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Indonesia's Aceh rebels demand self-government, reject 'special autonomy'
Separatists in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province have reiterated their demand for self-government to end a decades-long war, saying democratic local elections are a basic right. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) said its agreement this week that the province would not try to separate from Indonesia did not mean it accepted the present system of special autonomy, which it said had led to bloodshed and corruption. The agreement has raised hopes of success at peace talks between the rebels and the government under way in Helsinki. GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah said self-government would be a compromise that would end the rebel uprising, which started in 1976 and has claimed nearly 15,000 lives, mostly of civilians. "We have offered the compromise position of self-government as a way of resolving the Aceh conflict," Abdullah said in a statement. The system of self-government should be based on elections contested by local political parties, he said. "What we are proposing is nothing less than basic democratic rights," Abdullah said. However Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last weekend the government would not allow local parties to stand in elections in Aceh as this would be against the law, although former GAM members would be allowed to stand. The government has also said the position of governor would be off limits to the former rebels, although they could run for the vice governorship post and those of districts chiefs and mayors. Abdullah said GAM "categorically rejects the status quo of special autonomy', which has produced only bloodshed, corruption and the denial of the fundamental rights of the people of Aceh to determine their own affairs." The system, implemented in 2001, allows Aceh to take profits from its wealth of natural resources, partially implement Islamic Sharia law and control its own judicial and education system. Saying that GAM had already made "major compromises", Abdullah called on Jakarta to make similar concessions to end the bloody conflict. The first day of a fifth round of informal peace talks between the government of Indonesia and the GAM was held in Helsinki on Tuesday. The December 26 tsunami which devastated most of Aceh's coastline and killed more than 130,000 people there prompted both sides to reopen the peace talks in January. The talks stalled in May 2003 when Jakarta declared martial law and launched a major military offensive in the province.
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