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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 013305 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
EAP/MTS 
 
Embassy Jakarta Medan Affairs Office # 35, 2006 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINS PINR PREL KDEM ASEC ID
SUBJECT: Aceh: Official Campaign Season Begins 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Begin Summary:  Official campaigning began in Aceh 
on November 24, although advertisements for some candidates 
have been up for weeks, giving a slight advantage to well- 
financed candidates.  GAM "Prime Minister Malik Mahmud 
returned to Aceh to try to reunify the GAM movement and to 
voice support for candidates Humam Hamid and Hasbi Abdullah. 
Some GAM officials disparage this support and back rival 
candidates Irawandi Yusuf and Muhammad Nazar.  During a 
campaign appearance in Bireuen, Hamid's motorcade came under 
a stone-throwing attack, most likely by Yusuf's supporters. 
Despite this, all groups, including the police and political 
parties, agree that Americans and other foreigners working 
in or observing elections in Bireuen would be perfectly 
safe. 
 End Summary. 
 
Campaigns Begin 
--------------- 
¶2. (U) Electoral officials have designated November 24 - 
December 7 as the official campaign period.  Outside of 
those dates, candidates are not permitted to display banners 
or posters or give public speeches. While the restrictions 
on advertising have been largely ignored, restrictions on 
public appearances and rallies were strictly enforced: 
electoral officials even prohibited non-partisan NGOs from 
organizing a series of debates among the candidates.  Many 
candidates, particularly those running as independents, have 
complained that this restriction hurts them 
disproportionately because it does not give them sufficient 
time to educate voters about their positions. Even during 
the campaign period, candidates will only be allowed to hold 
public rallies according to schedules set by local election 
committees to minimize the likelihood of clashes between 
rival groups. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The cost of banners, flags, and posters is a major 
campaign expense and is roughly indicative of how well a 
campaign is financed.  Preliminary counts indicate that the 
three leading pairs of candidates, Humam Hamid/Hasbi 
Abdullah, Azwar Abubakar/Nasir Djamil, and Malek Raden/Fuad 
Zakaria, have substantially more campaign materials 
distributed throughout the province than the other 
candidates.  By contrast, the team Irwandi Yusuf and 
Muhammad Nazar have virtually no campaign materials.  They 
recently confessed to us that they do not have the funding 
needed to cover the province with banners and that they were 
going to rely on name recognition, GAM affiliation, and 
person-to-person contact to build support. 
 
¶4. (SBU) To set themselves apart, independent candidates 
from GAM make a point of wearing native Acehnese dress and 
never wearing the black, flat hat favored by virtually all 
other candidates in the province.  Observers also point out 
that Malek Raden looks so much younger and more handsome in 
his photographs than in real life that some critics 
mockingly suggest he used a stand in. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Where does the campaign money come from? Hamid 
(United Development Party, PPP) told us that his campaign is 
supported primarily by a group of well-known Acehnese whom 
he declined to name.  Other sources tell us that some of his 
most important supporters are affluent ethnic Chinese 
businesses in Aceh who are interested in moderate Islam and 
a conducive business environment.  Abubakar from the 
National Mandate Party (PAN) is paired with a candidate from 
the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).  Well before the 
election was scheduled, it was widely reported that PKS 
announced that it would only pair with a candidate who could 
bring significant financial support to the campaign. 
Consistent with this, Abubakar has a told us that he is 
funding his campaign himself.  His detractors say that much 
of his wealth was acquired while he was vice governor to the 
notoriously corrupt and now imprisoned Abdulleh Puteh. Malik 
Raden's campaign is reportedly financed through a 
combination of his own resources and Acehnese who favor 
strong ties with Jakarta.  Rumors abound that Raden is 
"Jakarta's candidate" and that senior figures in the capital 
are providing financial assistance as well. 
 
 
JAKARTA 00013305  002 OF 002 
 
 
The "Prime Minister" returns to Aceh 
------------------------------------ 
¶6. (SBU) GAM `Prime Minister' Malik Mahmud and `Foreign 
Minister' Zaini Abdullah have returned to Aceh for what they 
say will be a one-month visit.  Although they deny 
participating in the political campaign, politics is a big 
part of their agenda.  So far, they have held meetings with 
GAM members and supporters in Langsa, Lhokseumawe, and 
Bireuen.  At each stop they have tried to unify the 
increasingly divided GAM movement and have encouraged their 
followers to support Humam Hamid and Hasbi Abdullah 
(referred to as H2O) in the upcoming elections.  Generating 
support within GAM for H2O has not been an easy sell, in 
part because neither Hamid nor Hasbi was a formal GAM 
member.  By contrast, rival candidate Irwandi Yusuf was a 
GAM member and, prior to announcing his candidacy for 
governor, represented GAM in the Joint Forum and on the 
Commission on Security Arrangements (CoSA). 
 
¶7. (SBU) Several senior GAM commanders, including Zakaria 
Saman and Muzakkir Manaf, have told us that they are 
supporting H2O and have publicly encouraged GAM members to 
do the same. In private, however, Manaf appears 
uncomfortable with GAM's endorsement of H2O. Some other GAM 
leaders, however, openly favor Irwandi.  One GAM commander 
in Lhokseumawe, for example, told us that by endorsing H2O 
over a real GAM leader and by refusing to return permanently 
to Aceh, GAM leaders in Sweden have forfeited their right to 
lead the movement.  The future of GAM, he said, is "in Aceh, 
not Sweden," and that is where Acehnese should look for 
leadership. 
 
Leading Gubernatorial Candidate Attacked 
---------------------------------------- 
¶8. (SBU) At approximately 5:00 pm on Wednesday, November 22 
in Bireuen, vehicles carrying Humam Hamid and several of his 
supporters were attacked by a stone-throwing mob.  Although 
no one was seriously hurt, several vehicles were severely 
damaged.  The attack appears to have been carried out by a 
group supporting Irwandi Yusuf's campaign for governor.  We 
spoke with several of Irwandi's supporters in Bireuen who, 
while not admitting to carrying out the assault, did not 
deny it either.  They said this incident should be a lesson 
to Hamid to stay out of Bireuen. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Earlier this month there was another incident in 
Bireuen where several of Hamid's supporters were beaten by a 
group of Irwandi's supporters.  Although the regent and the 
police chief have both pledged to ensure that similar 
incidents do not happen again, the police chief confided in 
us that there is so much resentment against Hamid among rank 
and file GAM members in his district that he was not certain 
he could prevent low-level clashes in the future.  Americans 
and other foreigners, he said, would be perfectly safe. 
Pascoe