Another 89 GAM prisoners exiled to Javanese jails
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.