A furor has erupted over the recent formation of the GAM party in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh. Former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) announced the formation of the party on July 7. Chaired by former GAM military commander Muzakkir Manaf, it adopted GAM's white crescent and star symbol on a red background as its logo. Former GAM "prime minister" Malik Mahmud later said that Jakarta had agreed to the establishment of a local party in Aceh based on the former rebel group that fought for Acehnese independence from Indonesia.
The government, however, was quick to deny that it had given any such blessing, with Vice-President Jusuf Kalla saying that although Mahmud had discussed the issue with him, no official approval had been given.
Presidential spokesperson Andi Alfian said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had never approved the use of GAM's insignia, adding that while there will be no banning of local parties, they have to be established in accordance with existing laws and uphold the unitary principles of the state (i.e., accept Aceh remaining a province of Indonesia).
State secretary Hatta Radjasa also rejected GAM's claim, saying that the Yudhoyono clearly did not approve of it and that it contradicts the spirit of the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between GAM and the Indonesian government in August 2004.
House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I member Suparlan was quoted by Detik.com on July 9 as saying, "This can no longer be tolerated. Summon the leadership, if they don't respond then arrest them." National Mandate Party commission member Abdillah Toha said that it demonstrates that former GAM members no longer wish to be part of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). "The fatal error in the MoU is that it does not have a clause on the dissolution of GAM. This can no longer be tolerated", he asserted.
Former state secretary and Commission I member Yusril Ihza Mahendra described it as being as if "a necklace of war has been draped around our necks". "The formation of the GAM party is clearly not in accordance with the Helsinki MoU. It also violates Law No. 11/2006 on Acehnese Governance", he told Detik.com.
However, neither the Aceh Governance Law nor the MoU contain any such stipulation. The MoU notes only that Aceh has the "right to use regional symbols including a flag, a crest and a hymn". The only reference to GAM symbols is in section 4.2 where it states, "GAM members will not wear uniforms or display military insignia or symbols after the signing of this MoU".
Likewise, article 2, paragraph 4 of the Aceh Governance Law, which covers the names and symbols of local political parties, only specifies that the name and symbol of a local party cannot have a resemblance to one already used by the state, a state institution, the government, a regional government or an existing national or local political party. It makes no mention of the use of the GAM name or symbol.
While former GAM leaders have expressed grievances over some aspects of the Aceh Governance Law and the MoU, the group has not returned to armed struggle and has reiterated its commitment to the peace deal and remaining part of Indonesia.
This remained the case during the recent election of regional heads in Aceh, in which former GAM members Irwandi Yusuf and Muhammad Nazar won the governorship of the province and independent GAM-linked candidates won the majority of regency and municipal tickets.
It is in this context that some of the most inflammatory, but at the same time most revealing, remarks have come from Muladi, the head of military think-tank the National Resilience Institute.
Speaking to reporters in Jakarta on July 9, Muladi claimed that by calling itself GAM and using the GAM insignia the party has violated the Helsinki MoU, the Aceh Governance Law and the regulation on local parties in Aceh. He added that the movement must be stopped before it gained international support and that the government should refuse to register it.
Following a meeting with Kalla in Jakarta on July 10 he went even further, claiming the new party has "no other goal but to achieve independence". "They are using the GAM flag. GAM is the Free Aceh Movement. So if [they] still continue to use GAM symbols it means that's their aim", he told Detik.com (Several days later, however, Kalla shrugged this off saying former GAM members have agreed to maintain Aceh as part of Indonesia).
Muladi went on to say that based on the results of the regional elections in Aceh, if the GAM party takes part in the 2009 elections they could win control of the Acehnese legislature. "If it is allowed, [we] can see how it will pan out. Local parties are established, then dominate the parliament, and later that's what the parliament will discuss. They will be able to discuss anything, including asking for a referendum", he told Detik.com adding that the situation "closely resembles East Timor before".
A factor influencing this was the uproar that followed an incident in Ambon on June 29, when a group of uninvited dancers managed to sneak into an event commemorating National Family Day and unfurl a South Maluku Republic (RMS) separatist flag in front of Yudhoyono and official dignitaries. This was followed by a protest on July 3 when a dancer unfurled a Morning Star separatist flag during a Papuan Traditional Council conference in Jayapura and demonstrations in Central Java and Jakarta displayed the Morning Star and called for a referendum on the status of West Papua.
There have been reports suggesting that security agencies were aware of the planned RMS protest but allowed it to go ahead. This has raised speculations that elements within the Indonesian military or police intentionally sought to embarrass Yudhoyono in order to push the government to give them a freer hand in dealing with separatism.
It is most unlikely that these agencies were unaware of the planned GAM party declaration since the initial steps in the process were reported by the media as far back June 4. On July 16 it was announced that Maluku police chief Guntur Gatot Setiawan and the Maluku military chief Major General Sudarmaidy had both been sacked over the incident.
So while most of Muladi's remarks can be easily dismissed as "overacting" — a phrase commonly attributed to excesses by the TNI (Indonesian military) during the Suharto dictatorship — his comments on the regional elections give a clue as to the real agenda behind the latest outbreak of anti-separatist saber-rattling.
While Yudhoyono's administration still enjoys a relatively high level of support, most Indonesians see legislators and the parties they represent as lazy, incompetent, corrupt and self-serving. This has resulted in a growing apathy or outright hostility towards the traditional parties, demonstrated by numerous surveys and large numbers of people not bothering to vote in regional elections. This is most certainly, if not more so, the case in Aceh.
But unlike the rest of Indonesia, with the exception of elections for the Regional Representatives Councils, Aceh is the only province that allows independent candidates to run for office or the formation of local political parties not endorsed by the existing parties. Particularly in the lead-up to the gubernatorial elections in Jakarta next August, there have been growing calls for revisions to the electoral laws to allow for independent candidates and local political parties in other parts of the country.
The large traditional parties strongly oppose this and are actually pushing to further tighten the already strict requirements for parties to be registered and take part in elections.
The victory of former rebel candidates in the Aceh regional election was a clear signal of GAM's popularity and Acehnese people's rejection of Jakarta politics. Speaking in December last year when the early result of the gubernatorial poll showed a landslide win for the Irwandi-Nazar ticket, Muladi himself admitted that while he was "surprised" at the outcome, the GAM candidates' imminent victories proved the appeal of the movement to the Acehnese.
One cannot help but wonder if behind all this rhetoric over the separatist threat allegedly posed by the GAM Party, 鶹ý of the political elite — particularly Acehnese legislators elected in 2004 before independent candidates were allowed in Aceh — are actually worried about losing something they value a great deal more than the integrity of the Indonesian state: power, position and, of course, the money and privileges that come with them.
[For regular reports translated from Indonesian language news sources on Aceh, West Papua and Indonesia email <>indoleft-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.]