Max Lane
The second congress of the Acehnese Peoples Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), held on February 23-26 in Aceh Besar, took a decision to form a new political party in Aceh. The FPDRA was established in the late 1990s and grew out of student, women's and farmers' groups struggling against the Suharto dictatorship.
After the fall of Suharto in 1998, the FPDRA emerged as one of the key activist groups independent of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that supported a referendum for self-determination while continuing the struggle for social justice. The FPDRA also built up a working alliance with activists in Jakarta and helped form the Solidaritas Aceh Papua (SAP), in collaboration with Papuan students and activists from the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD).
The Preparatory Committee of Acehnese Peoples Party (KP-PRA) will be declared on March 16 in Aceh's capital Banda Aceh. Thamrin Ananda, former secretary-general of FPDRA, has been elected chairperson of the KP-PRA.
There is now a debate, within and outside of the Indonesian parliament, about whether local parties will be able to contest elections in Aceh. This possibility was a concession won through the peace agreement signed between GAM and the Indonesian government last year, but is yet to be formalised in law. In all other parts of Indonesia, local parties are not permitted to contest elections. Parties must prove they have branches in more than half of the country's provinces, as well as in a minimum number of districts and villages in every province.
Ananda issued a statement outlining the key elements of the KP-PRA's perspectives: "The fundamental problem of Acehnese people has been capitalism with huge foreign capital domination; militarism in the political area; and feudal remnants in culture. The KP-PRA stands for the nationalisation of the main state assets which had been plundered by imperialists; repudiation of the foreign debt; and national industrialisation for employment. For the majority of the Acehnese peasantry, KP-PRA is fighting for modern, cheap and massive technology for agriculture and also to reduce the price of agricultural production means."
The statement also explained that there has been a massive influx of money into Aceh in the form of post-tsunami aid, creating a scramble among the local bourgeoisie to hook-up with foreign capital in competition with Indonesian capital from outside Aceh. "All of the factions of capital need political stability for their commercial activities, which is why they have backed the peace process. But their self-seeking scramble has meant the continuing marginalisation of the poor, especially the peasantry."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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