Profile of Aguswandi - Aceh Activists

Aguswandi - Personal profile

Born on August 17th 1977 at the village of Sibreh, in the District of Aceh Besar, Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, Aguswandi is the second of 6 children of a farmer. Despite the rather unusual name for an Acehnese, both his parents are Acehnese (the name is in fact derived from the date of his birth that coincides with the Indonesian Independence Day). Socially active since he was in secondary school, at 17 Aguswandi was elected resident of the inter-secondary schools organization. He entered the tertiary education in 1995 by registering in the Law Faculty of the Syiah Kuala University of Banda Aceh, where he soon got involved in organizational activities. In 1998 he was elected Secretary General of the University Senate. In the same year he was also elected Coordinator of SMUR, one of the most active student organizations in Aceh struggling for democracy and human rights. Through this organization Aguswandi has been

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Recent News About Aceh

AFX News Limited Indonesia misses Aceh government law deadline JAKARTA (AFX) - Indonesia has missed a deadline to pass a law granting government to Aceh under a peace pact with separatists, but both sides said the delay will not derail the process, Agence France-Presse reported. The pact signed last August by the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) calls for a law granting Aceh partial self-rule by today. Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, chairman of a parliamentary committee debating the bill, said lawmakers need more time. 'We have said all along that there's no way we can finish the discussion on March 31. We won't be able to finish discussing a bill in one month, let alone one dealing with an issue as big as Aceh,' Baldan told AFP. 'It won't undo the process that has taken place in Aceh. We are doing our best and this bill is a priority,' he said. Baldan said contentious issues include relations between the central and Aceh governments, revenue-sharing from the region's natural resources and the participation of independent candidates in local elections. A GAM spokesman, Teuku Kamaruzzaman, said the delay is justified and does not consider it a blow to the peace process. 'There are many issues that need to be discussed bit it is not reasonable to expect them to finish today,' he told AFP. A report by the International Crisis Group think-tank warned that the law had been diluted by the home affairs ministry and that tough times are ahead for the peace accord. The GAM agreed to drop its demand for independence in return for -- among other concessions -- the right to form local political parties, which are banned elsewhere in Indonesia to discourage separatism. According to nationalist lawmakers, Jakarta may have gone too far in its concessions, but they have insufficient numbers to block the bill.