AK-38, Jakarta – TNI (armed forces) chief Endriartono Sutarto says that the TNI does not want to be blamed if the peace process in Aceh fails. “Even if it fails, I don’t want the failure to be caused by the TNI’s side. From the start I asked all officers to ensure that the implementation of the MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] proceeds smothly”, said Sutarto at a working meeting of the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I in Jakarta on Thursday September 8.

According to Sutarto, all TNI members will accept and comply with the MoU as a political policy decision taken by the government. On the Free Aceh Movement’s (GAM) side however, Sutarto is doubtful that the decision will be followed and accepted by all of its members. The reason being that on the ground GAM has a number of factions and it is not clear if they will accept what is being done by GAM in Sweden. Nevertheless, if the peace process fails, the TNI has already prepared preventative measures.

The importance of a contingency plan was also conveyed by Teungku Muhammad Yus, a DPR member from Aceh. According to Yus, all sides need to reflect on the failure of the earlier peace process. When the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) failed it was followed by a legal and security vacuum in Aceh. It is because of this that anticipatory measures need to be prepared immediately.

“Measure need to be prepared in case a failure occurs in the peace agreement. Don’t let there be a repeat of the CoHA period. But hopefully the MoU this time will proceed smoothly”, asserted the DPR member from the United Development Party.

Commission I meanwhile, has urged Sutarto to elaborate on the steps that will be taken if the peace agreement with GAM fails. Similar requests were also conveyed by a number of commission members at a working meeting between the government and the DPR.

At a meeting on Wednesday August 31, which was attended by the coordinating minister for politics, legal and security affairs, the minister for communication and information, the minister for justice and human rights and Sutarto, the commission asked the government to prepare a plan in case the peace agreement fails. A the meeting, the government said it has not prepared any measures whatsoever if this eventually becomes a reality.

“I have asked all parties to be optimistic and objective about the steps being taken by the government to resolve the Aceh problem peacefully and responsibly”, said security minister Widodo AS at the time. [dzie]

[Translated by James Balowski.]