The peace process in the Indonesian province of Aceh is about to face its next big test., with parliament setting up a special committee to debate a draft law granting a level of autonomy to Aceh. The committee's 50 members hold their first meeting this week. The draft law is one of the commitments made when Jakarta signed a peace pact with the separatist Free Aceh Movement GAM, in August. But there are still concerns within GAM that parliament may cause the peace process to falter.
Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam
Speakers: Dr Damien Kingsbury, former adviser to the Aceh separatist peace negotiating team.
Dr Kingsbury: Certainly the cross roads, this legislation is fundamental to ensuring the peace process goes ahead as agreed. The piece of legislation in question contains all of the provisions from the peace agreement. It's a very complex piece of legislation. Within it there are three outstanding issues, one of which is the potential for the division or unity of the province which was a basic element of the agreement. The second point is the creation of local political parties which will require a shift in Indonesian political law and the third point is the capacity for independent candidates to contest local elections.
Lam: Well, the peace deal or the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the government and GAM last August states that the law must be passed by the end of March. It's a very tight deadline, isn't it?
Dr Kingsbury: Well, it is a tight deadline. Of course there's always a capacity to slow these processes down intentionally as well, and certainly I think there's some people in Jakarta who would like to see that happen. It may be delayed and indeed the election schedule for 26 April may be delayed. At this stage, we don't have confirmation on that, but it may be pushed back.
And I think that GAM would probably accept that if they believed that the process was being handled appropriately. They would not accept it if they thought it was just a delaying or wrecking tactic. But at this stage, the legislative process does look like it's going to go ahead okay. Sofian Djalil, the Indonesian Information Minister has stated categorically that Aceh will not be divided, so that's one of the main problems that looks like it's out of the way.
The issue of independent candidates I believe is now basically been resolved and that they will be allowed to go ahead if they meet certain conditions.
The real question is the creation of local political parties and this is absolutely central to the agreement. This was what the agreement hinged on, whether or not there was an agreement. So I suspect that this will actually also go through, but there will be considerable debate about it.
Lam: And from where you sit, do you think it's likely to face much opposition in parliament when it's finally presented?
Dr Kingsbury: Oh yes, there will be considerable opposition, but I suspect it will fall along party lines and if that's the case then the legislation should be passed with about 53 or 54 per cent of the vote.
Lam: Mm. And what's the situation in Papua Province right now?
Dr Kingsbury: Well, the situation in Papua is that the government has indicated that they also want to reach a similar type of agreement.
They basically want to resolve the outstanding problems there which have been going on for decades. The various Papuan organisations have also indicated that they would like to do something like this, but they need to become a bit more unified, a bit more organised to be able to present their claim. There is a move in that direction at this time. We will know within the next couple of weeks I think whether or not such a claim will be able to be presented and whether such an agreement may be able to be at least discussed if not actually reached.
Lam: In both these issues in Papua and Aceh, are we seeing a tussle here between the administration in Jakarta and sections of the TNI who are perhaps loathed to give up its influence in the Archipelagoes political affairs?
Dr Kingsbury: Absolutely. They're also loathed to give up their economic investments in both of those provinces and that's a significant source of revenue for the military.
The Indonesian Government does have in place a program of civilian control over the military and it is going forward. The TNI, the military is on the back foot in this regard, but they still have the capacity to spoil these processes, particularly through the use of militias and creating problems, which they have a history of doing in the past. The question really now is whether or not the administration can sufficiently control the military and ensure that these types of problems don't derail the peace process in Aceh or the possibility of agreement in Papua.