Akbar says House rejects security approach in Aceh
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Within a space of less than one month, the House of Representatives has changed its tune about the government's decision to apply tough new security measures to deal with security problems in restive Aceh.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Tuesday the legislature would not support the security approach for fear that it would backfire and derail peace talks designed to resolve decades of conflict in the country's westernmost province.
"The House rejects both a civilian emergency and a military emergency for Aceh as these will not solve the problems being faced. We must step up the dialog so as to reach a solution," Akbar told the press after a consultation meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri at the House building here.
He suggested that the government follow up on the 10 recommendations proposed by the House, which position law enforcement and dialog as the top priorities.
His statement came less than one month after House Commission I for foreign and defense affairs threw its weight behind Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto's plan to crack down on the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels.
Akbar, however, was quick to add that the military should be given the powers it needed to deal with the separatist movement. He refused to elaborate.
Endriartono, who also attended the meeting, said that the government was waiting for a recommendation from the House before adopting a new policy on Aceh.
"The TNI will back up any policy as long as it is approved by both the government and the House," he said.
He further said that a request had been made to deploy four more battalions to Aceh and not 8,000 troops as was stated by Vice President Hamzah Haz on Monday.
The government has been considering stepping up the military approach in Aceh as Presidential Instruction No. 1/2002 is due to expire this month.
The Instruction, which makes dialog the top priority, had already been beefed up as the government considered it ineffective for coping with the Aceh issue.
Objections have been mounting to the imposition of any kind of emergency in the province, with many fearing it would only lead to a repetition of the decade of military oppression that ended in 1999.
Separately, Hamzah said that the government would decide on a new policy for Aceh on Aug. 5, after receiving the House recommendations.
Responding to the latest developments regarding Aceh, human rights activist Munir urged the government to pull its troops out of the province as their presence violated Law No. 3/2002 on defense, which states that a military deployment must be approved by the House.
Munir, a founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), estimated that the number of combat troops in Aceh was at least 22,000, excluding police personnel.
He appealed to the government to intensify dialog with the Acehnese people and give the province a fair share of the revenue from its natural resource. The government should also have the courage to bring human rights criminals to court, he added.
Separately, TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said that the deployment of reinforcement troops to Aceh was aimed at safeguarding the West Aceh regency, which had been left unprotected by the Iskandar Muda Military Command.
"Some of these troops will mingle with civilians and be responsible for protecting the people, while the remaining troops are combatants," Sjafrie told The Jakarta Post.
Sjafrie said the date of dispatch of the reinforcements had not yet been decided.