------------------------------------------------------------------- IBRAHIM ISA'S FOCUS ON ACEH'S ELECTION Saturday, 17 December 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- WINNING ELECTION SEEN AS EASY PART ACEHNESE DEMAND JUSTICE AS AMM LEAVES IRWANDI STILL IN LEAD, MONITORS ISSUE REPORT ------------------------------------------------------------------------- WINNING ELECTION SEEN AS EASY PART M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Former Free Aceh Movement leader Irwandi Yusuf, who leads Aceh's gubernatorial race, will face an uphill struggle to govern the province, analysts said Thursday. Mohammad Qodari, of the new research institute Indo Barometer, said while Irwandi was polling convincingly at around 26 percent of the vote, being on an independent ticket would pose problems for him and running-mate Muhammad Nazar in the future. "Together with the local legislative council, Irwandi is mandated by the Aceh governance law to draw up 90 qanuns (bylaws), yet he will have no support from political factions in the legislature," Qodari told a discussion. The most pressing problem for the former GAM rebels, Qodari said, would be the repatriation of thousands of refugees who were displaced during the three-decades-long conflict between the rebel group and the Indonesian Military. "There are now over 50,000 refugees from armed conflicts in the past who feel they are being left out in the post-tsunami reconstruction projects," Qodari said. He said Irwandi and Nazar also needed to establish a good relationship with the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency, another powerful institution which controlled a huge sum of money to rebuild the tsunami-hit areas. Qodari believed Irwandi had made a blunder by announcing one of his top priorities would be to amend the Aceh governance law. "He opened a new battle front against the major political factions in the House of Representatives, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the Golkar Party, which has taken pains to produce the law," he said. The Irwandi-Nazar pair are poised to lead Aceh after a quick vote count gave them convincing lead in Monday's direct gubernatorial election. The lead surprised many, who expected the victory would be enjoyed by candidates nominated by the major political parties. Analyst Fadhil Hassan of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance said the new leaders of Aceh would also have problems dealing with the bureaucracy. He said in the near future the province would be awash with cash from numerous funding schemes prepared by the central government but it would likely lack the human resources to manage it. "The problem for Aceh now is not the lack of resources but how to manage the resources when it is left with the same incompetence bureaucracy. I doubt if the existing bureaucracy has the skill and competence to implement the policies of the new governor," he said. He warned Aceh could repeat the failure of Papua to improve the well-being of its people, despite receiving the bulk of its special autonomy fund from the central government. Meanwhile, activist Otto Syamsuddin Ishak of the Aceh Working Group said the likely victory of Irwandi and Nazar had overturned conventional wisdom about local politics. "They weren't nominated by any political parties, neither did they spend much money on the election and they received only a little support from the media. Yet they could win the election," he said.
AEHNESE DEMAND JUSTICE AS AMM LEAVES Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh While peace finally has descended upon Aceh, past wounds have yet to heal. A hundred people, claiming to be victims of past rights abuses in the province, demonstrated here Thursday urging the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) and the Aceh Reintegration Agency (BRA) to resolve their cases. Claiming to represent thousands of people across the province, the mostly middle-aged women demonstrators said the peace that was flowering would never fully bloom until there was full accountability for past abuses. "AMM should not leave Aceh ... there are still numerous unsolved problems," said Rukaya, who claimed her husband and two children were killed by security personnel in 2003. "Thousands of victims are still awaiting justice. The military personnel who perpetrated the abuses and the generals responsible have yet to be brought to justice," she said. The protest was held as the AMM officially concluded its 15-month mission Thursday. However, Banta Khalidansyah, a former rebel leader in West Aceh, urged the AMM to extend its mandate to resolve past rights cases. "We no longer believe Indonesia will respond to our grievances. Please stay and declare your commitment to helping Acehnese reveal the truth," he said. Hendra Budian, coordinator of the Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute (AJMI), regretted the AMM's departure, saying that as a body representing pro-human rights states it should show more concern for the issue. After meeting behind closed doors with AMM officers, the demonstrators left the mission's office to continue their protest at the Aceh Reintegration Agency office. AMM chairman Peter Feith said the mission could only work within its mandate. "Human rights violations which happened before Aug. 15, 2005, the date the MOU was signed, will be handled under Indonesian law," he said. The MOU he referred to was the Helsinki peace agreement