Aceh is nation's problem, not only military's: Widodo
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo A.S. said on Monday the problem of Aceh province is not the sole responsibility of the military, but all elements of the nation.
"The problems in Aceh are about political, economic and social matters, in which security is only a supporting aspect.
"Aceh is a national problem and the government has launched two programs in the province: the implementation of regional autonomy and the acceleration of development and social activities, including financial assistance for widows of victims of violence," Widodo said in a hearing with House Commission I on Security, Defense and Foreign affairs.
Though admitting the dispatch of troops to Aceh, the TNI chief said however that they were not sent there as part of a military operation.
"My troops have not been sent to Aceh for a military operation, but to help police maintain security in the area," Widodo said.
The TNI has reportedly deployed around 30,000 military personnel to the province.
The four-star general said that the situation in Aceh was still tense despite the new accord.
"But, don't push the TNI to conduct military operations there, as such an operation would be the government's political decision," he said.
Back in Aceh, two people, including a journalist, were found dead in Sungai Pauh village, East Langsa subdistrict, East Aceh on Sunday morning, witnesses said on Monday.
Residents found the bodies of Rusli Radja, 47, a journalist with Medan-based Pena Lestari weekly magazine, and his friend Syamsul Bahri on a roadside in the village, with bullet wounds to their heads.
Witnesses said Rusli and Syamsul were kidnapped on Saturday night by a group of people driving a dark colored Kijang van as they took a pedicab around their residence in Langsa housing complex, East Aceh.
They were found dead in the village on the following morning.
The police, however, have yet to confirm the shooting.
Chairman of the East Aceh office of the Indonesian Journalist Association (PWI) T.M. Attar said that besides working at Pena Lestari, Rusli also worked at Aceh-based Peristiwa weekly newspaper.
"Rusli is still registered as a PWI member here in East Aceh," Attar told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Rusli, he added, was also chairman of an East Aceh-based non- governmental organization, called Gajah Gunong Seulawah.
He was also an activist for the Student and Youth Forum for Anti Violence and a contractor who developed housing for victims of military operations (DOM).
Meanwhile, Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels armed with grenade launchers attacked two police stations in North Aceh on Sunday night.
North Aceh police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wanto Sumardi said there were no casualties or physical damage caused during the incident.
But residents said three civilians were injured in a grenade attack at a police headquarters in the Lhok Sukojn area, North Aceh.
Wanto said GAM rebels also attacked a police patrol team on Sunday, which sparked a gunfight.
There were also no casualties in the incident, he said.
"We deplore the attack. It seems that GAM is ignorant of the agreements that have been made," Wanto said, referring to the series of truces agreed by government and GAM representatives during peace talks in Switzerland which started last year.
GAM spokesman Abu Sofyan Daud said the movement was responsible for the attacks, saying that they had been carried out in retaliation to the recent burnings of six houses there.
The violence came only two days after government and GAM representatives in Switzerland agreed on Friday to a new accord to reduce violence.
A joint statement, issued at the end of the two-day talk, said "new security arrangements" replaces a one-month moratorium that ended on Thursday.
The statement said the new security arrangements would continue indefinitely with periodic reviews. (02/50/hdn)