Poll campaign kicks off in Indonesia's Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Nov 25: Campaigning has started for next month's landmark elections in Indonesia's once rebellious Aceh province, with one candidate vowing to speed up rehabilitation of victims of the December 2004 tsunami.

The December 11 poll for which the campaign started yesterday, are the first ever direct vote for top executive posts in the province. The polls are expected to prove to be another milestone towards ending a conflict that has killed 15,000 people since the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) launched a struggle for an independent state on Sumatra island's northern tip in 1976.

Irwandi Yusuf, one of eight candidates delivering speeches marking the start of election campaigning, said tsunami rebuilding was proceedingly slowly because of corruption.

''The huge amount of funds from Aceh reconstruction and rehabilitation has not been managed well. Even corrupt practices and misuse of aid intended for the people have flourished,'' said the former rebel.

Yusuf vowed to end corruption and give prosperity to the Acehnese if he was elected head of the Aceh government.

''Aceh's abundant natural resources such as oil, gas and forest products should be used for the welfare of the people, so that Acehnese will no longer die in their own rice warehouse,'' he said, invoking an Indonesian proverb.

Supporters pasted pictures of candidates on walls and trees for the polls that will elect the provincial governor and his deputy, as well as 19 regents and mayors across Aceh.

GAM and the Indonesian government signed a truce in August 2005 under Finnish mediation, partly spurred by the Indian Ocean tsunami that left around 170,000 Acehnese dead or missing.

The pact paved the way for former separatists' involvement in Aceh politics after they agreed to end their rebellion.

Previous polls in Aceh, including the 2004 Indonesian presidential and legislative elections, were conducted under tight security and open campaigning was forbidden in many areas due to the insurgency.

Eight candidates running for governor will hold televised debates on today, the first of their kind in Aceh. One debate will pit four candidates against one other.

A retired general who once led Indonesian troops in Aceh is among the gubernatorial nominees who last week pledged to ensure there would be no election violence.

International and local observers say the possibility of violence is low, but the election commission has called on monitoring groups to send more people as it wants around 10,000 monitors across the rugged province of 4 million people.

Reuters