VZCZCXRO5789
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #4811/01 1080109
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 180109Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2768
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 9332
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 3174
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 9744
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0752
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RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
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RUCXNMC/NATMARINTCEN WASHINGTON DC
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 JAKARTA 004811 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
AIDAC 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS USTR KATZ 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/IET, INR/EAP and INL 
DEPARTMENT PASS AID 
USAID FOR ANE/EAA, J. Kunder and R. Cavitt 
NSC for Holly Morrow and Jed Meline 
 
Embassy Jakarta Medan Affairs Office # 18, 2006 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON EAID ASEC KDEM ID
SUBJECT: GAM REINTEGRATION SLOW, ECONOMY AND POLITICS NOT 
HELPING 
 
REFTELS:  (A) JAKARTA 04034 
 
          (B) JAKARTA 00654 
          (C) 05 JAKARTA 15331 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) On April 10 former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) 
activists hosted a prayer meeting (Doa Bersama) in Tiro, 
Aceh, to mark Mohammed's Birthday, attracting over 1000 
Acehnese from throughout the province. At the meeting, 
Conoff had numerous discussions about the Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) signed last August between GAM and GOI, 
GAM reintegration, economic conditions in Aceh, and Aceh- 
Jakarta relations.  Expressing frustration at the slow pace 
of development, all agreed Aceh needed more jobs for young 
men and more investment in infrastructure.  Many of the 
attendees worried that the new law for Aceh (RUU) currently 
under debate in Indonesia's Parliament would not accord with 
the MOU.  Distrust of the national government remains high, 
and participants asked that the Aceh Monitoring Mission 
(AMM) continue even after the upcoming elections.  Former 
GAM members made clear they still believe Aceh will 
ultimately be independent.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On April 10 former GAM Governor for Tiro, Khalidin, 
hosted a prayer meeting (Doa Bersama) in Tiro, Aceh, to mark 
Mohammed's Birthday.  Members of the organizing committee 
included Abu Muslimin, GAM elder statesman, and Maimun, 
grandson of an Aceh Governor during the Sukarno period.  In 
addition to former GAM, the committee invited former 
Indonesian military (TNI), provincial government officials, 
officials from AMM, and U.S. Consulate Medan to attend. 
Over 1000 Achenese from throughout the province passed 
through the site during the day, including groups of youths. 
Organizers told us that former GAM members made up roughly 
ten percent of the attendees.  As at a previous GAM-related 
event in Bireuen (REF C), we went to hold discussions with 
participants and gauge GAM thinking. 
 
The Story in Signs 
------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) The organizers chose Tiro, hometown of GAM Founder 
and Chief Hasan di Tiro, for the event to emphasize the now 
legitimate role the former GAM has in political and social 
processes in Aceh (REF B).  To underscore the point, GAM has 
erected a large sign marking GAM-Tiro headquarters.  The 
ceremony took place near this site.  On the way into town, 
another sign still marks a checkpoint that TNI maintained 
until the MOU-directed TNI redeployment from Aceh in 2005. 
At the gathering, several participants sported Aceh flag 
pins on their clothes. Not everything indicated the process 
has favored GAM or benefited the Acehnese people.  One young 
man attending the event wore a shirt emblazoned with one 
word, "Frustration." 
 
Frustration 
----------- 
 
¶4. (U) In discussions with numerous men (women and men did 
not mix) during the day-long ceremony we heard complaints 
about the slow-pace of the reintegration process for former 
 
JAKARTA 00004811  002 OF 004 
 
 
GAM combatants.  Unless their families already had some 
capital, former combatants apparently have few job 
opportunities, though some had returned to family farms. 
Similarly, former TNI members attending the event complained 
about the lack of opportunities in Aceh. 
 
¶6. (U) Many attendees noted the MOU requires farm land or 
employment for former GAM combatants but does not specify 
how economic development could occur in Aceh.  They also 
lamented the issues the MOU does not cover -- for example, 
foreign investment and education.  We pointed out that the 
new provincial government would have responsibility for most 
issues and that the MOU sought only to bring an end to the 
conflict and establish a framework for peaceful 
reintegration of the former combatants. 
 
¶7. (U) In several conversations, former combatants compared 
themselves unfavorably with victims of the December 2004 
tsunami and earthquake.  They wondered why the millions of 
 
SIPDIS 
dollars in aid for Aceh reconstruction could not go to help 
them.  We explained that much of that donors had provided 
that money specifically for tsunami relief and NGOs could 
not spend it otherwise.  Many former combatants thought the 
GOI could provide more economic relief. 
 
