Appointment of Major General Ahmad Marzuki as PJ Governor of Aceh Draws Criticism, KontraS Aceh: Hurts the Hearts of the Acehnese People

Starting from Tuesday, July 5, 2022, the Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs has appointed Major General TNI Ahmad Marzuki as the acting (Pj) Governor of Aceh replacing Nova Iriansyah whose term of office has expired. Ahmad Marzuki himself will reportedly be sworn in on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 before the Chairman of the Aceh Syar'iyah Court in the DPRA's plenary session.

The appointment of Ahmad Marzuki as PJ Governor of Aceh suddenly drew strong protests from a number of civil society circles. The Aceh Commission for Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) considers the appointment to be highly contradictory to Aceh's historical track record as an area that has experienced armed conflict in the past two decades.

"This really hurts the hearts of the Acehnese people, given the long history of conflict and human rights violations in Aceh and the number of victims whose rights have not been fulfilled until now," said the Head of the Advocacy and Campaign Division of KontraS Aceh, Azharul Husna.

KontraS also holds the view that civil society in Aceh previously really hoped for an opportunity to place a civilian figure as the Acting Governor of Aceh. However, on the contrary, the Ministry of Home Affairs has instead placed the military in this position, thereby generating criticism from many circles.

Even more disappointing, it turned out that Ahmad Marzuki's name was one of the three candidates for the Acting Governor of Aceh proposed by the Aceh DPR to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The three names are the Directorate General of Regional Administration of the Ministry of Home Affairs Safrizal, the former Commander of the Iskandar Muda Military Commander Major General Ahmad Marzuki and the Secretary General of the Indonesian Parliament Indra Iskandar.

“However, this is clearly the representative of the Acehnese people as if they have forgotten history. Two and a half years as the acting governor is not a short time, the DPRA should understand the situation of the Acehnese people who still have trauma to the military during the conflict, with a long record of human rights violations that it has caused," said Husna.

In the midst of civil society efforts to encourage the fulfillment of the rights of victims of past human rights violations, the appointment of Ahmad Marzuki became a big challenge. Especially in this transitional leadership, there are a number of homeworks in an effort to fulfill the rights of victims of human rights violations, including the importance of a humanist approach.

On the other hand, nationally, the appointment of a military officer as acting governor raises concerns about the threat of the return of ABRI's dual function, in which the TNI/Polri re-enter the civilian realm. This appointment also contradicts the statement by the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri), Tito Karnavian in his office last month.

At that time, Tito emphasized that he would not propose active TNI-Polri as acting regional heads. More importantly, the direct appointment of the acting regional head of Aceh has violated human rights because it was not carried out in a transparent and accountable manner because there was no open forum accessible to the interested public, especially the people of Aceh, to be involved in the process. In fact, the right to public participation is also guaranteed as a constitutional right in the constitution based on Article 27 paragraph (1) and Article 28C paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution which provides opportunities for citizens to participate in government and build society, nation and state.

"Therefore, we express our stance that the Ministry of Home Affairs does not inaugurate and/or revoke the appointment of the acting Regional Head of the Aceh Province (Aceh Governor) as this will harm the spirit of reform," he concluded.

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