Commission wants civil emergency for Aceh

Commission wants civil emergency for Aceh

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ignoring public rejection and defying earlier statements from the
speaker of the House of Representatives, the House's Commission I
for defense and National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar on
Wednesday agreed that a state of civil emergency for Aceh was
necessary to restore security and order in the restive province.

Summarizing a five-hour hearing, chairman of the commission
Ibrahim Ambong said the state of emergency could be imposed in
Aceh soon, pending a permanent decision by the government.

Ambong added that an interim status was necessary if Jakarta
did not declare a new status for Aceh, combined with the fact
that a current presidential instruction -- which gives the
military a free hand to destroy the Acehnese militarily failing a
dialog -- was coming to the end of its period, then the security
forces needed some kind of legal backing to intensify its fight
against the freedom movement there.

"Taking into account these conditions, the intensification can
be in the form of an implementation of a civil emergency status,"
Ambong said at a meeting attended by Aceh Police chief Maj. Gen.
Yusuf Manggabarani.

The legislator added that the implementation of an emergency
status would give more authority to Aceh's civilian leaders to
use combat troops and police officers who have been deployed to
the territory to fight against the Acehnese separatists.

This would help the Acehnese people promote a peaceful
solution to their problem, Ambong claimed.

The commission's recommendation was in contrast to statements
by House Speaker Akbar Tandjung who said on Tuesday that the
House would not support a security approach for fear that it
would backfire and derail peace talks.

Akbar stated that neither a civil or military state of
emergency would solve the problems. He insisted that only a
dialog could bring about a solution.

Objections have been mounting to the implementation of perhaps
martial law in the province as it would only lead to the
repetition of a decade of military oppression and human rights
violations that ended in 1998.

During the hearing, Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said,
however, that the police would only take action to solve problems
in Aceh after the government told them to do so.

Da'i said that currently a governmental team was assessing the
implementation of Presidential Instruction No. 1/2002 that would
end this month.

The instruction, which was conceived by former president Wahid
put dialog as a top priority, will likely not be extended as the
current government considers it ineffective.