Action demanded against perpetrators of atrocities

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) has urged the government to take legal action against all Armed Forces personnel involved in atrocities in Aceh during the military operations there.

On Sunday Antara quoted a statement by an ICMI executive regarding Armed Forces (ABRI) members involved in murders, abductions and other violent acts in Aceh during the operations from 1989 to 1998.

"ABRI personnel involved in cases of violence should be legally processed and put on trial," Sayuti Hasibuan said in Banda Aceh. He was attending the installment of new executives of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Businesswomen (Alisa Khadijah), an ICMI affiliate.

ICMI's statements follows similar demands including those of residents in Aceh.

Sayuti said ICMI deeply regretted the murders and violence that raged for almost nine years and left hundreds of widows and fatherless children. The work of the Aceh branch of Alisa Khadijah was intended to help the victims, particularly widows.

Victims also included ABRI members. On Friday Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto disclosed 111 ABRI personnel were among the 760 people recorded as killed during the military operations.

"We are proud of ABRI," Sayuti said. "Because of this the public hopes all ABRI's faults so far should be corrected," Sayuti, who chairs ICMI's department of small businesses, said.

"We deeply sympathize with families who became victims of the military operations and ICMI is now seeking ways to help them," he added. Sayuti is also the director of the Small Businesses Fostering Agency (Pinbuk).

In Lhokseumawe late Saturday Antara also reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was preparing to extend aid to children and widows of victims of the military's mopping up operations in Aceh Utara district.

"In the first phase, ICRC in cooperation with the Indonesian Red Cross will provide assistance to 200 widows and children," the head of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Office in North Aceh Rasidin Aba Aminy said on Saturday. These were victims of incidents in 1997 and 1998, he said.

Rasidin said the aid for the orphans included school fees for one year, while the aid for the widows included material assistance and counseling.

"There is the possibility that the lives of many orphans and widows have been disrupted since the military operations were launched in this area," he said.

"We will distribute the aid by no later than the end of 1998," he said.

Also on Saturday the news agency quoted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Soebagio Hadisiswoyo as denying that the postponing of the troop withdrawal had anything to do with maintaining ABRI's own interests.

The deputy speaker of the North Aceh legislature Saifuddin Ilyas and Deputy House of Representatives Speaker Ismail Hasan Metareum of the United Development Party said separately on Thursday that they suspected the riots of Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, which led to the postponing of the withdrawal, were masterminded.

The riots in Lhokseumawe resulted in the deaths of two people. Twelve others were wounded and five arrested. More than 200 buildings were damaged. The withdrawal was postponed because there was a need for more troops as demonstrated by the riots, Soebagio told reporters in Surabaya.

"If ABRI was only preserving itself we would have just let go (of Aceh)... But the (withdrawal) was postponed to ensure security and the nation's considerable assets, such as (gas company) PT Arun, against possible destruction," Soebagio said.

In response to the allegations of ABRI maintaining its interests regarding the withdrawal, he joked "Where would you prefer to stay, in an operations area with the risk of death or at home with the family?"

He was in East Java for a week as one of 24 participants at a short National Resilience Institute course which ended on Saturday. (anr)