FORMER Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy will receive a peace award from Aceh’s Wali Nanggoroe (head of state) tomorrow (Dec 4) evening.
The award will be presented by Tengku Mahmud Malik (main image) to the former DAP stalwart in a ceremony scheduled to take place at Istana Wali Nanggoroe in Banda Aceh.
The award is in recognition of Ramasamy’s efforts in promoting peace in Aceh which led to the successful conclusion of the Helsinki Agreement on Aug 15, 2005 between Jakarta and separatist movement Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM).
News of Ramasamy who is now the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council chairman to be conferred the award was shared by the party’s secretary-general Satees Muniandy.
“(Urimai’s deputy chairman) David Marshel and I’ll be accompanying Prof Ramasamy in a short visit to Aceh to receive the award,” noted the former DAP state assemblyman for Bagan Dalam in a social media post.
As a result of the peace accord, peace and stability have returned to Aceh after 30 years of conflict which culminated in GAM fighting the Indonesian government forces in what is touted as Asia’s longest-running separatist conflicts in modern times.
Aceh is a peaceful region today with a special political status accorded. The province enjoys autonomy in the religious affairs and continue to be addressed as Serambi Mekah (Porch of Mecca) till this day.
Recall that Ramasamy had ‘bittersweet’ role in the Helsinki Agreement to the extent that the political scientist claimed that his contract was terminated by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) effective Aug 27, 2005 because of his participation in the peace talks between Jakarta and GAM in Helsinki, Finland.
Ramasamy said he attended the third and fourth round of the peace talks as an observer on April 12-17 and May 26-31 that year respectively.
“I was there as an observer, not as an adviser for GAM. I went there for academic reasons because my area is political science,” he justified in a two-page letter.
“In a rather cordial meeting (with the then Higher Education Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Mohd Yahya Nordin), I was told that Indonesia had complained to the Foreign Ministry that I had acted as an adviser to GAM in Helsinki.” – Dec 3, 2024