Campaign Themes? 
---------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Attendees at the ceremony pointed to numerous areas 
of concern.  Although they did not identify these as 
possible issues for the upcoming elections in Aceh, any GAM- 
backed candidate presumably would need to address them (REF 
B).  Foremost remains the need for jobs.  The young men want 
to work and feel stymied in their efforts by lack of 
opportunities and of training.  The older men know that 
without something for young men to do, social and security 
problems will occur.  Some attendees worry about the state 
of education in Aceh; they think children in Aceh do not 
receive adequate education at the primary level and want 
resources to educate former GAM fighters for employment. 
 
¶9. (U) Although parts of Aceh receive funds to rebuild 
infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the tsunami and 
earthquake, much of the rest of the province also suffers 
underdeveloped roads, bridges, ports, water, sanitation, and 
electricity generation and distribution.  Participants 
decried what they perceive not as benign neglect but as 
targeted inadequate investment in infrastructure.  "Why," 
one former GAM member from East Timor asked, "do all our 
goods come through Medan when we could have a better port in 
Sabang?" 
 
¶10. (U) At any gathering of Acehnese activist, discussion 
will turn to sharing the proceeds of the extraction of 
Aceh's natural resources.  The MOU specifies that Aceh 
should receive 70 percent of revenue from "current and 
future hydrocarbon deposits and other natural resources," 
and many people in Aceh see these funds as more than 
sufficient to spark rapid economic development.  As in other 
such encounters, we point out that such revenue might prove 
considerably less than anticipated and not last as long as 
Acehnese think. 
 
 
JAKARTA 00004811  003 OF 004 
 
 
Distrust of Jakarta 
------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Predictably, former GAM members accuse the GOI of 
shortchanging Aceh in infrastructure investment and revenue 
sharing from ExxonMobil's Lhokseumawe facility.  (NOTE: 
ExxonMobil contributes mightily to Aceh, above and beyond 
its contractual obligations, including generous donations to 
post-tsunami relief and reconstruction.  Many Acehnese 
erroneously htink revenue from ExxonMobil's Lhokseumawe 
facility could fund Aceh's economic development.  END NOTE.) 
Despite the amnesty of former combatants and redeployment of 
non-organic troops and police from Aceh, as required by the 
MOU, former GAM members have no trust in the GOI to protect 
the rights of Acehnese.  Many see "playing politics" with 
the new law for Aceh as symptomatic of the Jakarta-centric 
view of Aceh.  They fear the law will not track with the 
conditions of the MOU, for example, by allowing for the 
break-up of Aceh and not allowing independent candidates in 
the upcoming elections.  (NOTE:  Although the MOU does 
describe the borders of Aceh, it does not explicitly 
prohibit future consideration of different political 
configurations; nor does the MOU address the issue of 
independent candidates, though it does stipulate provision 
for local political parties.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶12. (SBU) Many attendees said pro-Jakarta militias in Aceh 
continue to have weapons, threatening the long-term 
stability of the province.  They hope AMM would continue its 
role as observer and arbiter well past the election.  The 
AMM, they said, brought international attention to Aceh and 
assure GOI adherence to the MOU.  Without AMM and other 
international observers, many of the attendees do not think 
a fair election could occur.  Former GAM members worry 
international observers would depart after the election at 
which time GOI and militias would reassert themselves and 
suppress legitimate political activity. 
 
Independence 
------------ 
 
¶13. (SBU) Throughout the day of the ceremony, participants 
made clear they did not see independence for Aceh as a dead 
issue.  In addition to the almost casual distinction between 
"Aceh" and "Indonesia" by the attendees, several 
participants asked directly for USG support for an 
independent Aceh -- we reiterated US support for Indonesia's 
territorial integrity.  One organizing committee member 
asked when the U.S. would open an Embassy in Aceh.  After we 
explained each country has only one Embassy though might 
have several Consulates, he smiled wryly and said, "That's 
the issue, isn't it?"  The Acehnese view themselves as 
different culturally from the rest of Indonesia, 
particularly the Javanese.  Talk of independence does not 
imply rejection of the MOU, but more an avowal of the 
"separateness" Acehnese think they possess. 
 
The Dog that Didn't Bark 
------------------------ 
 
¶14. (U) We saw notable for their absences in the discussions 
any mention of Islamic Syariah law (REF A), political 
parties, and individual candidates for the upcoming 
 
JAKARTA 00004811  004 OF 004 
 
 
elections.  No one addressed whether the new law for Aceh 
should reinforce Islamic law in Aceh or whether GAM supports 
enforcing Islamic law in Aceh.  In all the discussions about 
the upcoming elections, no one mentioned political parties 
by name and only referred generically to independent 
candidates without offering specific individuals who might 
run.  We saw only one potential gubernatorial candidate who 
briefly attended the event, Humam Hamid, despite the 
presence of a ready audience anxious to make their views 
known about the future of Aceh. 
 
Pascoe