Aceh is nation's problem, not only military's: Widodo

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)