It's four years this month, since the tsunami hit the Indonesian province of Aceh. While the tsunami brought much destruction to the region, it was the catalyst for great political change for Aceh. The government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement stepped up the pace for peace talks, leading to the Memorandum of Understanding in August 2005. Since then, Aceh has been politically vibrant, but on edge, especially in the lead up to Indonesia's parliamentary elections in April, next year.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Afridal Darmi, human rights lawyer from Legal Aid Foundation Indonesia

Sen Lam: Afridal, would that be an accurate observation that Aceh is a little on edge in the lead-up to the 2009 parliamentary elections?

Afridal Darmi: Yes, I think it's a fair observation on the condition right now.

Sen Lam: So what are some of the major issues there?

Afridal Darmi: The speciality about the general election in Aceh is that this is the first time for the Free Aceh Movement to change, to transform themselves from a combatant group into a political party. So it will be the first time to test this new approach whether they can transform themselves successfully or not. And these also will mean a big thing to Indonesian democracy actually because if this approach with local parties, that presumably will give a better constituency, closer constituency to the people, succeeds in Aceh, it could also be copied and also will be applied to the rest of Indonesia and it will be a new development.

Sen Lam: How worried is the entrenched establishment, the pro-government people within Aceh, that GAM might get a very strong political voice in upcoming elections?

Afridal Darmi: Well, of course, the national parties that are already established in Aceh will feel like politically threatened by – that they can lose a lot of votes from this new development but aside from that they generally accept it as a part of promoting the peace process in Aceh.

Sen Lam: What about the peace process itself – is that working well? I understand that one of the key problems was finding something to do for the GAM rebels who laid down their arms in the two years since the MOU or three years since the signing. How well integrated are these former fighters in Acehnese society?

Afridal Darmi: I think everybody tries their best but then again words alone are not enough. We still need things to make them feel really accepted by the community and vice versa, that the community also accepts them fully. But if we don't find something more sustainable for them to do then we better accept that things can be downhill from now.

Sen Lam: But is reconciliation taking place on the ground, though, because both sides, both the military and also GAM rebels have been accused of abuse during the long-running conflict. Are there steps, albeit tentative steps, towards reconciliation in Aceh?

Afridal Darmi: Yes, the government, the provincial government, set a new plan for forming the TLC, Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This commission is actually mandated by the MOU itself and also the law on the governing of Aceh, the law that gives autonomous rights for Aceh. But so far we are still in a preparing step for that TLC.

Sen Lam: The preparation stage?

Afridal Darmi: The preparation stage. The government appointed me, actually, to be leader for this team for this preparation. Hopefully that next year this commission will be established and we can start work on the reconciliation issue from then.

Sen Lam: Well, the MOU also guaranteed human rights abuses would be tried, so has that been the case, have any steps been taken?

Afridal Darmi: I'm afraid that's not the case, although the MOU said the human right court would be established for Aceh but there's no progress from 2005 till now.

Sen Lam: On Radio Australia you're listening to Connect Asia and our studio guest this morning is human rights lawyer Afridal Darmi from Indonesia's Legal Aid Foundation, the LBH. Afridal, part of the MOU covered, obviously, political participation. Is that happening within Aceh? Are the local Acehnese feeling a sense of possession, if you like, of local politics or is the entrenched Golkar is still pretty much running the show and very influential?

Afridal Darmi: I think yes. I mean the local people, not only GAM, also founded their own parties so we have six local parties now and not all of them are lead by GAM, only one or two, I think it was. There is another party called SIRA – it is formed by a former student movement there with the same name, SIRA, The Centre Information for Referendum Aceh. Another one is human activists – former student who gather themselves and formed another party called PLA.

Sen Lam: So there's participation from most sections of Acehnese society?

Afridal Darmi: Yes.

Sen Lam: The Governor, Irwandi Yusuf, is – I understand he's quite ill. Is that a cause for worry for the Aceh peace process given that he's widely seen as a GAM leader with the ability to moderate the Aceh issue?

Afridal Darmi: Quite ill but now I think he's recovered. He was in treatment for two months but he returned. He's healthy enough to travel to California and give a speech in the meeting of governor for green projects for development.

Sen Lam: And just briefly, Afridal, to what extent do you think progress is Aceh is being held back by the fear in Jakarta of the 'balkanisation' of the Indonesian archipelago, the break-up and break away of all these provinces?

Afridal Darmi: No, I don't think that has any fundament because the very fundament of the MOU is the acceptance of Indonesia as a whole nation, the integrities guaranteed in the MOU, so 'balkanisation' is not an issue for Indonesia, actually.