Aceh rebels exploit tsunami tragedy

Kirsten E. Schulze, The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore

When the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) called a unilateral ceasefire following the tsunami disaster, hopes were raised that this humanitarian disaster might lead to an end to the separatist conflict.

Indeed, it looks like talks on a temporary cessation of hostilities between Indonesia and GAM in order to facilitate the relief efforts may be on the cards.

This does not, however, mean that reconciliation is imminent as GAM has not changed its goal of an independent Aceh. Instead, the separatists have incorporated Aceh's tragedy and the ceasefire into their strategy to gain international support.

In the eyes of GAM, the humanitarian disaster provides an unprecedented opportunity. Never before have so many foreigners been on the ground in Aceh and never before has Aceh had such world attention. Not surprisingly, GAM quickly incorporated the tsunami into its strategy, at the heart of which is internationalization of its struggle for independence.

After GAM's leadership went into exile in 1979, it started to lobby the international community to pressure Indonesia into letting Aceh secede. GAM actively sought support from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union as well as non- governmental organizations (NGOs). Involvement with the latter became so pronounced that the Indonesian government closed Aceh to international NGOs during martial law in 2003.

Since the tsunami, GAM has issued statement after statement condemning Indonesian relief efforts, accusing the Indonesian government of deliberately delaying aid and the Indonesian military (TNI) of hindering its distribution. It has called for the withdrawal of Indonesian forces and international intervention.

GAM guerrillas on the ground have also become more active. During the first week after the tsunami, they intercepted an aid convoy trying to make its way to Meulaboh. The guerrillas emptied the trucks of all their goods. Over the last week, there have been reports of clashes between GAM and the Indonesian security forces. Aid agencies now fear for the safety of their workers.

While GAM has no interest in attacking foreigners in Aceh, the separatists are trying to provoke the TNI into an overreaction in order to draw further international attention to their struggle for independence. They are also exploiting the fact that two- thirds of the Indonesian troops deployed across Aceh are now focused on the relief efforts and that the security forces in Meulaboh and Banda Aceh were badly hit.

In addition, GAM rebels have used the general confusion around the disaster-stricken areas to come down from the mountains into which they had been pushed over the previous year of counter- insurgency operations. Guerrillas have seized the chance to replenish their depleted weapons with guns taken from the dead bodies of police and soldiers as well as from damaged arsenals.

Not surprisingly, in light of its strategy of internationalization, GAM has started to mingle with the displaced persons, trying to gain the ear of the numerous international NGOs. This poses the greatest risk to the relief efforts as international NGOs could be drawn into a dangerous political game. Already, international human rights organizations have started echoing GAM's condemnations of the Indonesian government and military. It would be nothing but disastrous if well-intended international NGOs on the ground in Aceh followed suit.

In the worst-case scenario this could again lead to the closure of Aceh to foreign organizations.

Already ultra-nationalists in the Indonesian military stated that foreign military contingents should be out of Aceh by the end of March.

The international community should beware of falling into GAM's trap. GAM does not represent all of the Acehnese and it certainly does not represent most of the people hit by the tsunami.

Although one often gets the impression from media reports that only the Indonesian army has committed human rights violations in Aceh, since 1976 GAM has been responsible for the burning of schools, killing of teachers, destruction of local government offices and clinics, kidnapping of civil servants, murder of judges, attacks on the energy infrastructure, ethnic cleansing of Javanese migrants and wholesale extortion and intimidation of the Acehnese people.

It is crucial not to let GAM drive a wedge between the international community and the Indonesian government. Such a rift would not only play into GAM's hands but also into the hands of militant Islamists who oppose the Western presence in Aceh and ultra-nationalists who are suspicious of foreign intentions.

Above all it would hurt the Acehnese people.

Dr Kirsten E. Schulze, a senior lecturer at the London School of Economics, has just returned from Aceh. She is the author of The Free Aceh Movement (GAM): Anatomy Of A Separatist Organization.