By Ezra Sihite & Nurdin Hasan (THE JAKARTA GLOBE)
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| Admiral Agus Suhartono - AP PHOTO |
Jakarta/Banda Aceh, TAG - Military chief of staff Adm.
Agus Suhartono has urged the people of Aceh to refrain from flying the Free
Aceh Movement flag for at least the next two weeks while the Home Affairs
Ministry reviews the provincial bylaw allowing for a change in its flag and
symbol.
“Yes, we will see what the decision [from the Home
Affairs Ministry] is like. If [the flag is] not allowed, then we will pull it
down,” Agus said in Jakarta on Monday.
He added that the army is not deploying additional personnel
to maintain security in Aceh, and said that the local military command (Kodam
Iskandar Muda) was capable of keeping the situation under control.
“We will settle the problem through discussions to
reach an agreement. The bylaw is currently being evaluated and the regional
administration has demanded an answer in 15 days,” he said.
Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) chief Hasbi Abdullah
said the DPRA is hoping that the central government will allow Aceh to use the
new flag, which was once a symbol of struggle by Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
guerillas.
Hasbi said that Commission A of the DPRA, which
oversees legal, security and administrative matters, was discussing the home
affairs minister’s recent clarification about the symbols used in the flag.
Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi last week
submitted a 13-point clarification about the bylaw on the Aceh flag and symbol.
The minister said that the bylaw violated a 2007 government regulation and
other laws, as well as Islamic Shariah rules, because an animal is used in the
symbol.
The new provincial seal features the buraq, a mythical
winged horse with a human face, and lion that was associated with the GAM.
“We ask the government to let the [new] Aceh flag
remain as it is, because it’s been declared in the bylaw and reflects the
aspirations of the Aceh people,” said Hasbi, a senior politician with the Aceh
Party, a local political party set up by former GAM guerillas.
“We will explain to the central government that the
intention to declare the star and crescent flag as the Aceh flag does not mean
that Aceh wants to gain independence. We have no intention whatsoever to free
Aceh,” he added.
He said that the movement to make Aceh an independent
state had been buried since the Indonesian government and GAM leaders signed a
peace treaty in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005.
The peace treaty ended the 30-year armed conflict in
Aceh in which more than 25,000 civilians died.
“I need to stress that the red and white flag will
still be hoisted in Aceh because that’s the national flag. The Aceh flag is not
the sign of sovereignty, but a [sign of] unity for all Aceh people,” he said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has reiterated his
disapproval of the Aceh authorities’ decision to adopt the flag of a defunct
separatist group as the provincial standard, calling it a step backward.
Yudhoyono said at a media conference in Jakarta on
Friday that the move was a clear infraction of national laws banning the use of
separatist insignia in official flags or seals.
“I don’t want us to go backward. I want us to move
forward together in developing Aceh and making it safer and more prosperous,”
he said.
“Let us not give rise to
new problems by digging up past conflicts.”[]
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Military Chief Urges Aceh to Comply with Central Govt. Review of New Flag
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April 09, 2013
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