Aceh woman seeks Japanese solidarity
By Kornelius Purba
TOKYO (JP): Many Japanese enjoy the use of gas from Aceh, the troubled Indonesian province in northern Sumatra, but hardly any of them know where Aceh is, much less the suffering of its people.
This is why an alliance of nongovernmental organizations in Japan, the Network for Indonesian Democracy, Japan (NINDJA), invited one among scores of victims of violence from the province to share her experiences with the Japanese public last month.
"Our sufferings have been too much. Please help us to end this horror," Rasyidah, 23, told 200 delegates at an international seminar on Aceh and Irian Jaya at the Sophia University, on Jan. 13.
She urged Japan to use its clout to influence the Indonesian government to stop human rights abuses in her home province.
Her translator Maimul Fidar, chairman of the Coalition of NGOs for Human Rights in Indonesia, added, "Japan must help us -- so many schools have been burnt down," referring to 142 schools razed since 1998 to 200.
Organizers said Rasyidah, her mother, her elder sister and baby niece, were among victims tortured at the infamous Rumah Geudong in the Gleumpang Tiga district of Pidie, western Aceh.
Instead of being preserved as evidence, the house was immediately burned down following a visit by the National Commission on Human Rights in 1998.
Rasyidah's story revealed they were victims during the last year of Indonesia's 10-year military operation in Aceh.
The residents of Mutong in Pidie regency, along with other detainees, were released several days after then Indonesia Military chief Gen. Wiranto announced the cessation of military operations in August 1998.
At that time, human rights activists took Rasyidah into hiding in Aceh's capital, Banda Aceh, because the military were still searching for her despite the new policy.
Rasyidah, an elementary school graduate, now assumes the role of parent to four sisters and brothers. She works as a laborer during harvest time in her village and manages their small farm.
Recalling the experience makes her head hurt, she says.
NINDJA secretary general Saeki Natsuko said some private Japanese groups have committed to helping her and other victims begin their new life in Aceh.
"The Japanese government shows no interest in the problems of human rights violations in Aceh and Irian Jaya. They pretend not to be aware of the situation in the two provinces," said Natsuko, a post-graduate student from the Sophia University.
Until 1998, heavy censorship and pressure on the media prevented news from Aceh reaching most Indonesians, let alone other countries. Acehnese then had some hope for justice with the rise of new governments under B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid, but barely any rights violations cases have been brought to trial.
Instead, killings continue in various areas of Aceh despite the implemented, and subsequently extended, "humanitarian pauses".
The issue of compensation to victims of violence like Rasyidah's family, and also to the tens of thousands who were forced to flee their homes and seek safety for months in refugee camps, is also largely unresolved.
Rasyidah was invited to speak in a number of cities, and was also accompanied and John Rumbiak, chairman of the Elsam NGO for human rights in Irian Jaya.
At the seminar, organizers said the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo did not send a representative despite having been invited.
In her account to the scholars, officials and students, a tearful Rasyidah identified rapists of herself and her family members as a group of six members of the Indonesian Military.
"I was raped in front of my mother and my elder sister. The soldiers electrocuted my breasts and vagina," Rasyidah told journalists. Her mother and sister were also tortured, she added.
She said her father was killed in 1992 after the military accused him of being a supporter of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
In March 1998 the military arrested her and her 40 year-old mother, Nyak Mane, because, like many other Acehnese, they were charged with supplying food to the rebels as well as hiding their weaponry.
Rasyidah's sister Rosmiati and her seven-month old baby were also taken to the house, which had been transformed into a detention center.
Citing other villager accounts, Rasyidah said the post was used by the special forces to torture alleged GAM supporters.
She still remembers the names of the six soldiers who raped her during her five-month detention until August 1998.
"Their commandant is Hartono. His deputy is Sasmito. Other soldiers include Joko and Nasrul. I still clearly remember their faces, because they raped me nearly every day," said Rasyidah.
"My mother was hung upside down while the soldiers raped me in front of her. When my sister was raped, her baby was also tortured at the same time," Rasyidah recalled.
One of the soldiers cut her nipple, she said, saying she remained conscious during the torture.
She said the soldiers also pushed bottles and bananas into the vaginas of other women at the detention center.
"Twenty days after our detention, they took away my mother. Until now I do not know of her whereabouts," she said.
NINDJA's Natsuko said the organization does not aim for the more difficult issue of Japanese people's support for the independence movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya.
"We concentrate our campaigns on violence in both provinces," she said.
Last year NINDJA also invited three activists from the provinces to campaign in Japan.
Activist Maimul said Japan has hardly extended any aid to Aceh yet. Rebuilding public facilities destroyed during the conflict and helping victims has largely involved assistance received from the United States, Germany and other European countries, he said.
Rumbiak of Elsham also called on Japan "to open its ears" and show its sense of humanity to people in Irian Jaya "who are fighting for an end to abuses perpetrated by the central government".
Rumbiak insisted that there had been no significant change in the province despite the willingness indicated by President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid to restore the people's dignity and to give them a greater say in their future.
"It is only a delusion to hope for much from Gus Dur," Rumbiak said. "Although he is very sincere to us, one person alone is not enough. The President is powerless against the military and the cronies of former president Soeharto," said Rumbiak.
Adding to Rasyidah's story, Maimul told the audience that the Indonesian government had displayed little attention to Aceh. Exploitation of natural resources continue, as do violations of human rights.
This lack of attention has become fertile ground for the separatist movement, he said, which campaigns with considerable success that under GAM Acehnese wellbeing will improve and they will be free of oppression.
Maimul said Acehnese "hope for international solidarity", at least to pressure the Indonesian government to end violence there.
Rasyidah said that she is still both terrified and ashamed when she sees anyone in a military or police uniform -- a feeling shared by many Acehnese who are still unable to enjoy a normal life.
The writer is a journalist of The Jakarta Post.