M Isma & Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Demonstrations “opposing” the Home Affairs Department’s revisions to the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh (RUU-PA) are continuing and spreading. This time it was the turn of Student Solidarity for the People (SMUR) and the Bireuen Civil Society Alliance (AGSB) to protest the draft law that they say fails to accommodate the aspirations of the Acehnese people.

The action on Monday February 6 was the third recorded in Aceh since the Department of Home Affairs submitted the draft law to the House of Representatives (DPR). Protests have sprung up because demonstrators believe the government has ignored the aspirations contained in the Acehnese people’s version of the RUU-PA.

During the action, SMUR secretary general Rahmat Djailani urged that the RUU-PA become the basis for the welfare and justice for the Acehnese people. According to Djailani, the omission of 37 articles by the government indicates a blocking of the development of a people’s democracy and the nationalisation of mineral, energy and other natural resources.

Djailani accused the national political elite of being unwilling for Aceh’s natural resources to be enjoyed and managed by the Acehnese people. “What is in their minds is how Aceh’s natural resources can continue to be taken away leaving the Acehnese people to remain in poverty”, he said.

In relation to this issue, SMUR is calling for the RUU-PA to be able to guarantee the welfare of the Acehnese people. This can be fulfilled if the government includes all of the articles that had already been discussed by Acehnese society beforehand.

SMUR’s position he told journalists after giving a speech is to reject the version of the RUU-PA that does not included the articles on independent candidates and the nationalisation of mineral, energy and other natural resources in Aceh. “These two points or these articles are a prerequisite for the welfare of the people”, he said.

SMUR he said is calling on the Acehnese people not to no longer trust the old political elite, the remnants of the New Order regime that have transformed themselves into various new forms. It is for this reason that they are calling on the Acehnese people to prepare themselves to confront future efforts to impoverish them.

Bireuen

In Bireuen meanwhile, it was reported that hundreds of demonstrators from AGSB also protested the central government’s actions in trimming away the aspirations of the Acehnese people.

In a statement the Alliance strongly rejected the cutting down of the RUU-PA so that it no longer contains the substantial demands of the Acehnese people such as independent candidates and the authority of an Acehnese government. They also condemned the arrogant attitude of the political elite in the government and the DPR who do not wish for the Acehnese to be safe, affluent and dignified.

The Alliance appealed to the Acehnese people not to use their right to vote in the elections of the next Acehnese governor later this year if the substance of the people’s aspirations are not accommodated in the RUU-PA. Nevertheless, the Alliance called on the people to monitor the discussions of the RUU-PA and to safeguard the peace that has been created in Aceh. In addition to this the Alliance is urging the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) to actively participate in monitoring the discussion phase of the draft law as mandated by Point 5.2e in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian Government.

The demonstration by AGSB started in Peusangan. They then went to the AMM representative offices in Bireuen and then to the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) by bus. On arriving at the parliament they were confronted by a blockade of police officers. In front of the DPRD they held speeches and called on the members of the DPRD to meet with them.

“If we cannot all fit into the air-conditioned chamber, then we ask the members of the DPRD to come down and hear our statement, that will later be faxed to the president of Indonesia, the Minister of Home Affairs, the DPR and the Acehnese DPRD”, shouted Fuadi though a microphone.

A number of assembly members then met with the demonstrators. “We have already spoken with the leaders [of the demonstration], and we have submitted their statement to the secretariat to be faxed to the parties they requested”, explained Murdani Yusuf, the head of the Bireuen DPRD’s Commission A. [dzie]

[Translated by James Balowski.]