Aceh, W. Kalimantan remain tense ahead of elections

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Tension is smoldering over Aceh and West Kalimantan with election day only two weeks away.

In Aceh on Saturday, over 1,000 villagers spent their seventh day holed up at the Darul Istiqamah mosque in Pidie. They refused to go home for fear of retaliation by soldiers who accused them of being involved in abducting a military intelligence officer.

They said they were too traumatized by the brutality of soldiers who combed their villages -- Cot Baroh, Cot Tunong and Krueng Njong -- in search of Second Sergeant Adnan Mahmud.

Zukhri Mauluddinsyah Adnan of the Aceh Referendum Information Center which supports the frightened villagers, said that Adnan's abduction was a story made up by the military. The intention is to justify a military presence in an area the Army says is the stronghold of separatist Free Aceh Movement.

Zukhri said none of the villagers knew of, let alone abducted, Adnan.

"They are afraid to return to their villages because they still cannot forget how soldiers tortured people suspected of being sympathetic to separatist rebels when Aceh was a military operation area (from 1989 to 1997)," he said.

In the West Kalimantan regency of Sambas, the scene of recent ethnic fighting, people are reported to be enthusiastic in participating in the election process even though tensions prevail.

Antara reported on Saturday that about 75 percent of the 800,000 Sambas residents have registered to vote.

More than 200 people, mostly Madurese migrants, were killed in the clashes with the alliance of native Malay and Dayak. The conflict has forced tens of thousands of Madurese to flee.

Residents told the news agency that rumors abound of Madurese attacking native villages.

In Irian Jaya, where the government deals with the separatist Free Papua Movement, an influential community leader called on the people to go to the polls next month.

Theys H. Eluay, who chairs the Irian Jaya Customary Society, said that as long as Irian Jaya remains part of Indonesia, locals should go to next month's polls. (46/pan)