Is there a Gam candidate?
The law on Aceh’s special status allows independent candidates without party affiliation to stand, uniquely in Indonesia. This led to a split in Gam, as the veteran and largely migr leadership sought to broaden its appeal by endorsing one set of candidates with other party affiliations, while Aceh-based younger leaders backed two Gam members standing as independents. The veteran leaders are supporting social and environmental campaigner Humam Hamid. He is not a Gam member, and is also the candidate of the Indonesia-wide United Development Party (PPP), a group with an Islamic orientation that served as the loyal opposition during the dictatorship of President Suharto. They are backing university economist Hasbi Abdullah as deputy governor on the same ticket. He was an independence campaigner and spent two terms in jail, but activists complain that he has done little for the cause since his release in 1998 and is not a Gam member. The younger Gam leadership backs Irwandi Yusuf, a US-educ
