ACEH: Survey shows local political parties wanted

James Balowski, Jakarta

According to a survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) on March 8-18, an overwhelming majority of Acehnese want local political parties to be established. To date the only such move has been the launch of the Acehnese People's Party Preparatory Committee on March 16.

"From the 77% of those surveyed in the Aceh ethnic group, 67% agree with the local party's existence in Aceh", said the head analyst of LSI, Anies Baswedan, on March 28.

It is not clear whether a draft law on a government for Aceh currently being debated in Indonesia's parliament will allow the formation of local parties.

On the issue of the election of regional heads, Baswedan said that 64% of survey respondents agree with independent candidates and 62% said they would be free of coercion, although 53% said there may be pressure in former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) strongholds.

On security, 76% said the situation had improved and 73% said that there has been progress in the peace process. Nearly 90% rated the performance of the Aceh Monitoring Mission and the Indonesian government from good to excellent and 67% were confident that Aceh would remain part of Indonesia. Only 48%, however, are convinced that GAM will stop its struggle to separate from Indonesia.

Acehnese were far less positive on the issue of living standards, with around 76% saying life had gotten harder since the peace deal, blaming the government for the soaring prices of basic commodities and the high rates of unemployment.

Most people are also still afraid to talk about politics, especially those living in former GAM strongholds. More than half said they were still afraid of being arbitrarily arrested by Indonesian security forces.

Baswedan said the survey showed that peace in Aceh was currently about "the absence of conflict" rather than "the presence of freedom" or justice. "The Acehnese are still worried because several peace agreements signed before the one signed in Helsinki in August last year have failed", he told the Jakarta Post on March 28.

From Green Left Weekly, April 5, 2006.

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From GLW issue 663