Rights body to go to Aceh despite govt's reservation<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is
\ndetermined to send its members to war-torn Aceh early next week
\nto monitor possible rights violations there despite lukewarm
\nconsent from the government and a condition that it play \"fair\".<\/p>\n
Commission member M.M. Billah, who heads the ad hoc Monitoring
\nTeam for Peace in Aceh, said the team members would go anyway
\nbecause they had a moral obligation as well as a legal mandate to
\ninvestigate alleged rights violations.<\/p>\n
\"We will meet the officials in the province to notify them
\nthat we're on an intensive monitoring mission there,\" he told The
\nJakarta Post on Wednesday, revealing the mandate given to the
\nteam by the commission's plenary session.<\/p>\n
Team members will fly to Aceh on Monday. They are Billah,
\nZoemrotin K.S., Eny Soeprapto and Anshori Thayib.<\/p>\n
Representatives from the rights commission for children and
\nwomens rights, as well as several staff members will also go to
\nAceh.<\/p>\n
Currently, Komnas HAM has four representative offices and
\nindividuals in various regencies in Aceh. The commission plans to
\nestablish a few more offices in Bireuen, Lhoksemauwe and West
\nAceh.<\/p>\n
Bireuen and Lhokseumawe are known to be areas where the
\ngreatest amount of violence has taken place as they are Free Aceh
\nMovement (GAM) strongholds and thus prime targets for the
\nmilitary and police.<\/p>\n
Under Article 89 of the 1999 law on the rights commission,
\nmembers can conduct field checks, carry out investigations and
\nsummon sources or witnesses of alleged rights violations.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
\nSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that the government
\nwould not obstruct Komnas HAM in Aceh, but added that the
\ncommission had to be \"fair\" in their reports.<\/p>\n
\"We are ensuring their freedom during the assignment. However,
\nwe call on the commission to be fair and objective. Please do not
\noverlook the separatists, who also have repeatedly abused human
\nrights,\" Susilo alleged.<\/p>\n
The minister used the occasion to emphasize to them that the
\ncommission was established by the government and had the
\nauthority to ensure that there were no violations of human rights
\ndue to any government policy.<\/p>\n
He accused the rebels of torching hundreds of schools and
\nreminded the commission that it was therefore a clear example of
\na GAM violation of human rights.<\/p>\n
The dispatch of the monitoring team follows reports on
\npossible violations against civilians during the military
\noperations to rid the country of all GAM elements, including
\nreports of executions of alleged non-combatants on a shrimp farm
\nin Peusangan district as well as violence committed by the
\nmilitary in Peudada district. Both districts are in Bireuen
\nregency.<\/p>\n
An article on the shrimp farm incident has also placed Koran
\nTempo daily in hot water with the TNI, who now plans to sue the
\ndaily over what it calls a false report. The Military also is
\nconsidering a lawsuit against France-based news agency Agence
\nFrance-Presse (AFP) which first broke the story.<\/p>\n
Billah said it was good sign that legal action was the method
\nchosen as a means to settle the matter, but urged the public to
\ngive more credence to his team's planned investigation instead of
\naccepting a news story as fact, with regard to the military raid
\nwhich led to the death of 10 people, including a 13-year-old boy.<\/p>\n
He noted that the different accounts of the way the people
\ndied was an example of how each side could use an event as part
\nof psychological warfare in armed conflicts.<\/p>\n
As part of such a technique, he added, abuses of information
\nwere the most effective way to make an opponent look bad or take
\na wrong step.<\/p>\n
He also claimed that it would not be not easy for anyone,
\nincluding the media, to find a valid Acehnese source to share
\ninformation without some sort of pressure because \"they have been
\ntraumatized by the past military operation (from 1989-1998) which
\nhas made them reluctant to talk too much about the military or
\nGAM.\"<\/p>",
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