LAKSAMANA.Net, June 24, 2004 11:50 PM
Hamzah Haz Vows to Restore Peace in Aceh
Laksamana.Net - As killings continue unabated in war-torn Aceh province, Vice
President Hamzah Haz, one of the five contenders in the July 5 presidential election,
has promised to restore peace to the territory within 100 days if elected.
"There will be no more war in Aceh. Within 100 days of my government, Aceh will be
in peace," he was quoted as saying Thursday (24/6/04) by state news agency Antara
at a campaign rally in the provincial capital Banda Aceh.
The vice president did not explain precisely how he would bring a swift end to the 27
year rebellion that has so far claimed the lives of about 13,000 people, mostly
civilians.
He merely said members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should come
down from their mountain hideouts, give up their struggle for independence and return
to the fold of Indonesia.
Haz is leader of the Islam-based United Development Party (PPP), which won most of
the votes cast in Aceh in the April 5 general election. PPP received 164,576 (14.69%)
of the approximately 1.12 million votes cast in Aceh, narrowly beating the nationwide
election winner, Golkar Party, which won 163,654 (14.6%) votes in the staunchly
Muslim province.
Despite PPP's popularity in Aceh and its overall position of fourth in the general
election tally, opinion polls have ranked Haz as the least popular of the five candidates
contesting next month's presidential election.
Dressed in white robes, Haz arrived at Banda Aceh's Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport at
10.45am, accompanied by the first of his three wives, Asmaniah, who was dressed in
fashionable green Muslim colors.
Tightly guarded by dozens of military and police personnel, Haz was welcomed at the
airport by Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh, who is the subject of several ongoing
corruption investigations.
The vice president went to a public hall for his campaign rally, which was attended by
about 500 people, mostly women, detikcom online news portal reported.
Security was also tight at the building, with participants being required to pass
through a metal detector.
Haz started his campaign by reading from the al Qur'an and then sang the national
anthem ‘Indonesia Raya' before going to a mosque for a dialog with religious and
community leaders.
No Boycott
In the likely event that none of the contenders in the July 5 presidential election win
more than 50% of the vote, a run-off election between the top two candidates will be
held on September 20.
On his flight back to Jakarta, Haz told reporters he would not abstain from voting in
the second round, even if he loses in the first round. "If I fail to advance to the second
round, I will still vote for one of the winners of the first round," he was quoted as
saying by Antara.
Commenting on the decision of PPP's youth wing, the Kabah Youth Movement, to
support rival presidential candidate Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN),
Haz said it was an undisciplined move.
Getting back to the subject of Aceh, he expressed optimism that GAM rebels would
soon give up their struggle following the government's decision last month to end a
year of martial law in the province and impose a state of civilian emergency.
"Now, it is a fact that there is such a shift in the status from military emergency to
civilian emergency in Aceh province and hopefully in the next three months there will
be an improvement," he said.
Four Rebels Killed
The military on Thursday said soldiers killed four suspected separatist rebels in
separate clashes.
Provincial military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Asep Sapari was quoted by Agence
France-Presse as saying troops seized a Kalashnikov rifle, a handgun and some 200
bullets after the raids.
He accused GAM fighters of shooting dead a 25-year-old woman and wounding two
other civilians - including a three-year-old girl.
Bombings Blamed on Exiles
Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) commander General Endriartono Sutarto said
Wednesday he has evidence that GAM's exiled leaders living in Sweden ordered a
series of bombings in Jakarta and the North Sumatra capital of Medan.
He said the attacks were carried out on the orders of the rebel leaders, adding the
government will send the evidence to Sweden.
Swedish prosecutors are investigating three GAM leaders on suspicion of grave
breaches of international law; following numerous complaints from Indonesia the trio
was directing the Aceh rebellion from Stockholm.
Indonesian authorities have alleged GAM was behind several non-fatal bombings in
Medan, as well as the September 2000 bombing at the Jakarta Stock Exchange that
killed 10 people.
Four Election Watchdogs Register for Aceh
Only four independent organizations have registered with the Aceh chapter of the
General Elections Commission (KPU) to monitor the July 5 presidential election in the
resource-rich province, an official said Thursday.
KPU Aceh spokesman Abdullah Muhammad Jam said the independent observers are
the General Election Monitoring Society of the Indonesian Journalists Association
(Mapilu-PWI), the Aceh Non-Government Organizations Forum, the Institute for
Economic and Social Research, Education and Information (LP3ES), and the
European Union Electoral Observation Mission.
He said several of the election watchdogs that monitored the April 5 general election
in the province had not registered with KPU Aceh to observe Indonesia's first ever
direct presidential election.
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