M. Taufiqurrahman and Nani Afrida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – The secretive deliberation of the Aceh governance bill has sparked suspicions that factions in the House of Representatives are engaged in political maneuvering to water down the draft proposed by the Acehnese people.
The Acehnese Network for Democracy (JDA), a coalition of non-governmental organizations, said Thursday the bill's focal points of self-governance, local political parties, implementation of sharia law and natural resource revenue-sharing presented opportunities for political jockeying during the closed-door deliberation by the working committee.
"What is at stake now is peace in Aceh, but the working committee doesn't seem to have a sense of crisis and chose to shut themselves off from the public to cover up their horse trading," Agung Wijaya of the JDA told a press briefing.
The network consists of 30 NGOs in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, including the Aceh Working Group, Center for Electoral Reform and the Aceh Development Fund.
Following the dissolution of a special committee (Pansus), the House has set up a working committee (Panja) to discuss contentious issues unresolved from the earlier discussions.
In the past week, the committee has discussed the contentious issues with representatives from the government behind closed doors at a South Jakarta hotel.
Prior to the commencement of the session, special committee chairman Ferry Mursyidan Baldan promised that a daily press briefing would be held on the progress of the bill deliberation.
However, there has been no briefing or release of a public statement.
Observers who visited the hotel were denied information about where and when the discussion took place. Even a number of local councillors from Aceh – the only parties who were officially summoned to take part in the discussion – were denied entry.
"We have to set up a monitoring camp inside the hotel just to continue our work in guarding the bill's deliberation," Acehnese councillor Chairul Amal told The Jakarta Post.
He said the only way they could monitor the deliberation and convey the aspirations of the Acehnese was through a group of Acehnese lawmakers who were part of the committee.
"These Acehnese lawmakers briefed us about the latest developments in the discussion of crucial issues, and if something goes wrong they will be the first ones held responsible." The lawmakers include Farhan Hamid of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Nasir Jamil of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
"From our observation thus far, we conclude that everything is still on track," Chairul said, adding it would take another week to conclude the discussions.
In Banda Aceh, hundreds of students and NGO activists staged a rally to protest the closed-door deliberations, saying the arrangement would allow for backroom deals.
"We will boycott future local elections if the endorsed bill runs contrary to the Helsinki peace accord," protester Zirhan said, referring to the truce signed in August last year by the government and the Free Aceh Movement to end a 29-year separatist conflict.