Hasan wants E. Timor-style referendum in Aceh<\/p>\n
BOTKYRKA, Sweden (AP): Sitting under portraits of ancestors he
\nsaid were killed by Dutch colonialists, Hasan M. Tiro, an exiled
\nseparatist leader from Indonesia's Aceh region called on the
\nUnited Nations to sponsor a referendum similar to the one that
\nled to East Timor's independence.<\/p>\n
Hasan said Thursday that the rebels would accept nothing less
\nthan full independence for Aceh but that they had no plans to
\nhold a unilateral referendum.<\/p>\n
\"The UN has to do it because we have no means to do it,\" he
\nsaid in an interview at his home, which he uses as an office in a
\nStockholm suburb.<\/p>\n
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has rejected a
\nreferendum on full independence, but instead offered Aceh a vote
\non whether to establish Islamic law in the territory - an idea
\nHasan dismisses.<\/p>\n
\"It has nothing to do with that,\" said Hasan, the 75-year-old
\nrebel leader who speaks with difficulty following a stroke about
\ntwo years ago. \"They have to get out.\"<\/p>\n
There has been some speculation in Indonesia that Hasan, who
\nfled to Sweden three years after his Dec. 4, 1976, declaration of
\nAceh's independence, has lost authority over the rebel group as
\nthe conflict escalates in the far-flung archipelago.<\/p>\n
Pointing at tapes of his speeches that have been smuggled into
\nthe province and a written appeal that will be distributed on the
\nrebel group's anniversary on Saturday, Hasan, who often struggled
\nto speak but otherwise looked healthy, shook his head against the
\nimplication.<\/p>\n
\"There is no other legitimate leader in Aceh,\" his spokesman
\nBakhtiar Abdullah said. \"The loyalty of our people has never
\nchanged.\"<\/p>\n
\"My forefathers have been killed by the Dutch - now it's the
\nJavanese,\" Hasan said, pointing to the three portraits on the
\nwall above his desk.<\/p>\n
Hasan and other activists at the Free Aceh Movement's
\nheadquarters in exile repeated assurances that the rebels planned
\npeaceful rallies to commemorate the group's anniversary on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
But they expressed concerns that Indonesian military forces
\nmight have other plans.<\/p>\n
\"It's a grand, big day,\" Abdullah said.<\/p>\n
\"We have received reports that they're going to sabotage the
\ndemonstrations to provide an excuse for military force.\"<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman opposes independence for the province, but he
\nrepeatedly has said he would like to use peaceful means to
\nresolve the crisis and has resisted military pressure to declare
\na state of emergency.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian president has also said that he would send a
\npersonal envoy to Stockholm to meet with Hasan.<\/p>\n
Hasan said he had received no such offer.<\/p>\n
He declined to say whether the rebels would consider meeting
\nwith a governmental delegation.<\/p>\n
\"We'll see in a bit, however we have not heard from them,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hasan-wants-e-timor-style-referendum-in-aceh-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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