Another 89 GAM prisoners exiled to Javanese jails

Slamet Susanto and Teuku Agam Muzakir, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Lhokseumawe

Eighty-nine convicted Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members arrived in Yogyakarta on Sunday from their home province in the second such transfer to prisons on the country's main island of Java.

A Hercules aircraft carrying the separatists from Malikussaleh air base, some 25 kilometers west of Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, landed at Adi Sucipto Airport, Yogyakarta, at around 3:35 p.m.

The first batch of 54 GAM prisoners arrived on Thursday and were transferred to Semarang and neighboring towns to serve their jail terms.

"Initially, we planned to fly them (the 79 GAM members) to Ahmad Yani Airport in Semarang. But bad weather forced us to land in Yogyakarta," Central Java justice and human rights office head Marsono said on Sunday.

The 143 prisoners have all been sentenced to more than three years in jail.

While 79 prisoners were then transported aboard police trucks the prison island of Nusakambangan in Cilacap regency, Central Java, the remaining 10 were taken to a penitentiary in the provincial capital of Semarang.

Twenty-seven of the 79 convicts would be imprisoned in Nusakambangan Penitentiary's Batu jail, where former strongman Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and his ex- golf buddy Bob Hasan are both serving their sentences.

The separatists arrived chained to each other at the hands and ankles, and a joint military and police force kept tight watch.

It was not clear if any GAM leader was among the convicts, who were transferred from Lhokseumawe aboard five trucks at around 11 a.m.

"We have brought them here because Lhokseumawe prison is being renovated. They will not receive special treatment and will be sent back after the renovation project has been completed," said Marsono.

However, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said the transfer was necessary because prisons and detention facilities in Aceh could not accommodate any more prisoners.

It was hoped the move would also influence other GAM members to surrender, the TNI said.

The government has defended its decision to transfer the GAM convicts to prisons in Central Java, citing security reasons.

"Incarcerating GAM members outside Aceh is a government policy for dealing with state security convicts or those involved in separatist movements, based on national security interests," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Saturday in Yogyakarta.

The policy is also aimed at preventing any undesirable interaction that could be counterproductive to quashing the independence movement in Aceh.

In Jakarta, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra denied allegations that the transfer was a form of exile.

"A newspaper has cynically said that we are aping the approach of the Dutch East Indies colonial administration. That is not true. This is not exile; the justice and human rights ministry has nothing to do with politics," Yusril said.

A report in The Jakarta Post on Jan. 20 likened the government's policy to that of the Dutch colonial administration a century ago, which sent Acehnese independence leaders to Java to weaken Aceh's resistance movement against colonial troops.

The justice ministry, Yusril said, had merely transferred convicted inmates, while the Dutch East Indies administration had exiled Acehnese independence leaders without trial.

"Besides, GAM is obviously a separatist movement fighting against a legitimate government, while past Acehnese leaders fought for independence from the Dutch," he remarked.

He also dismissed speculations that the government's move to send convicted GAM members to Java was part of its strategy to weaken the secessionist movement.

The decision, Yusril said, was taken solely due to a lack of space in Aceh's penitentiaries.

He said convicted GAM members would be educated in nationalism and practical skills during their terms.