12,000 Acehnese swear loyalty to legitimate govt

12,000 Acehnese swear loyalty to legitimate govt

Nani Farida and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe

More than 12,000 residents of 54 villages in Kuta Baro district,
Aceh Besar regency, attended a ceremony stage-managed by the
martial law administration to declare their loyalty to the
legitimate government.

In the meantime, security authorities arrested eight more
civil servants who were allegedly involved in the armed rebellion
or had given political or financial support to the Free Aceh
Movement.

In the Kota Baro ceremony, most those taking part were the
elderly and the sick, with most young people from the district
having joined the armed rebellion, or left the province to avoid
the dangers of the military operation.

Declining to speaking openly about coercion, thirty-year-old
Muksin, who has being lying in his bed for months with leg
injuries, said all participants were "asked" three days ago to
attend the ceremony.

"As civilians, we had to accept the invitation because if we
rejected it, we would be labeled GAM supporters," he told The
Jakarta Post after the ceremony.

Muksin and many others brought with them the Indonesian flag
and sang the national anthem Indonesia Raya. Many others sang
similar songs but with the wrong words to express their
opposition not only to the ceremony but also to the Indonesian
unitary state.

Previously, hundreds of Acehnese swore a similar loyalty oath
to the government in Pidie regency only days after the government
imposed martial law and launched the military offensive to crush
the separatists on May 19.

Musa (not his real name) said the Kuta Baro district, a GAM
stronghold in the regency, has been swamped by hundreds of
military and police personnel in armored vehicles.

"Honestly, most people have been living in fear since they are
physically powerless, but nevertheless have strong opinions on
independence and on the necessity of a self-determination
referendum for the province," he said.

Meanwhile, M. Dahlan, a senior official in the Bireuen regency
administration, said that of the eight civil servants who had
been arrested by the police in Bireuen town, four were allegedly
involved in the armed rebellion while the other four were
supporters of the separatist movement.

"They were arrested after spying on their colleagues in the
regental office and neighbors," he said, adding that they had
stopped their activities following the launching of the military
operation.

The regent had decided, Dahlan added, not to pay the civil
servants.

Hundreds of Acehnese people, including civil servants, have
been arrested in Banda Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie for their
alleged involvement in the armed rebellion. They are facing
charges of treason.

In a related development, a minibus plying the Kuala Simpang
(East Aceh) - Sigli (Pidie) route was set on fire by unidentified
armed persons, leaving the driver and a one-and-a-half-year-old
child badly injured.

In other development, GAM revealed it intended to release
three RCTI crew members whom, along with two Acehnese women and a
driver, have been held since June 29. However, GAM said that
"current conditions" were hampering their release.

"Regarding the three RCTI crew members, we are trying to
release them as soon as possible but the current conditions are
preventing us from doing so," said GAM spokesman in East Aceh
Tengku Mansur.

Mansur declined to give further details, including whether GAM
would also release the two military officers' wives who were
traveling with the TV crew.