Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has yet to start deliberating the bill on Aceh's future governance but opposition and criticism of its contents have already been voiced.

The objections mainly revolve around the government's decision to drop a number of articles proposed by the Aceh legislative council from the bill the government submitted to the House for deliberation late last month.

Apart from the controversial issue of independent candidates, the criticism has also been focused on lack of clarity over the definition of Aceh's territory.

While the Aceh council's version of the bill stipulates that Aceh's territory is as defined on July 1, 1956, and in accordance with the truce signed by the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) last August in Finland, the Home Affairs Ministry's bill allows for the possible splitting of Aceh into several provinces.

The government-drafted bill also allows for the creation of new regencies in Aceh. "It (the partition) will likely shatter the process of trust-building process between the government and GAM," said Agung Wijaya, a member of the Aceh Democracy Network.

He said the move also showed that the central government wanted to maintain its control over the resource-rich province. "The evidence on this issue is very clear," he said over the weekend.

The partition of Aceh is accommodated in Article 5 of the bill, which states, "the establishment, abolition and the merger of regencies/municipalities, districts and villages shall be carried out in accordance with law".

Agung said that this allowed the central government to carve new provinces out of Aceh's territory without seeking the approval of the Aceh legislative council.

Indra J. Piliang, a researcher with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), expressed a similar view, saying that allowing the partition of Aceh would destroy trust building the government and the former GAM insurgents. "Don't let this bill give rise to new conflict in Aceh," he said.

Demands for the establishment of two new provinces in Aceh resurfaced last year after the signing of the truce that ended three decades of separatist fighting.

While the proponents of the creation of an Aceh Leuser Antara (ALA) province started their campaign in 2000, those supporting the establishment of a Southwest Aceh (ABS) province only announced their plan last year.

If formed, ALA would comprise Central Aceh, Southeast Aceh, Aceh Singkil, Gayo Lues and Bener Meriah regencies, while Southwest Aceh would consist of South Aceh, Northwest Aceh, Aceh Jaya, Semuelue and Nagan Raya regencies. Currently, Aceh is divided into 20 regencies and municipalities.

Last week, supporters of ALA and ABS visited the House and met with a number of legislators. They appear to be determined to engineer the partition of Aceh, although many at the grassroots level are not interested in the issue.

Agung said people in both areas, who are still struggling to survive after the tsunami that devastated Aceh late in 2004, are more interested in questions like better welfare, more justice and peace-building. "The (partition) issue has been concocted by local political elites seeking power," he said.

Home Affairs Minister M. Ma'ruf refused to comment on the possible partition of Aceh, saying that he would not make any statement pending the bill's deliberation.