not agreed to it yet. The government will govern, not GAM. Self-rule will not be by GAM but by a democratic government."
The two sides were brought together by the December 26 tsunami which devastated Aceh. Almost 240,000 people are dead or listed missing and more than 400,000 were made homeless.
Acehnese rebels have been fighting for 30 years for independence and at least 12,000 people have been killed in the violence.
Despite ceasefire offers since the tsunami, skirmishes continue. An Indonesian soldier was killed on Sunday in what the military described as an ambush of an army unit assigned to rebuild bridges in Aceh and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned GAM to stay clear of military-led reconstruction work.
"I call on GAM in Aceh to not disturb the reconstruction work and humanitarian steps and security maintenance in Aceh," Yudhoyono told reporters on Thursday. "The solution for Aceh is clearly special autonomy. The world, no one, supports Aceh splitting from Indonesia," he said.
Third round
A third round of peace talks will be held in April.
Kalla, a hands-on and powerful vice president, said GAM members who were given an amnesty could run in local elections as long as they were members of an existing political party.
Analysts said the term "self-government" or "self-rule" could be tricky for Indonesia, which is sensitive to separatism and where political parties can only exist at a national level, not just operate in one province or region.
"Some of the signs are very positive, but the devil will be in the detail... Some Indonesian officials may see 'self-government' as little more than code for independence, and with good reason," Edward Aspinall, Sydney University's Southeast Asian studies lecturer, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Australian academic Damien Kingsbury, who is advising the rebels, said this week the talks covered possible changes in electoral laws to allow for local political parties, withdrawal of military forces and possible outside monitoring.
Kingsbury said one of the main sticking points had been the form of autonomy Jakarta was ready to offer the Acehnese, who see "special autonomy" as meaning the status quo.
Indonesian military chief General Endriartono Sutarto, quoted by the Koran Tempo newspaper on Thursday, said if the term "self-rule" meant "free and detached from the central government, then that's what you call independent."
On GAM's demand during the Helsinki talks that Indonesia's 40,000 soldiers pull out of Aceh, Sutarto likened that to "someone who is afraid of the police because he is a thief."
Many Acehnese have long complained about human rights abuses at the hands of Indonesian soldiers. GAM members have also been accused of abuses and extortion.
Kalla told bureaucrats during the Jakarta meeting that armed conflict with GAM needed to end soon so it would not hamper reconstruction work in Aceh. "One bullet hitting someone in Aceh will trigger a problem. Can you imagine if there was an abduction of two to three UN workers? Everything we've planned would falter," he said.
[With additional reporting by Muklis Ali in Jakarta and Karima Anjani in Banda Aceh.]