Kalla asks Aceh to maintain peace ahead of elections

Hotli Simanjuntak ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  BANDA ACEH   |  Sat, 03/14/2009 2:21 PM  |  Headlines

Concerned with mounting tensions in Aceh recently, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has asked all sides to nurture and maintain the peace ahead of the general elections in the province.

Speaking here on Friday, Kalla said the peace the people had enjoyed was not just built through "prayer and the blessings of God", but was mostly the result of an agreement that was reached after the cataclysmic Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that claimed more than 200,000 lives.

"We do not want any more similar disasters in order to bring peace and continue the development," he said during the inauguration of 10 major development projects completed by the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR).

The BRR will end its mission in Aceh and Nias on April 16, with its tasks in the province to be taken over by the provincial government.

The Vice President recalled the peace talks that were initially strongly supported by the two warring sides who wanted to carry out rehabilitation and reconstruction work peacefully.

"It was impossible at that time to conduct the reconstruction, because the conditions were not conducive, and without peace there would have been no reconstruction," he said, adding the devastation triggered by the tsunami required all sides, especially the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), to call an end to hostilities to allow humanitarian relief into the province.

The government and GAM went on to hold peace talks mediated by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari in Helsinki in May 2007, five months after the tsunami, ending in a peace agreement being signed on Aug. 15 to draw to a close the three-decade separatist conflict.

Kalla said the peace that ensued had created a feeling of safety among the people and allowed the province to resume the development programs to help cope with past social and economic injustice.

"With the economic injustice being put to rights, social life is getting better and the social conflict will also disappear," he said.

He also expressed gratitude for the major changes brought about in the post-peace and reconstruction province, pointing out that Aceh residents could now boast the highest per capita income in the country.

"The Aceh people's per capita income is the highest at present, around Rp 6 million per annum, while in the country's eastern region it is only Rp 2 million," he said.

Kalla also called on all political parties to work hand in hand to maintain security and order ahead of the elections, and to compete in harmony. He said all stakeholders, including the government, the parties and the General Elections Commission (KPU), would have to nurture mutual trust, amid the threat of security disturbances and conflicts looming over the hard-won peace and social harmony in the province.

"All eligible voters have a right to vote, and security authorities should give them the protection they need to exercise that right freely, safely and honestly," he said. "There shouldn't be any intimidation or acts of terror. We have to ensure that everything proceeds peacefully."

Security disturbances this year:

January 2009:

A bomb explodes in front of the UKM Hotel in Banda Aceh, destroying three cars, including one belonging to the Aceh Party

Two armed men launch an assault on the office of the Aceh Transition Commission (KPA) in Banda Aceh, killing one person and seriously wounding another

February 2009:

The secretary of the KPA office in Bireuen, Dedi Noviandi, is found dead in his car in Gampong Baru village in the regency

Gunmen shoot dead two former GAM rebels and wound another, all of them members of the Aceh Party

March 13, 2009:

A grenade is thrown at a coffee stall owned by an Aceh Party official in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, injuring five people

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