Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – With political elites in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam at loggerheads with each other in a battle to rule the resource-rich province in the upcoming gubernatorial poll, violence threatens to tear the province apart.
Last week, the house of an election campaign team member was riddled with bullets, highlighting a rift that is feared to ignite more armed violence between supporters of former commanders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group.
Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, former head of GAM's notorious intelligence unit who is running for a second term in the April 9 election, said there was mounting concern over the unchecked circulation of firearms that could be in the possession of rival parties.
Irwandi said recently that he had instructed several former GAM intelligence personnel to cooperate with the police and the military to find the source of the unlicensed firearms.
"We've confiscated hundreds of firearms. Several former GAM combatants submitted their weapons voluntarily. But in some cases, we paid the public to hand over weapons," said Irwandi, who often carries an FN pistol for protection.
"There are still a lot of weapons circulating in Aceh," he said, denying an allegation that surrendered weapons had been eventually distributed to his followers in order to defend themselves against their opponents.
Aceh is striving to recover, both economically and socially, from more than three decades of separatist conflict that claimed more than 17,000 lives.
In August 2005, GAM agreed to drop its demand for independence and signed a peace accord with the Indonesian government, less than one year after the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that killed at least 220,000 people in the region.
However, former GAM combatants handed over only 830 weapons to the military, with more than 5,000 remaining unaccounted for. The weapons are believed to have been used to carry out several incidents of armed violence in the province ahead of the polls.
"We're not responsible for the recent armed attacks. We're always accused when there's an incident related to violence," said gubernatorial candidate Zaini Abdullah, a former GAM minister who previously lived in exile in Sweden. "Former combatants no longer keep any firearms. We gave them all to the authorities."
Although Zaini and Irwandi once fought together as GAM members for Aceh's independence, both are now at loggerheads ahead of the election. "Irwandi has betrayed the idealism that we fought for. We guided him and promoted him, but look what he has done to us and to the Acehnese," said Zaini.
Zaini's candidacy is supported by the Aceh Party, founded by former GAM combatants to achieve their political goal, while Irwandi is running as an independent candidate.
Members of Irwandi's campaign team have on at least two occasions been the victims of shootings carried out by unidentified gunmen, while Zaini's team has experienced no serious threats.
Supporters of both camps dominate the power struggle in Aceh, while five other gubernatorial candidates seem to have few supporters.
"The situation nowadays is critical. GAM has been divided since the 2006 gubernatorial election, but the current situation is worse," said the former GAM spokesman for Aceh Timur regency, Kafrawi.
"My concern is that the current peace should not be ruined by infighting. We're tired of conflict. This peaceful condition that we live in should be maintained at all costs," he said.