DATE=11/18/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / ACEH (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256300
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was in
Parliament Thursday, defending his controversial plan
to hold a referendum in the northern province of Aceh.
As Patricia Nunan reports from Jakarta, the Indonesian
legislature and the military have voiced strong
concerns about the proposal because they fear it will
lead to the break-up of Indonesia.
TEXT: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared
relaxed when he went before parliament to defend his
proposal to allow a referendum to be held in Aceh. Mr.
Wahid said he stood by his plan, but he encouraged
assembly members to debate the issue, because he said
debate is a key element of the political reform
process.
President Wahid, while on a state visit to Japan
Monday, said that a referendum should be held in Aceh
in seven months. But he did not explain his reasons
for that time frame. He also did not indicate whether
the referendum would allow the Acehnese to vote for
full independence, or if they would only be asked to
choose between a special autonomy plan and maintaining
the status quo.
There has been growing momentum in Aceh for an
independence referendum, since the Indonesian
government decided to let East Timor go last month.
The decision followed a vote for independence in a
ballot supervised by the United Nations.
/// OPT /// Some local Acehnese parliament members
have issued an ultimatum to the central government,
saying that if Jakarta does not announce plans to hold
a referendum before December 4th, they will organize
one themselves. /// END OPT ///
But several Indonesian legislators and military
officials are against holding an independence
referendum. Allowing a vote in Aceh, they say, would
set the precedent for holding similar votes all over
Indonesia -- a nation made up of scores of different
ethnic groups spread across 15 thousand islands. Many
officials fear that if Aceh were to vote for
independence, it would trigger the disintegration of
the entire nation.
Analysts say the Acehnese are resentful of the central
government because the province sees little of the
profit derived from its natural gas and oil deposits.
Human rights groups also say at least two thousand
people have died or disappeared in the ten years that
the Indonesian military has occupied the province, as
part of its efforts to stamp out a rebel separatist
group.
NEB/PN/FC/JO
18-Nov-1999 03:48 AM EDT (18-Nov-1999 0848 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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