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28-strong Thai government delegation affiliated with King Prajadhipok’s Institute has visited Aceh to study the peace process and the implementation of sharia law in the region.

The three-day visit, which ended Thursday night, was aimed at getting input from the Aceh provincial administration so that the lessons learned can be applied in Thailand, particularly in the strife-torn southern parts of the country, where people have been fighting for autonomy and sharia law.

“We want to know exactly how the people of Aceh, especially the disputing parties such as the Free Aceh Movement [GAM] and the Indonesian government, could make peace and sit together now,” said Narumon Siriwat, a King Prajadhipok delegation member representing the Thai senate.

One of the institutions visited by the delegation, the Aceh Legislative Council, was established following the peace treaty in Helsinki in 2005.

Aceh’s success in achieving peace sets a good example globally, especially for southern Thailand, where an armed insurgency is currently waging war with the central government in Bangkok.

“We wish to transfer the knowledge achieved by the people of Aceh to our citizens in the south,” Narumon said.

In the meeting between the delegation and members of the Aceh Legislative Council, led by speaker Hasbi Abdullah, members from the Thai delegation asked a wide-variety of questions about the peace process, including the reasons why GAM demanded for independence from the Indonesian government.

Legislative council member Adnan Beuransyah, a former GAM member, responded by saying the Aceh conflict took place due to historical divisions and the relatively minor autonomy granted to the Aceh provincial administration by the central government, among other reasons.

“The conflict ensued from the Dutch era, when they attempted to rule the Aceh kingdom. However, since Indonesia’s independence, Aceh was unilaterally handed over to the Indonesian government and Aceh became a part of Indonesia,” Adnan said.

In addition to Aceh’s historical resistance to the central government, the delegation was also told about prominent separatist figure Hasan Di Tiro, who formed the Freed Aceh Movement in 1976 to fight for independence from the Indonesian government, leading to the armed conflict between GAM and the Indonesian armed forces.

The Thai delegation also asked about the implementation of Islamic law, or sharia, in Aceh, due to demands from the predominant Muslim population in southern Thailand.

“Has the Islamic sharia been implemented long ago, or ever since the peace pact was signed in 2005?” King Prajadhipok’s Institute delegation head Narong Vongsumits asked.

Hasbi replied that sharia law has been enforced in Aceh since the signing of the peace treaty in Helsinki in 2005. Although sharia law was one of the regional autonomous rights in Aceh, its implementation was still in the transition stage.

“In several aspects we have implemented Islamic sharia, but in other aspects we still use the national law,” Hasbi said.