Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is scheduled to endorse the long-awaited and much-debated Aceh governance bill on July 11, with the main focus then on holding the first direct gubernatorial election in the province.
The chairman of the House's special committee on the bill, Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, said in a discussion here Friday that a team was honing the wording of the 261-article bill before it was brought to a plenary session for endorsement.
"The special session will leave for Aceh on July 13 to hand over the bill to the Aceh administration for its enforcement and dissemination among the Acehnese," he said.
Acehnese legislators and legislators who opposed the content of the original bill also said they would endorse the rehashed version, which was completed last week four months overdue.
Communications Minister Sofyan A. Djalil said the bill was not only a "golden gift" to the Acehnese, but also marked the full realization of the August 2005 agreement between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to build a lasting peace and spur the post-tsunami rehabilitation program in the province.
He said the bill ushered in a better future, with the first objective to hold the landmark direct gubernatorial elections and implement special autonomy under the new law.
Ferry and Sofyan said the Aceh governance law, in addition to providing more authority and funding to the regional administration than under the 2001 Autonomy Law, also absorbed more of the GAM's interests.
"Under the Indonesian Unitary State principle and the Constitution, it is impossible for us to comply with all the things GAM has demanded. But in certain fields, including education, fiscal balance and religion, the government has given more political concessions than the GAM sought," Ferry said.
In ending tough, protracted negotiations last week, the government and the House managed to resolve 10 crucial issues, including on the police, sharia, management of the exploration of natural resources, local parties, independent candidates and supervision of qanun (bylaw) enforcement.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) originally opposed the conditions of the peace agreement signed in Helsinki, and also faulted the original bill for giving too many concessions to the GAM. However, PDI-P legislator Irmadi Lubis said it now accepted the bill because it focused on the improvement of the Acehnese people's social welfare and the upholding of justice.
He also believed the bill would help resolve the lingering issues from the almost 30-year insurgency.
"The bill asserts the Acehnese people's rights to enjoy their rich natural resources and, one year after its enforcement, it also orders the establishment of an independent commission of truth and reconciliation to handle unresolved human rights abuses and arrange compensation for those who suffered injustice in the past."
Nasir Djamil, a member of the Joint Forum for Acehnese Legislators (Forbes Aceh), claimed that the GAM accepted the bill despite its absence during the deliberation process. "We met with GAM officials here three days ago to communicate the latest developments in the bill's deliberation and, although there was disappointment on certain issues, they could accept the bill's contents." Nasir, who is also deputy chairman of the special committee on the bill, said many elements of Acehnese society were ambivalent about its contents due to a lack of information.
But he acknowledged that the bill could not fully meet the demands of the government or the GAM, but they should compromise for peace in the province.
Sofyan said he was optimistic all law enforcement-related problems could be settled because the government and the GAM had established a joint forum, called the Committee of Security Arrangements, in which both sides could raise issues to be resolved.