Awaiting a happy end

Awaiting a happy end

After having been held captive for more than 50 days by a armed separatist gang in the jungle of Irian Jaya, there is still no sign that the hostages -- consisting of six Indonesians, four Britons and two Dutch citizens, most of whom are young scientists -- will be released.

Reports indicate they have been forced by their captors to walk from one cave to another in dense jungle. One can imagine how bitter the ordeal is. One of the Dutch hostages is reported to be pregnant and suffering from malaria.

For the Indonesian government, their rescue is perhaps the most difficult and delicate rescue operation it has undertaken. The Indonesian Armed Forces have made it clear they will continue trying to settle the conflict through persuasion, stressing that firmer action would only be resorted to if "acts of brutality" are committed by the abductors.

The government has been patient in negotiating with the insurgents, but the separatists continue to demonstrate their illogic by holding captive innocent people. A solution is borderline impossible because the hostage takers routinely break their promises.

Illogic is the main difficulty in dealing with the rebels. They are waging a war for a cause that does not appear reasonable. Apparently, the hostage takers have not realized they will lose in the long run. There have been several cases of armed insurgency and terrorism in Indonesian since 1948 -- all have been crushed.

In what has so far been a peaceful confrontation, the main battle the administration in Irian Jaya has waged is the fight against nature. The insurgents have been using the jungle as a natural hurdle and weapon. The sparse population of Irian Jaya is another difficulty. If the province's 1.5 million people lived in a smaller area, it would take only a local administrator -- a mayor or a regent -- to supervise them.

The population, however, is spread across a vast and formidable area. The population pockets create many problems, mainly in managing security and communications in the province. There have been at least three kidnappings, all by the same gang, in the province in the last several months. The isolation of the population centers have made the kidnappings possible.

The drama is difficult to solve. A military operation would endanger the lives of the hostages, but allowing the gang to hold the 12 hostages prolongs the uncertainty and their suffering.

Success would encourage the armed gang to grab more innocent people as a publicity gimmick, so, as the world awaits a happy end to the drama, the military should take steps to prevent another hostage taking.

A possible solution could be insisting groups working in isolated areas of Irian Jaya be escorted by the military. Or, limits could be set on the number of projects allowed at one time in the province's isolated areas.