Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) will not step into the controversy about the newly passed Aceh governance law, chief Pieter Feith said Wednesday.

He said the law on the administration of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam was not a sudden "incident", but rather the result of the lengthy efforts of Indonesian legislators.

"What we must stress about is that this is not an incident, but the work of a parliament. And all parliaments in democratic countries work independently and there must be no interference."

The AMM, consisting of representatives of the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is assigned to monitor the process of legislative change and to rule on complaints of alleged violations of the Helsinki agreement, which was signed between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders in Helsinki last August.

Feith described the law as comprehensive and fairly accommodated the elements of the agreement between the government and the GAM. "Anyway, we need to study it further because it has many articles and details," he added.

The law passed Tuesday by the House of Representatives is based on the tenets of last year's Helsinki agreement. But GAM officials and activists argue the law fails to live up to the its principles, particularly in curtailing the power of the local administration in international cooperation and management of natural resources. They also condemn the use of non-retroactive principles for past human rights abuses.

Along with several non-governmental organizations, the GAM plans to file a complaint with the AMM about the law.

In Jakarta, Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto said the armed forces "were committed to supporting the peace process in Aceh".

Speaking at a meeting Wednesday night with media editors, he conceded rampant crime persisted in the province, but said such disturbances should not obstruct the overall passage to peace, "and should not lead us toward fresh fighting". The unrest, he insisted, should be resolved in a peaceful and professional manner.

But an activist from the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA), Dawan Gayo, said the law had to be immediately revised because it contravened the spirit of the peace deal. He said the law was an even worse deal than the 2001 Aceh Special Autonomy Law, which was enacted in a bid to appease separatists by allowing the application of Islamic law in the province.

Information and Communication Minister Sofyan A. Djalil, who was a member of the government negotiating team, said the option to seek amendments was always available. He said the Aceh law was unique because its 99 articles could lead to the issuance of 94 bylaws, or qanun, three presidential decrees and two government decrees. The law provides the basis to prepare a local election, which has been delayed twice, which is expected as early as September.

Meanwhile, support for the law continued Wednesday. The head of the Aceh Sharia Department, Alyasa Abubakar, was quoted as saying by Antara newswire that the law gave a much clearer explanation about the application of Islamic principles in the overwhelmingly Muslim province.

A group of civil groups under the Ulee Kareng forum in Aceh also responded positively to the law, which they said could serve as the momentum to build a better, more independent province.