438 ex-rebels go home after 'reeducation'

438 ex-rebels go home after 'reeducation'

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam

Maulidarrahmi and another 437 supposed former Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) members appeared relieved as they were finally allowed to
return home on Sunday after attending a five-month ideological
"reeducation" course in the war-town province.

"For sure I am very glad," said Maulidarrahmi, 18, a former
GAM rebel from Balohan village in Sabang subdistrict, Aceh Besar
regency, who surrendered to Indonesian forces.

Maulidarrahmi and the other supposed GAM members who
surrendered were required to participate in the reeducation and
vocational training course for five months at the Teacher
Training Center in Aceh Besar, some 14 kilometers from the Aceh
capital, Banda Aceh.

Maulidarrahmi said he would make good use the vocational
skills he had learned during his time at the Teacher Training
Center. "Maybe I will open a sewing business," he added.

Similarly, another ex-GAM rebel, Ansyari Ali, 40, from Cot Mon
Jaya village in Ingin Jaya subdistrict, Aceh Besar, also
expressed relief that he would soon be able to see his family
again.

Ansyari, who was an employee of the Sultan Iskandar Muda
Airport, said he was not worried if he met with GAM members after
his return home.

"I'm going to stand up for myself if I meet them," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Before returning home, the former separatist rebels were
required to take an oath declaring that they had quit GAM and
submitted to the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

Should they break their oaths, they said they were ready to
accept the presumably very severe punishments that would be meted
out to them by the security authorities. The former rebels have
also been asked to encourage other GAM members to follow their
lead.

The reeducation course was concluded on Saturday by Aceh
martial law commander Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, who said that
although the former rebels were being allowed to go home, they
were still prohibited from leaving Aceh pending a presidential
amnesty.

"The amnesty issue is currently being discussed by the central
government," he said without elaborating further.

The former GAM members are also required to report to the
local authorities after they arrive home.

Endang said the government would assist those who did not want
to return home for fear of attack by their former comrades. "If
they don't want to go home, that's because they know better about
the situation in their villages," he said.

The former rebels who intended to return home were given Rp
2.5 million (US$299) each as seed capital to start businesses in
their home districts.

"They can use the money to start up businesses so that they
can live in a reasonable manner," Endang said.

He said the five-month reeducation course had cost more than
Rp 2 billion in taxpayers' money.

Endang also said that at least 143 GAM members who had been
captured by the security forces and sentenced to more than three
years in prison would be moved on Wednesday to serve their jail
terms on Java island.

"We will bring them to Semarang (Central Java) and from there
they will taken to prison," he said.

It was reported earlier that the convicted rebels would be
sent to the prison island of Nusakambangan off the coast of
Cilacap, Central Java.