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.