Jakarta, NU Online
Indonesian House of Representatives(DPR) will reportedly pass a governance bill for Aceh province on July 11,with the main focus of establishing a direct gubernatorial election.
The important point resulted by the special committee were related to the authority of the central government to Aceh governance.
<>“Foreign affairs, security, judicial, monetary, and other certain issues on religion is past of central government authority,” said a member of the special committee RK Sembiring in DPR’s building, Jakarta.
Respecting the management of airport and sea of Aceh, Aceh government has the right to take advantage.
Chairman of the DPR's special committee on the bill Ferry Mursyidan Baldan said that a team was honing the wording of the 261-article bill before it was delivered to a plenary session for endorsement.
"The special committee will leave for Aceh on July 13 to hand over the bill to the Aceh administration for its enforcement and dissemination among the Acehnese," Ferry was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.
Information and Communication Minister Sofyan Djalil said that the bill is not only the "golden gift" to the Acehnese, but also marked the full realization of the August 2005 agreement between the government and the Free Aceh Movement to build lasting peace and spur the post-tsunami rehabilitation program in the province.
"The law provided more authority and funding to the regional administration and also facilitated more of the Free Aceh Movement's interests," Djalil said.
Meanwhile, Ferry said, "It is impossible for us to comply with all the things that the movement demanded, but in certain fields, including education, fiscal balance and religion, the government has given more political concessions than the movement sought."
The Free Aceh Movement had been struggled to establish an independent state since 1976, but then ruled out its mission after signing a peace agreement with the Indonesian government in Helsinki in August 2005. The struggle led to the death of tens of thousand of people. (nam/dar)