[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Post-tsunami aid and building civil society in Aceh
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 01:24:14 +0100
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Post-tsunami aid and building civil society in Aceh
Olle Tornquist, Oslo
Donors often say that the major obstacle in the post-tsunami relief and
reconstruction work is poor co-ordination of the organizations involved. This
may be true, but the observation does not help much unless we discuss why.
International development co-operation has become neo-liberal. A myriad of
state and private actors compete for funds and influence on imperfect markets
in order to reach diffuse goals. In addition, there is little trust in the
state. In Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam it has even been repressive and suffers
still from authoritarianism, corruption and inefficiency. To improve
co-ordination, these factors should be addressed. But then the reconstruction
work and the peace- and democracy efforts must be combined -- and this is not
being done. That is the basic problem!
In principle, everybody wants to combine peace- and development work, at best
by means of democracy. The question is how. In Sri Lanka several years of
Norwegian facilitation of negotiations between the government and the Tamil
guerrilla indicates that it is not always fruitful to avoid the political
conflicts and to use instead "neutral" development aid as a carrot to promote
peace. By now, the post-tsunami aid suffers from hidden politicization. Actors
on the government side and the guerrilla give special privileges to their
respective constituencies and sympathizers. At times this even increases the
conflicts.
In Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam the situation has instead improved by way of
explicitly political peace negotiations. Enlightened politicians, military
officers and guerrilla leaders have made compromises on the division of power
and the government of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. This has been followed by an
international monitory mission and some space for civil society and media to
act as watchdogs.
Many say that this was possible only because the tsunami made people around the
world deeply concerned about the problems in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. But that
was true of Sri Lanka as well. The major factors were rather that both Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) and the new Indonesian government realized that they would
not be able to win the battle militarily -- and that the fledgling democracy in
other parts of Indonesia stood out as a potentially more fruitful method to
handle the conflicts than violent struggle over independence.
The bottom line is thus that the Indonesian democracy must be strengthened --
so that it does not only stand out as a potential but also real alternative.
But while the progress in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam is due less to the regular
reconstruction work than to the peace- and democracy efforts, the problem is
that the former is swamped with money while the latter is neglected.
Even so it is true that the implementation of the peace accord has been more
successful than expected. GAM and the Government have both demonstrated the
best of intentions. The guerrilla has contributed to its own decommissioning
and dissolved itself. The military and police withdraw their non-organic
forces. The peace monitors are effective. Local combatants are being
compensated to facilitate their reintegration into society. There are fruitful
broad dialogues between all relevant parties (including civil society groups)
on the governance of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.
But the real obstacles remain. Sustainable integration of the combatants in
society presupposes new jobs within reasonably non-corrupt reconstruction work.
This calls for supervision by a strong civil society and a working democracy.
The Indonesian Reconstruction Agency is not even mandated to work on
post-conflict issues (but obviously even wants to engage Indonesian soldiers in
supposedly civil rebuilding).
Further, the implementation of the locally approved proposals on the governance
of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam presupposes the approval of Jakarta. The President,
the Vice President and the Government honor the intentions of the peace accord,
but the nationalist opposition and conservative officers resist it. One method
is trying to divide Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam into several provinces, which
would nullify the peace agreement and the reconstruction work. Another is
trying to block the chances for GAM and various civic groups to participate
with their own parties and independent candidates in local elections.
The important thing is not if the first elections in April are postponed for a
month or two. What is crucial is that both GAM and civic groups are not
marginalised but can participate in a meaningful way. How would it be possible
otherwise to transform violent conflicts into peaceful politics? The peace
accord and the reconstruction work are at stake. This calls for more than the
extension of the mandate of the peace monitors until after the elections. It
calls also for quick and strong support for civil society and non-partisan
political education among various democratic groups.
So what are well intending donors and other actors doing to promote this? So
far, not much. I fail to understand why. Support for civil society and human
rights based democracy in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam might have been
controversial before the Helsinki agreement, but at this point it is the very
basis for the successful completion of the treaty as well as the reconstruction
work, as recognized by both parties. What can now be less controversial and
more productive than to strengthen, develop and spread Indonesia's own
democracy? What would be more prestigious to Indonesia than to offer the world
a successful model for peace and development by way of meaningful political
democratization?
Of course, I may be wrong. But it is not only the research of Demos (the
Indonesian Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies) that emphasizes the
importance of combining efforts at peace- and reconstruction by way of
democratization. The most recent reports from the two internationally most
reputed research institutes on the problems in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the
East West Centre and the International Crisis Group, point in the same
direction. So if there are strong objections on the basis of better analyses it
would be good to know.
The writer is Professor of Political Science and Development Research,
University of Oslo and Academic Co-director of Demos' Research. He can be
reached at olle.tornquist@xxxxxxxxxx
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