Caning ammunition for GAM?

Reading the article titled Caning comes into effect in Aceh on 1st day of Ramadhan (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 28), I wonder whether former president Abdurrahman Wahid was fully aware of all the possible consequences when in December 2000 he offered Aceh the implementation of sharia, or Islamic law in order to reduce demands for independence.

The head of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA), Muhammad Nazar, response to the president's offer was short and clear: "Wahid doesn't need to declare Islamic law because it's not what the Acehnese are asking for. Because nearly 100 percent of the people there are Muslims who have already implemented the religious rules in principle." (The Observer, Dec. 15, 2000).

The government obviously ignored the fact that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)'s fight for independence has never depended solely on an Islamic agenda. What GAM really wants is unlimited access to the province's wealth. Therefore, they will never agree with the special autonomy law, which gives them only more of the province's oil and gas revenue. To achieve their goals, GAM needs not only more support from the Acehnese people but also more sympathy from the international community.

If caning as punishment comes into effect in Aceh, GAM only stands to gain. First, a poor "sinner" who has suffered the physical and psychical pain of public caning might afterward well be ready to link up with GAM. Second, so far the international community has hardly given any support to the GAM rebels. But this might change after the first canings have been executed; especially considering the nature of the "crime".

It must be feared that the Aceh Ulema Consultative Assembly (MPU) will soon propose stoning, beheading and amputation of limbs, as such draconic punishments are in accordance with sharia law. And if this should happen, I predict that the international community will no longer consider GAM to be rebels but rather freedom fighters, a development which would certainly not be in the interest of the government's fight for a united Indonesia.

In context with the introduction of caning in Aceh, I cannot help but recall People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais' warning that Malaysia should not play with fire by caning illegal Indonesian workers. He said that Malaysian authorities were caning Indonesians like cows and goats, and called it "inhumane". For once I couldn't agree more with Pak Amien.

HILDE MAY

Jakarta