Activists, Acehnese say no to new military operation

Berni K. Moestafa and Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government plans to announce today a new policy to quell the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in what many fear might revive the bloody history of military operations there and extend the long list of human rights abuses perpetrated against the Acehnese.

Ahead of the announcement, six bombs exploded on Saturday in a village in Jambo Aye district, North Aceh. A GAM official said that gunfights in the area had killed one civilian and wounded two others.

The surge of violence over the past few months has renewed the government's determination to crush the separatist movement it blames for instigating armed attacks and abducting civilians.

Over the weekend, activists and Acehnese, however, urged the government against resorting to repressive means in handling armed resistance in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province.

"Instituting repressive means reflects the ineptitude of Jakarta in coming up with an answer to the Aceh problem," said Munir, a co-founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS), which monitors human rights violations in the troubled province.

There is concern that the government will impose a state of civil emergency, which would restrict civil rights and give the military greater control over the province.

Munir said that the security situation in Aceh had scarcely improved, but that this did not warrant a reinstatement of the massive military operations of the past.

"A state of civil emergency will only spread violence and reinforce calls for independence among locals," he said.

GAM has been fighting since 1976 for an independent Aceh, which is home to rich natural resources, notably natural gas.

Attempts to crush the group by declaring the province a Military Operations Area, or DOM by its Indonesian acronym, in 1989 ended 10 years after with deepened resentment against the military and greater calls for independence.

Activists and Acehnese have blamed the military for most of the gross human rights violations perpetrated throughout the province's 10 years as a Military Operations Area.

Human rights bodies estimate that some 10,000 have died over the 25 years of the conflict, most of them civilians.

A spate of fresh violence, including the kidnapping of local athletes and the crew of a ship owned by the local unit of American oil and gas company ExxonMobil Corp., elicited a sharp response from Jakarta.

An exchange of fire occurred last Saturday, killing one civilian and wounding two others according to Abu Jamaika, GAM spokesman for the Pasee region.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has urged the military to take resolute action, while Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono branded GAM a terrorist organization.

Susilo, who visited Aceh last month to seek input for the new policy, said he hoped for a peaceful solution, but later added that more troops should be sent to Aceh. Critics said that the sending of additional troops was tantamount to imposing a de facto civil emergency.

"What's the guarantee that if more troops are deployed it will be safer for us," asked Alyasa Abubakar, who heads the province's sharia office. His office is a product of Aceh's special autonomous status under which the province adopted Islamic law, and which was the government's answer to some Acehnese's demands for the introduction of sharia.

Another Acehnese, human rights activist Naimah Hasan, said she believed the security situation had improved somewhat compared to a year ago.

"Many people hoist the red and white banner without fear," she said, referring to the officially organized custom of displaying the Indonesian flag ahead of the nation's independence day on Aug. 17.

Student activists over the weekend also protested plans for any policy that gave the military a greater say in the province.

The Student Coalition for Peace in Aceh (Kamada) said it was dismayed by the government's reluctance to negotiate with GAM, saying that dialog was the only solution.

Talks have come to a halt as both sides disagree over the preconditions set by the opposing side for negotiations.

Activist Munir said the government's favoring of the military approach reflected the succumbing of the politicians to the wishes of the Indonesian Military (TNI).

The debate over a civil emergency in Aceh had little to do with the province itself, he said, citing that the security situation generally remained the same anyway. "What's happening is a power struggle by the military for greater political influence in Jakarta."

Military analysts agreed that the government was treating the TNI more as a political powerhouse than a state institution it must regulate.

"It's (military solution) the easiest way for the government to handle the problem, but the ones suffering from this are the people of Aceh," said Munir.