signed by the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which paved the way for the AMM to enter the province. "Providing support for political prisoners and conflict victims is a long-term scheme which is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. The long-term program will be carried out by the European Commission and other donor countries and the AMM will no longer be in charge of this," he said. Feith underlined the importance of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). "I continue to make contact with relevant ministers in Jakarta and ask them to speed up the TRC's establishment." Asked about the possibility of violence flaring up after the mission's departure, Feith said any problems would be managed by the Indonesian government in cooperation with the European Commission. Feith also expressed hope that the winner of the just-concluded election in Aceh and officials in Jakarta could ensure the peace in the province continued. "A new era will come to Aceh with the establishment of a new administration to maintain peace," he said. Separately, former GAM spokesman Irwandi Yusuf -- who is expected to be confirmed as the winner of the gubernatorial election -- was asked to comment on the demands for a resolution of past rights abuses. He vowed to coordinate with the central government in pushing for reconciliation, despite the fact the law on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was recently annulled by the Constitutional Court. "We will consider establishing a commission under the Aceh administration, but it will be set up in close coordination with Jakarta since the majority of those allegedly involved in human rights abuses are security personnel," he told The Jakarta Post. The Constitutional Court recently struck down the 2004 law on the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to settle all unresolved human rights abuses in the country. The decision has sparked outrage among rights abuse victims and activists. IRWANDI STILL IN LEAD, MONITORS ISSUE REPORT Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh Foreign monitors on Thursday reported to the local poll supervisory body (Panwaslih) a number of violations during Monday's landmark elections in Aceh. Meanwhile, Irwandi Yusuf and running mate Muhammad Nazar continue to lead in the preliminary vote count for the gubernatorial election. The European Union Election Observation Mission for Aceh reported cases of intimidation at 1.2 percent of 232 polling stations in Central Aceh, Pidie and Aceh Besar. The Asian Network For Free Elections (Anfrel) announced similar cases in Aceh Tamiang, as well as technical violations during the voting and money politics during campaigning. Anfrel mission head Damaso Magbual said most voters who were targets of intimidation were reluctant to report the matter to the election supervisory agency. "Eligible voters were asked by unidentified people to hand over their voter cards for unspecified reasons. However, they don't want their cases reported to the official election supervisory agency for further investigation," he said at a press conference here Thursday. He said 11 Anfrel monitors deployed in 20 districts also found dozens of ballots in ballot boxes before voting began. He also said many ballots were declared invalid because people did not understand how to vote, while some polling station staff did not ensure ballots were correctly inserted in ballot boxes. "There is a need for adequate voter education and civic education all over Aceh," Magbual said. Citing an example, he said many ballots for governor were inserted in ballot boxes meant for mayoral races. He also called on the Aceh Independent Elections Committee (KIP Aceh) and the poll supervisory body to look into these cases to avoid similar problems in a possible second round of voting. Magbual said communication problems hampered Anfrel staff in performing their work, and asked the official supervisory agency to investigate all complaints thoroughly. EU Election Observation Mission chairman Glyn Ford also called on the poll supervisory body to look into the reported complaints and election violations. However, he said the complaints would not influence the final results of the elections. Ford said his mission also found the official election supervisory agency was sometimes ineffective and slow to respond to complaints during the voting. "Panwaslih had trouble during the election day and they were found to be less than cooperative and proactive in handling violations during the balloting day," he said. Ford said the supervisory agency had received a total of 158 complaints, with 109 of them having been identified as administrative problems and 19 as election violations. Meanwhile, as of Thursday evening the vote count by the Aceh Independent Elections Committee had former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Irwandi and his running mate still in the lead in the governor's race. The pair had 26.17 percent of the 984,758 votes counted by the KIP. They are followed by Humam Hamid and running mate Hasbi Abdullah with 18.60 percent of the counted votes, down from 20.35 percent on Wednesday. Trailing close behind in third is Golkar Party candidate Malek Raden and running mate Sayed Fuad Zakaria with 18.11 percent. The KIP has yet to receive ballot boxes from Sabang, North Aceh, Aceh Jaya, Bireuen, East Aceh and Langsa. GAM candidates are expected to do well in these areas.
