Vaudine England, Jakarta – On the same day that an independent commission to investigate military abuses was visiting Aceh for the first time, seven leading political parties announced proposals for "special autonomy" for the rich, violence-wracked province.
Both moves yesterday betrayed Jakarta's deep concern about rising separatist activity in Aceh, a concern which has only been heightened by the East Timor crisis.
The proposed special autonomy for Aceh is close to the "comprehensive autonomy" offered by Jakarta to East Timor, which the East Timorese rejected in their August 30, United Nations-supervised ballot.
Aceh's deputy chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Jamaluddin Ahmad, spoke in Aceh's capital, Banda Aceh, on behalf of the seven political parties which won the most votes in June's general election, including ruling party Golkar and opposition frontrunner the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
"We hope that at least a small part of the constitutional framework for the special autonomy for Aceh can become an input for the Government and the Parliament to strengthen the law number 22 and 25 of 1999 and the draft law on the special region of Aceh," Mr Shmad said.
He was referring to two recently passed laws on the sharing of provincial revenues between the province and the central Government in Jakarta, and a draft law recognising Aceh's specific customs, laws and education.
He said the general outline of the proposed autonomy would leave foreign affairs, external security, fiscal and monetary matters and the judiciary in Jakarta's hands, with Aceh able to accept aid from abroad and from Jakarta.
The proposal is for Aceh to get authority over 70 percent of the revenues from local oil and gas resources and over 60 percent of other natural resources. These proportions are significantly larger than the respective 20 and 15 per cent allowed for under the recently passed law.
The proposal represents an effort to buy off growing anger in Aceh at the continued presence of extra troops and riot police in the province following the past decade of special military status for the province which has been marked by army-led massacres.
The Independent Commission on Aceh, formed by President Bacharuddin Habibie more than a month ago, is to investigate such military abuses, starting with the most recent, on July 23 in the Betung Ateuh area of West Aceh.
The team of independent investigators, which will visit Betung Ateuh first, includes people involved in last year's fact-finding team on the rapes of Chinese Indonesian women during the power struggle in Jakarta of May last year.
Members of the team have been appalled by preliminary evidence gathering, which in the words of one member, spelled "Kopassus, Kopassus, Kopassus", the army's special forces now renowned for manipulating much of the recent violence in East Timor.
Many Indonesians feel much more strongly about the potential lose of Aceh than they do about East Timor – hence broad-based efforts by politicians and academics outside government to find ways to avert a second national tragedy. Aceh, which played an important role in the nationalist struggle that led to the birth of Indonesia in 1945, is largely Muslim and rich in oil and gas.
But a growing number of Acehnese are likely to reject any offers from Jakarta as being too little, too late.