Akbar says House rejects security approach in Aceh

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.