Marwaan Macan-Markar

As the second anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami approaches, the Indonesian province of Aech is basking in a spirit of hope that would have been hard to imagine two years ago. But that spirit stems from the ballots cast in a largely peaceful and historic election for the top provincial and district government posts in that oil and gas-rich region on the northern tip of Indonesia.

The victors in this unprecedented poll, conducted last Monday, include those held in custody by the Indonesian government when the devastating waves struck the Aceh coastline on December 26, 2004. Irwandi Yusuf was held for his role as a leader of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (or GAM, in Acehenese).

Last Tuesday, the 46-year-old and his running mate Muhammad Nazar were savouring their landslide victory, capturing nearly 39 per cent of Monday’s vote. Their closest rivals only got 17 per cent. “This will strengthen the peace process. This is a milestone,” Juri Laas, spokesperson of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), said. Jakarta appears keen to cement this achievement judging by its early reaction to the poll in a region where its troops were locked in conflict with GAM for nearly three decades. Close to 15,000 people were killed during this separatist insurgency. “The government will respect the outcome regardless of who wins. We must congratulate whoever wins,” Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla was quoted as having said.

In fact, December 15 will be the last day for the AMM, a sign of confidence in the distance this peace process has travelled. “We are positive that peace has been achieved and there is a sufficient level of security for us to close the mission,” said AMM’s Laas. The poll, furthermore, appears to have consolidated the hold GAM’s new generation of leaders, like Irwandi, have over the separatist movement’s old guard, who were led by Acehnese men living in exile in Sweden. Helping the likes of Irwandi is the broad sweep of support received by the former, younger rebel leaders like him contesting as independents since Free Aceh Movement has still not fully transformed into a political entity.

“I was surprised that they pulled off a victory of this proportion with support from the towns and provinces,” Sidney Jones, a leading Indonesia analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG), the Brussels-based think tank, said. “The combination is a strong sentiment endorsing GAM’s new leaders.” Equally important, she says, is that the poll throws weight behind GAM to pursue its political agenda without having to turn to violence. “The people have given GAM a clear message to achieve change peacefully, through the political process.”

Such scenarios appeared far from certain on the poll eve, as ICG pointed out in a report, which warned that a rift within GAM’s old guard and new was “complicating” Aceh’s transition towards peace and stability. Media reports from Banda Aceh say that some 75 per cent of Aceh’s 2.6 million registered voters turned out for the polls. And while Aceh waits for the official polling results to be released on January 2, its first elected governor has sent a reassuring message to his former adversary in battle. “We will ask the central government to help us in implementing the Helsinki agreement,” Irwandi was quoted as saying.