Jakarta – Indonesia's decision this week to lift martial law in war-torn Aceh has arguably pleased no one.

Those hoping to see the withdrawal of the 40,000 military troops stationed in the province since May 19, 2003, when martial law was first imposed, will be disappointed. The troops will remain, since the government acknowledges that its one-year all military offensive to crush the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has failed to secure the province.

In Indonesia's biggest military offensive since 1975, when it invaded East Timor, the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) claims to have killed 1,963 GAM rebels, arrested another 2,100 and forced 1,276 to surrender.

But GAM, a provincial insurgency born in 1976 out of a deep sense of historical and economic injustice committed on the Acehnese by Indonesia's Jakarta-centric governments, is far from vanquished.

"GAM is certainly not dead," said Sidney Jones, Indonesia project director for the International Crisis Group (CGI), a Brussels-based think tank. "It remains the case that not a single top military commander has been arrested."

Indonesia's acting coordinating minister for security affairs Hari Sabarno has acknowledged that GAM remains a threat "The remaining GAM personnel are now in hiding but they can pose an acute threat to security if we lower our guard," the minister claimed after announcing the lifting of martial law Thursday.

As of May 19, Aceh will be downgraded to "civilian emergency" status, which entails a return of some form of civilian rule. For many Acehnese, this is not deemed a great leap forward.

Current Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh has a reputation for running a spectacularly corrupt administration even by Indonesian standards. Therefore, recent efforts by the TNI-run Regional Martial Law Administration (PDMD) to crack down on civilian corruption were widely welcomed by most Acehnese.

On April 10, the head of Aceh's regional finance bureau, Teuku Lizam, was arrested by the PDMD on corruption charges. Puteh on the same day reportedly fled to Jakarta, where he has remained.

Although many feel that the TNI's corruption crackdown was an effort on their part to highlight the benefits of martial law, no one is denying that the crackdown was needed.

"I strongly support the investigation made by the martial law administration into corruption allegedly committed by the government officials including the governor, because most of the funds allocated to development projects to improve the conditions of the Acehnese people has gone into the pockets of government officials," said Nasir Djamil, a recently elected member of parliament from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

The corruption investigations will be handed over to the Attorney General's office once martial law ends next Wednesday.

The Puteh problem highlights the need for a comprehensive political solution to Aceh's problems. "The question is, what comes next," said Kirsten Schultz, a lecturer at London School of Economics & Political Science, who was one of the few foreign academics permitted to conduct research in Aceh over the past year.

"The military has actually succeeded in pushing the rebels back far enough and creating a secure space, but if you don't fill this space with meaningful development, clean governance, reform of the education system, providing proper health care and dealing with the unemployment, then that space is going to disappear again," said Schultz.

In other words, the Indonesian government is back to where it was one and a half years ago before it had reached a ceasefire agreement with GAM, under which the rebels promised to put aside their guns in exchange for a chance at greater political control over Aceh's future.

The peace pact disintegrated because of a deep disagreement over the extent of political participation Jakarta was prepared to offer the Acehnese, especially the separatist-bent GAM.

Indonesia insists that Aceh will never go the way of East Timor, that voted for independence from Jakarta's rule in a United Nations-backed referendum held in 1999.

Jakarta in 2002 granted Aceh autonomy to administer its own economy, which promises to increase its local budget sixfold once civilian rule is restored, providing the local administration isn't so corrupt that the money disappears into their pockets instead of meeting the real needs of the Acehnese.

One way to assure that, would be to allow for a direct election of Aceh's governor and the evolution of some form of more provincial participation in self-governance.

"The question is, is the lifting of martial law part of the resumption of the political process, or is it an empty symbolic gesture," noted one international aid consultant. "That is the question."