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.