Power-sharing and political party engineering in conflict-prone societies: the Indonesian experiment in Aceh

Abstract

Establishing legitimate political leadership through non-violent means is an essential step in the rebuilding of post-conflict societies. For this reason the successful holding of democratic elections is often seen as the crowning achievement of the peace process. In recent years, however, it has become clear that elections do not always guarantee the peace, and may in fact, make societies more dangerous.1 This has prompted political scientists to look more closely at other dimensions of the transition from violent conflict to democratic politics, including the role of political parties. Political parties play an essential role in all democracies, but their importance is magnified in conflict-prone societies. While some scholars have argued that political parties may help to consolidate peace by forming coalitions between groups formerly in conflict, more recent research suggests that such parties may also entrench social cleavages, especially if party formation is based along former conflict fault lines. This article considers these arguments in the case of Aceh, Indonesia, where an historic peace agreement allowed former Acehnese rebels to form their own political party—one based along both ethnic and former conflict lines.

Notes

Ben Hillman is Lecturer in Political Science at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University (ANU). He teaches graduate courses on comparative government and democracy. In 2006 he headed the United Nations Development Programme's technical support programme for Aceh's first post-conflict elections. In 2010 and 2011 he conducted research on Aceh's post-conflict governance.

 1. Collier, Wars, Guns and Votes; Brancati, Peace by Design.

 2. Collier, Wars, Guns and Votes.

 3. Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies; Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa?.

 4. Brancati, Peace by Design.

 5. Bogaards, ‘Comparative Strategies of Political Party Regulation’, 48.

 6. Reilly, ‘Introduction’.

 7. Reilly, ‘Introduction’

 8. Rabasa and Chalk, Indonesia's Transformation.

 9. Reid, ‘Introduction’.

10. It should be noted that not all Acehnese were in favour of joining Indonesia. Even among Aceh's varied aristocratic, religious and economic elites there were different views about Aceh's political status. This variety of conflicting viewpoints underlay decades of intermittent conflict.

11. Van Djik, Rebellion under the Banner of Islam.

12. Aspinall, Islam and Nation.

13. Schulze, ‘The Free Aceh Movement (GAM)’.

14. Miller, Rebellion and Reform in Indonesia; Aspinall, Islam and Nation.

15. Hillman, ‘Ethnic Politics and Local Political Parties’.

16. IFES, ‘Indonesia Electoral Survey 2010’. The Survey was conducted between 28 July and 2 August 2005 in 32 provinces.

17. Hillman, ‘Ethnic Politics and Local Political Parties’.

18. Hamid, Partai Politik Lokal di Aceh.

19. Most of these parties were knocked out for failing to have enough offices in the districts and subdistricts or the requisite number of members. One of the parties found ineligible to contest elections was the Aceh People's Alliance for Women's Concerns (PARA).

20. Interviews with Aceh Party Secretary M. Yahya, Aceh Party campaign headquarters, Banda Aceh, 17 June 2009; and Vice Governor of Aceh and SIRA Party Chair Muhamd Nazar, Banda Aceh, 10 October 2010.

21. In the 2009 election campaign, Aceh Party propaganda suggested that other local parties were no different from Indonesia's national parties. See Hillman, ‘Political Parties and Post-Conflict Transition’.

22. Interview with Mawardi Ismail, former member of the Indonesian House of Representatives (Golkar) and Dean of the Law Faculty, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, 11 February 2010.

23. Hillman, ‘Ethnic Politics and Local Political Parties’.

24. See ICG, ‘Indonesia: Pre-Election Anxieties in Aceh’.

25. Interview with former Minister for Justice and Human Rights, Hasballah M. Saad, Banda Aceh, 16 June 2009.

26. Interview with Fajran Zen, Political Analyst, Aceh Institute, Banda Aceh, 16 June 2009.

27. Aspinall, ‘Democratization and Ethnic Politics in Indonesia’, 1.

28. Hillman, ‘Political Parties and Post-Conflict Transition’.

29. The relevant law is the provincial Qanun No 3/2007 on Managing General Elections in Aceh. By contrast, the national parliamentary threshold is 2.5 per cent.

30. SIRA's request was dismissed by the Constitutional Court for lack of evidence. For the court's ruling see: http://www.mahkamahkonstitusi.go.id/index.php?page = website.BeritaInternalLengkap&id = 3235. [Accessed 30 April 2007].

31. Hillman, ‘Political Parties and Post-Conflict Transition’.

32. Kumar and De Zeeuw, ‘International Support for Political Party Development’.

33. Kumar and De Zeeuw, ‘International Support for Political Party Development’

34. Hillman, ‘Ethnic Politics and Local Political Parties’.

35. Hillman, ‘The Policy-making Dimension of Post-Conflict Governance’.

36. World Bank, ‘Multi Stakeholder Review of Post-Conflict Programming in Aceh’.

37. Interview with Hasbi Abduallah, Chair, Aceh Legislative Assemby, Jakarta, 14 February 2010.

38. Wawan, ‘The Nature of GAM's Political and Economic Transformation’.

39. See http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010 [Accessed 5 August 2011].

40. Another Transparency International survey conducted in Aceh in 2010 found that 51 per cent, 2,140 respondents, polled across the province believed that corruption had worsened since the tsunami of 2004. A further 38 per cent of respondents ranked the provincial administration as the most corrupt public institution in Aceh, followed by the police force and the provincial legislature. See ‘New Survey Paints Bleak Picture of Graft in Aceh’. Jakarta Post, 22 June 2010.

41. Interview with provincial government department head (anonymous), Banda Aceh, 8 December 2010.

42. Aspinall, ‘Combatants to Contractors’.

43. Hillman, ‘Ethnic Politics and Local Political Parties’.

44. Interview with Hasballah M Saad, Acehnese politician and former Minister for Human Rights, Jakarta, 20 August 2010.

45. ICG, ‘GAM vs GAM in the Aceh Elections’.