Editorial: Stand up, Aceh!

Common sense and political realism eventually won. After threatening to boycott it for months, the largest local party, the Aceh Party, eventually decided on Friday to contest the gubernatorial election. We hope this was the last hurdle leading up to the local race.

Zaini Abdullah and Muzakir Manaf, respectively a former foreign minister and armed wing chief of the now defunct Free Aceh Movement (GAM), registered themselves with the Independent Election Commission (KIP) in Banda Aceh as gubernatorial candidate and running mate.

The voting date has been postponed five times due to the party’s opposition, but the new date of April 9 hopefully will not change for the sake of democracy, peace and well-being of all people there. They have sacrificed too much due to the delays which have stemmed from the selfishness of the political elites.

Leaders of the Aceh Party vowed to shun the second direct election if the central government failed to meet their demand for the prohibition of independent candidates, citing the 2006 Aceh Administration Law, which allows non-partisan aspirants to contest only once.

They tried in vain to block the re-election bid of incumbent Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf, their former comrade during the war against Jakarta. The Constitutional Court granted Irwandi’s request for the ban to be revoked. The court also ordered the KIP to extend candidate registration so as to allow the Aceh Party’s candidates to join the race.

It is in the interest of all stakeholders in Aceh that all quarters maintain composure and stop blaming the central government for any problems plaguing the province they used to do in the past.

No doubt the central government was held responsible for most human rights abuses and the miseries of Aceh in the past, including the loss of thousands of lives in a military crackdown to quell the rebellion in the natural resources-rich province. But thanks to the Helsinki Peace Agreement in 2005, Aceh was able to create peaceful solutions to its people’s grievances by means of democracy through the direct election of a governor, mayors and regents.

The former independence fighters have to play a totally different role as part of the national leadership that is responsible to build a much better Aceh. They should prove they are capable of realizing all that they fought for during war-time: well-being and justice for all.

No one can deny that the situation in Aceh improved greatly after the peace agreement. The economy has had a chance to grow, although there is still a lot to do to uphold justice against those accountable for the gross human rights violations in the past.

Aceh political elites in contention for the governor and deputy governor posts have to prove to the voters, their own people, not only their guts to criticize the government but also their capability to fulfill their promises to the people.

There is no more room for Aceh to look back to the past. The election gives Aceh people a golden chance to choose leaders who will bear the responsibility of bringing welfare and peace to the province. Stand up Aceh