Students targeted in Aceh war<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
As war intensifies between government troops and separatist
\nrebels in Aceh, students have been targeted with the burning of
\nan estimated 185 schools throughout the province.<\/p>\n
Both Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists and the Indonesian
\nMilitary (TNI) have denied involvement.<\/p>\n
Fire destroyed the elementary school of 12-year-old Husaini in
\nher village of Aleu Awe in Bireun regency. Neither police nor the
\nfire brigade were present when the fire broke out.<\/p>\n
\"I can no longer go to school,\" Husaini told The Jakarta Post
\non Tuesday, \"because all the other schools have been burned down
\nas well.\"<\/p>\n
Fire has razed schools in five regencies throughout Aceh since
\nmartial law came into effect early Monday morning, affecting
\nthousands of students, including junior high school third-graders
\nsitting their final exams.<\/p>\n
Bireun lost 78 schools, Pidie regency 74 schools, Aceh Besar
\nregency 28 schools, Aceh Jaya two schools and one school each was
\ndestroyed in Aceh Tamiang regency and the provincial capital of
\nBanda Aceh, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
Bireun and Pidie are GAM strongholds.<\/p>\n
Despite the scale of the act not a single perpetrator had been
\narrested and no party has claimed responsibility.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto
\nblamed the rebels, voicing disbelief over their actions.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know what GAM expects from burning down schools when
\nall the time they claim to be fighting for the people of Aceh,\"
\nEndriartono said. He promised to have soldiers protect schools.<\/p>\n
Military operation spokesman Lt. Col Achmad Yani Basuki said
\nGAM was setting schools on fire to ease pressure on them by
\ndiverting soldiers to protect the schools.<\/p>\n
GAM military spokesman Sofyan Dawood denied the charges,
\nReuters reported. \"People were shot and then even burned. Many
\nhouses have been burned as well,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Fauziah, an elementary school teacher in Djuli district in
\nBireun, was in the process of removing equipment from her school
\nafter hearing of the fate of other schools.<\/p>\n
But after returning to remove other essential equipment her
\nschool was already on fire. \"Many schools were burned down at
\nnight,\" she sobbed.<\/p>\n
The destruction affects the education of tens of thousands of
\nelementary, junior high and senior high schools students,
\nprovincial education office deputy head Anas M. Adam told Antara.<\/p>\n
He said the damage could amount to Rp 100 billion (about
\nUS$11.76 million).<\/p>\n
While skirmishes continued on some battle fronts on Tuesday,
\npolice in Banda Aceh arrested a women's rights activist for
\nallegedly having links to GAM.<\/p>\n
Two vans of police officers arrested Cut Nur Asikin, an
\nactivist with the Srikandi Aceh women's rights organization, from
\nher home on Jl. Fatmawati and took her to police headquarters.
\nThe officers also seized documents and discs from her house.<\/p>\n
\"We suspect Ibu Cut has connections with GAM, so we arrested
\nher for questioning,\" Aceh Police deputy chief Comr. Arie Rachman
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
In North Sumatra, police shot dead an alleged GAM commander,
\nidentified only as Tison, as he and about 30 GAM members
\nattempted to enter the province from Pangkalan Susu district,
\nLangkat regency on Monday evening.<\/p>\n
\"We tried to hunt the other GAM members but they escaped. They
\nfailed to infiltrate North Sumatra,\" Langkat Police chief
\ndetective First Insp. M. Khadapy Marpaung said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
\nMahendra said the government had no plans to offer amnesty to
\nrebels wishing to surrender.<\/p>\n
Yusril said the amended 1945 Constitution clearly stipulated
\nthat amnesty could be granted upon approval from the House of
\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n
\"The opportunity for them (GAM members) to receive amnesty
\nremains wide open, but the President must consult the House
\nbeforehand,\" Yusril said in Jakarta. \"But there has been no
\ndiscussion on that matter so far.\"<\/p>\n
Yusril's statement came after Army Chief of Staff Gen.
\nRyamizard Ryacudu said rebels who surrendered could be given
\namnesty.<\/p>\n
\"If they repent, they will be treated as a patient who must be
\ncured. But if they put up a fight, they will be shot dead,\"
\nRyamizard said in Bandung, where he was attending the 57th
\nanniversary celebration of the Siliwangi Military Command
\noverseeing West Java.<\/p>\n
He said now martial law was in effect, GAM members who were
\ncaptured would be treated as prisoners of war and would be
\nbrought before a war tribunal.<\/p>\n
On Monday the TNI said it had 28,000 soldiers in Aceh plus
\n8,000 regular police and 2,000 paramilitary police. They are
\nfacing off against an estimated 5,000 guerrillas with 2,000
\nweapons.<\/p>\n
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the campaign and
\nthe imposition of martial law in Aceh \"sets the stage for gross
\nhuman rights violations.\"<\/p>\n
It expressed particular concern about recent comments by
\nIndonesian military leaders about plans to \"crush\" the
\nseparatists.<\/p>\n
\"These statements are particularly worrisome given the
\nappalling track record of the Indonesian Military in Aceh.\"<\/p>\n
During the previous 10-year campaign, thousands of civilians
\nwere murdered, disappeared or tortured, the group said.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International called on both sides to protect
\ncivilians, saying that previously \"both sides have been
\nresponsible for serious abuses and ordinary civilians have
\noverwhelmingly been the victims.\"<\/p>",
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