Aceh shootings related to election

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says that a number of recent shooting incidents in Aceh were related to the regional election in the province, which will take place in February.

“I’ve been watching recent events, there were some disruptions. All of those were related to the election,” the President said in his speech at the National Police headquarters on Tuesday.

SBY called for law enforcement agencies to take action against the perpetrators for the sake of maintaining peace in the province, particularly after the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki in 2005.

“The peace we have achieved has to be maintained so we don’t see a setback,” he said, adding that the police should protect citizens.

“Our brothers and sisters in Aceh lived with a difficult situation for so many years [before the MoU signing]. Don’t let them experience a setback just because of a particular group’s political ambitions. Let’s keep [the peace],” he said as quoted by tribunnews.com. (swd)