Jakarta – Experts recommended Friday that Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam look toward locally implemented sharia laws to see established the Aceh Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR Aceh), despite the KKR's current lack of legal backing on a national level.

Local sharia law could see issued a Qanun, or regional law in accordance to sharia Islamic law, which could implement the beginnings of a wholly independent and local truth and reconciliation commission.

The Constitutional Court's recent decision to revoke laws on the National KKR has hampered any progress toward establishing Aceh's commission on time, as required by the laws around Aceh's governance.

"The (2005) Helsinki MOU stated that a truth and reconciliation commission is to be established in Aceh," Aceh's governor Irwandi Yusuf said. "According to the law, the commission was supposed to be effective by Aug. 1, 2007."

Aceh's governance laws require the KKR Aceh to stand under the National KKR. But the National KKR is yet to be established by the central government because of a revocation of the laws it needed to be realized last year.

"Meanwhile, there has been strong pressure on our side for the establishment of the commission, as conveyed by victims of human rights violations," Irwandi said. "The Aceh government is facing a really difficult challenge."

Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Ifdah Kasim said Aceh could still go ahead with the plan. He said the truth commission's formal position was judicially acknowledged within the relevant law.

"Theoretically, the Aceh Truth and Reconciliation Commission is legally there," Ifdah said.

"And there's not a single article in that law that says the commission in Aceh couldn't be established before the presence of a national commission," Ifdhal told a seminar on truth and peace in Aceh, held at Bima Karsa Hotel in Jakarta.

Ifdah said the court had provided several recommendations, "not one of (which) said anything about stopping the peace accords in Aceh".

He said Aceh could resort to local sharia law and issue a Qanun detailing the procedures and guidelines for the commission. He said the guidelines could be sent to the seminar held by the European Union's Aceh Peace Process Support and Komnas HAM.

Syiah Kuala University dean of law Mawardi Ismail said Islam advocated "forgiveness" as more mandatory than "punishment". "Therefore, any requirements for the mechanism of forgiving is wajib (religiously mandatory) in Islamic law," Mawardi said.

Boediono of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry said the revision of the laws around the National KKR would take less time than issuing a new law.

"After several inter-sectoral discussions, we started designing the revision draft six months ago," Boediono said. "It's still in process and we plan to conduct a public assessment on a model for the National KKR this December."

Boediono said it would take full commitment from Komnas HAM and Aceh's government to ensure the peace process in Aceh stayed on track. (lva)