Aceh prepares to vote

29/11/2006

Campaigning has begun for long-awaited elections in the Indonesian province of Aceh, due to take place on December 11. For the first time, Acehnese will directly elect their own governor and vice-governor. In another first for Indonesia, independent candidates, without backing from political parties, will be allowed to run for election.

Dr Damien Kingsbury, an Indonesia specialist at Deakin University in Australia, discusses what the vote means to the people of Aceh.

---

The elections have the capacity to be very important, because for the first time it gives the Acehnese people the opportunity to decide on a local government which will reflect local interests and be based around local candidates. The issues are conventional in a sense. They are around things like education, health care, how the provincial government allocates the funds that it's been promised under the peace agreement.

There is, of course, the controversial matter of Sharia, or Islamic law, in Aceh. However, I don't think that's going to be a major issue in the campaign, simply because it already exists and most candidates think it's too sensitive at this stage to actually tackle head on.

Is that because the implementation of Sharia is a popular move among Acehnese?

It's not so much that it's popular. It's popular within some segments of the community, particularly amongst the Ulama, the Islamic priests. But the problem is if there are moves against it now, there's no capacity to actually overturn it. So it doesn't have any upside if you like for the candidates. But the downside is that they will get the hostility of the Ulama, and the Ulama are very influential amongst sections of Acehnese society. So it would be a negative political move.

And of course Sharia, as I understand it was introduced by Jakarta, by the Indonesian government. So even if they wanted to remove it, they'd have to go through Jakarta first?

Well, it is able to be removed by the local legislature, but not by a provincial governor decree. So what they really do have to do is now wait until the provincial elections for the legislature come around in a couple of years time and then look at that issue after then. So I think that it may be considered in the future, but the governor doesn't really have the capacity to remove the legislation, so it's not a winning issue to go into the campaign on.

From your observation, has there been much enthusiasm on the ground and support by the Acehnese for this election?

Yes, I understand that there is a lot of interest and a lot of enthusiasm for the election process. The interesting thing is that the campaign has started off in a fairly quiet manner. There is none of the usual banners and joy rides that you associate with Indonesian elections.

I think in part that reflects the fact there's just not much money around for that sort of campaigning, but the responses that I've been able to pick up so far have indicated there is a lot of interest in the elections and that the local people are quite enthusiastic having the opportunity to at least have some say over their own future.

I understand that this is also the first time that independents get to take part. Were you surprised that among the candidates were a former military commander and also candidates from the once all power Golkar Party?

No I'm not surprised that they would stand. There are a number of interests that play out in Aceh and of course if you can get the governorship then you can more firmly entrench your interests, and the military has a very longstanding interest in Aceh through illegal forces of income, political domination and so on.

But are the Acehnese likely to vote for them?

I would doubt it very much. I think Golkar does have some support, but I think the United Development Party, which is also Jakarta-based, has some support, particularly because it has the backing of the former political leader of the Free Aceh Movement, and that's a rather sad move on behalf of the Free Aceh Movement - that its political leader should side with the Jakarta-based party.

But that means that that party will have some significant support, [which] would I think go to the other Free Aceh Movement candidate. He won the Yusuf and I think he has significant support in the villages. The visions that are really opening up now are not in Acehnese political society, more generally, but within what used to be the Free Aceh Movement, which is now split down the middle. There certainly is some tension within what was the Free Aceh Movement over this electoral process, but I don't see it being translated into violence or aggression.

---

Dr Damien Kingsbury, Indonesia specialist
Dr Damien Kingsbury is an Indonesia specialist at Deakin University in Australia, and a one-time adviser to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) negotiating team.

This Viewpoint is taken from an interview conducted with Sen Lam, which was first broadcast on Radio Australia's Asia Pacific program on 27 November, 2006.

http://abc.net.au/ra/news/viewpoints/s1800365_to.htm