Jakarta. Months-long talks by Indonesia's spy officials with Aceh's rebel leader that culminated in his surrender showed “what a soft approach can do” in dealing with militant groups in conflict areas, experts have said.
Nurdin Ismail, known as Din Minimi, turned himself in last week to authorities alongside 30 of his men after State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso personally approached him.
Din's group, allegedly responsible for a string of attacks throughout 2015 against police officers and soldiers in its East Aceh district stronghold, also gave up 15 assault rifles and a sack of ammunition.
This showed “the fruitfulness of a dialogic approach," Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, a senior researcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said over the weekend.
BIN's moves were an antithesis to repressive measures usually taken by security personnel against militant groups, she said.
“There has been no proof that repressive approaches have reduced [violence]," she said.
As such, Jaleswari added, peaceful dialogue should be put forward to resolve security issues in other conflict areas.
In the far eastern province of Papua, the Free Papua Organization (OPM) has for decades mounted a low-level insurgency, complaining that the central government has given the resource-rich region an unfair share of the state's wealth after it became part of Indonesia in 1969.
“Sutiyoso should also go to Papua,” said Arbi Sanit, a political observer with the University of Indonesia.
He called for a peaceful dialogue to resolve conflicts in the restive region, with foreign parties as mediators and witness. Dialog between Jakarta and Papua has been a long-lasting government future goal for years.
“Putting dialogue forward in such areas is not an easy process, but we should move on with it,” Jaleswari said. “Din Minimi's case is an entry point.”
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