ABRI begins pulling out combat troops from Aceh
By Efendy Naibaho
LHOKSEUMAWE, Aceh (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) have begun to withdraw troops from Aceh following the lifting of the province's status as a military operation region.
Yesterday, the first group of 250 soldiers left Aceh -- long blighted by the excessively violent suppression of small numbers of armed insurgents. The second group of 660 troops will leave on Aug. 31.
From the first group to leave, 100 troops were returning to their original base in Bangkinang in Riau, and a further 100 were going back to Padang Panjang in West Sumatra. Fifty members of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) were sent back to Jakarta.
Let. Col. Agus Ramadhan, spokesman for the military command which oversees Aceh, Riau, North and West Sumatra, said the second group of soldiers (including 29 from Kopassus) would also be returned to their bases in Riau, Padang Panjang and Java.
Maj. Gen. Ismed Yuzairi, chief of the Bukit Barisan Northern Sumatra Military Command, saw the troops off in a military ceremony here yesterday. Also in attendance were Aceh Governor Syamsudin Mahmud -- who recently requested a formal lifting of the military operation status from the province -- local officials, religious leaders and some survivors of violent attacks by separatist rebels.
The troops looked happy and sang popular songs like Sayonara and Di Sini Senang Di Sana Senang" (here I feel happy, there I feel happy) aboard the 10 trucks leaving the city.
ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto, during his visit to Aceh on Aug. 7, decided to lift the military operation status from the province and pull out all non-territorial soldiers. The move was made in the midst of mounting uproar over human rights abuses perpetrated by the military in the province.
Thousands of people have reportedly been killed, arrested and gone missing, and thousands of houses have been burnt down in a military operation -- code-named Red Net -- which has been in progress since 1989, when it was launched to crush the Aceh Merdeka separatist group.
Col. Dasiri Musnar, chief of the Aceh military district, said the separatist group's activities have drastically declined and its number of armed members had fallen to only 54.
Passive members and supporters of the separatist movement, he said, would no longer pose a threat to the people.
He said 236 weapons had been confiscated over the course of the operation.
Yuzairi asked the Aceh military district and the provincial police to cooperate more closely with local social and religious leaders, and youth and students organizations to maintain security in the area.
"The presence of territorial troops and police should no longer instill fear and hatred in the local people. They must adjust to the new situation and help to create a feeling of safety," he said.
He also apologized for all the mistakes committed by the military during the nine-year operation. "On behalf of the ABRI leadership...I apologize to all the Acehnese people for the wrongdoings committed by troops while they were stationed here," he said.
Al Khatam, who witnessed the troops' withdrawal, denied the presence of a separatist group in the province, saying that it was "an old story." He also said people were happy to see troops leaving because they would no longer have to live in fear of death, arrest and torture.
Meanwhile, in Pidie regency, Baharuddin Lopa from the National Commission on Human Rights said yesterday that his four-man delegation intended to excavate a number of what people have claimed to be mass graves containing the victims of ABRI atrocities in the province.
"We are here for a serious business and ... (after we finish) we will recommend that Aceh be restored to the situation it was in before the operation started," he was quoted by Antara as saying.