Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – If Aceh's young reformists have their way in the coming legislative election the province can expect major changes in the education sector.
Secretary General of the Aceh People's Party (PRA) Thamrin Ananda wants to ensure that the peace achieved in Aceh after 30 years of armed conflict will translate into better education, more employment opportunities and improved management of resources for the people.
"We know the Acehnese people need a proper party to facilitate their aspirations. PRA is trying to fulfill this role," Thamrin said.
The PRA was established in 2006, just six months after the Helsinki peace agreement, which ended decades of conflict in the province, was signed. This is the first local party ever formed in the provinces and is dominated by former reformation era activists.
The party will have to beat out 36 national parties and 5 other local parties to reach its target to gain 12 of 68 seats on the provincial council.
"Many people in Aceh do not have the chance to get proper jobs, proper education, or benefits from natural resources. We have made those issues our core programs," he said.
He pledged that if his party gets seats on the provincial council it will fight for free education for all Acehnese children.
About 55,000 Acehnese children are forced to drop out of school every year because they can not meet the costs. In 2008, Aceh ranked 31 out of Indonesia's 33 provinces in term of quality education.
Besides improving the educational sector, the party also plans to create a by-law to protect against the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources. It wants to re-negotiate the investment structure and profit sharing aspect of existing contracts with foreign companies operating in their region.
"Aceh is a rich province with various natural resources, but Acehnese people are poor and suffering," Thamrin said.
"Once we have new regulations, it will be easy to renew the contracts so that they benefit Aceh, We expect that improving the economic conditions will provide a strong basis for resolving many of the human rights issues in the province," he added.
According to Thamrin, conditions in Aceh have never improved, despite having directly elected a new governor and vice governor. "The government doesn't have proper plan for building Aceh," Thamrin stressed.
He added that the conflict and tsunami assistance programs also failed to really help Aceh because most were for the short term only. "We will fix everything to make Aceh better than before," he said. (naf)