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STATE OF
ACHEH GAM’S COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY The Free Acheh Movement (GAM) has reaffirmed its full commitment to democratic principles as the only means of resolving the long-running conflict in Acheh. This follows GAM’s rejection of statements by Indonesian politicians that GAM members could be offered political positions instead of going through an open electoral process as a means of ending Acheh’s long-running conflict. Spokesman for GAM, Mr Bakhtiar Abdullah, said that GAM was committed to seeing a complete and transparent democratic process operating in Acheh. ‘We comprehensively reject non-transparency or special appointments as a legitimate political proposition,’ he said. He said that GAM was not seeking rewards for its members, but to establish an open, transparent and plural political framework for all Achehnese to participate in and be represented by. ‘We do not want an outcome just for GAM,’ Mr Bakhtiar Abdullah said. ‘We are putting a case for the democratisation of Acheh which will allow as many political parties as the Achehnese people want to establish and support.’ Mr Bakhtiar Abdullah said that a genuine democratic outcome in Acheh could not place restrictions on the formation of political parties, and that the establishment of local political parties was a basic democratic right for all peoples. ‘Indonesia claims to now be democratic,’ Mr Bakhtiar Abdullah said. ‘But it still restricts political parties by insisting that they are headquartered in Jakarta, have representation in half of the provinces of Indonesia and in half of each of the districts in those provinces.’ ‘This restriction means that Indonesia’s political parties are controlled from Jakarta,’ Mr Bakhtiar Abdullah said. ‘We reject such centralised control which does not and cannot reflect the wishes of the people of Acheh.’ ‘We therefore call for a change to Indonesia’s Law on Political Parties 31/2002 to remove such restrictions,’ he said. Mr Bakhtiar Abdullah also rejected as unfounded claims by some Jakarta politicians that allowing local political parties would lead to the break-up of the state. ‘Like most of the objections to the Helsinki peace talks, this does not make sense,‘ Mr Bakhtiar Abdullah said. GAM is proposing to allow local political parties as a means of ending conflict which threatens the state,’ he said. ‘If the Government of Indonesia really wants to preserve the unity of the state, it must therefore meet the legitimate, democratic aspirations of its citizens.’ Signed,
Bakhtiar Abdullah,
Helsinki, 13 July 2005 |
