Aceh Kita - April 3, 2006

Misdarul Ihsan, Banda Aceh — On Monday April 3,
Acehnese student organisations from the Aceh Peace
Alliance (AAD) once again held a demonstration in
support of the Draft Law on Aceh Government (RUU-PA)
that is currently being deliberated by the House of
Representatives (DPR). The two hundred or so
students held speeches and distributed leaflets at
the Simpang Lima roundabout in Banda Aceh.

In one speech, a protester from the Aceh Student
Association of Foster Mothers (Dayah) invited all
elements of Acehnese society to launch a revolution
if the draft law that is eventually ratified by the
DPR is not in accordance with the Acehnese people’s
wishes. "We are demanding that the DPR be able to
quickly ratify the RUU-PA in accordance with the
[Acehnese] people’s wishes", said the speaker.

During the speech, the student also said that they
believe that the delays in the deliberation of the
law are because there are certain parties that are
playing around in order thwart the rectification of
the law. They also said that the Indonesian
government has violated the Helsinki Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) because it reneged on the March
31 deadline mandated by the MoU.

Action coordinator Rahmad Jailani called on all
elements of Acehnese society to continue speak out
to struggle for their wishes to be accommodated in
the draft law so that peace in Aceh will be
everlasting. He said that if the people’s wishes
were not fully accommodated, then an even larger
conflict would break out with the entire society
joining the revolt.

According to Jailani, students will continue to hold
actions until the draft law is ratified in
accordance with the people’s wishes. "[Those here]
today are just a fraction of the masses, we will
mobilise many more again, as before, if the central
[government] betrays the Acehnese people. We will
continue to hold actions", he said.

Notes:

In an earlier report on the same day, Aceh Kita said
that in addition to Dayah, the other student
organisations planning to participate in the action
included Student’s Solidarity for the People (SMUR),
the Association of Islamic Students (HMI) and the
Indonesian Islamic High-School Students (PII).

[Translated by James Balowski.]