Beutong incident victims given proper burial
JAKARTA (JP): Mourning relatives dug up on Wednesday the graves of 31 civilians shot dead by troops on Friday in what the Indonesian Military described as an armed contact with separatist rebels in Beutong, West Aceh regency.
The remains of former political prisoner Tengku Bantaqiah, who was also a suspected rebel leader, and his wife were given proper burial along with those of other victims.
West Aceh Regent Nasrudin told Antara that a number of Beutong residents asked the victims be given a proper burial. Local officials, foreign and domestic journalists and human rights activists were present at the funeral.
Col. Syarifuddin Tippe, chief of the Teuku Umar Military Command which oversees West Aceh, Central Aceh, South Aceh, Southeast Aceh and Greater Aceh, earlier said he had sent a special team to investigate the incident.
The development came at about the same time that members of the movement seeking independence for Aceh province from Indonesia met informally with Indonesian businessmen and academics in Stockholm, Sweden. But the movement's leader declined to participate.
"It's the wrong men who have come here. They have nothing to offer and I'm not considering meeting with them," Hasan Tiro, the leader of the Free Aceh Movement, told the Swedish news agency TT on Tuesday.
But other Stockholm-based members of the group met with the delegation for unofficial talks on Monday and more meetings were expected this week, TT said.
"At the meeting, we agreed the Indonesian Military must leave Aceh and that the conflict there must be solved by peaceful means. But there are obstacles on the road," Free Aceh member Jusuf Daud was quoted as saying by TT.
It was unclear how much influence the five-person visiting group from Indonesia wields.
"The group that came here denies that they have an assignment from the authorities and say they represent private groups. Nonetheless, I think they had contact with the provincial governor in Aceh," Daud was quoted as saying.
Tiro, who lives in a Stockholm suburb, fled Indonesia in 1979. He said no negotiations were possible unless the Indonesian government agrees to independence for Aceh.
Almost 100,000 villagers have fled the intensifying clashes in the region, human rights activists said.
Though the military say "only 31" civilians were killed, rights activists say the number was as high as 41.
TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Maarif enumerated on Tuesday a series of incidents happening in Aceh over the past few days showing increased terrorist activity by armed security disturber gangs (GBPK).
Two workers of state telecommunications company Telkom were kidnapped on July 24 in Blang Bidok village, Tanah Luas subdistrict, North Aceh regency, when they were installing a telephone line to the house of a local resident.
On the same day, a farmer identified as Ismail, 45, was shot by an armed gang at Teupin Panah, Kawai XVI subdistrict in West Aceh.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives filed for deliberation on the special province of Aceh on Wednesday. United Development Party (PPP) faction spokesman H.M. Kaoy Syah, who hails from Aceh, introduced the bill in a plenary session.
The bill strives to stipulate a special autonomy for Aceh regarding four issues: the observance of religious principles, the observance of the province's cultural traditions, education and the role of ulemas in the regional policy making activities.
One of the chapters, for instance, authorizes the Aceh provincial administration to introduce local content into the national school curriculum. Another chapter says the provincial administration, with approval of the provincial legislative council, has the authority to establish independent advisory councils manned by ulemas. (swe/05)