Emergency status for Aceh gets mixed response

Emergency status for Aceh gets mixed response

JAKARTA (JP): The government's threat to impose a civil
emergency status for restive Aceh has gained both full support
and stiff opposition.

Secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) Asmara Nababan warned the government of complicity
resulting from a decision to adopt a civil emergency status for
the province, which saw gross human rights violations during a
decade of military operations ending in 1998.

"I am concerned and disappointed with the plan because it
would only give the government legitimacy to take repressive
measures in addressing problems in Aceh," Asmara told The Jakarta
Post by phone from Surabaya.

He said an emergency status "would result in new problems and
claim more lives rather than reach a settlement".

The province, where the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist
rebels have been fighting for independence from Indonesia for 20
years, has continued to be the scene of violence despite a truce
signed in May and extended in November.

"Furthermore, the emergency status would alienate Acehnese
from their brothers across the country," he said.

Asmara warned decisionmakers in the government that they
risked being charged with perpetrating rights abuses now that the
Human Rights Law was in effect.

His notice came amid calls from the United Nations experts on
Indonesia to probe allegations of human rights violations in
Aceh, including alleged extrajudicial executions of civilians.

In a letter dated Nov. 22 to the Jakarta government, five
human rights representatives who are working for the UN
Commission on Human Rights said they had received information on
a pattern of serious human rights violations targeting human
rights defenders in the province.

They highlighted alleged extrajudicial executions of numerous
civilians, especially human rights activists and pro-independence
activists, and alleged acts of torture, including sexual
violence, by the military and security forces against civilians.

Prominent social and political observers shared the belief
that the state of emergency would only rub salt in the wounds of
Acehnese.

"If either a civilian or military emergency is imposed in
Aceh, it would be the same as the previous implementation of the
military operation (DOM) and I'm afraid that it would culminate
in a point of no return for Aceh," Bahtiar Effendy, a doctor of
politics at Ohio University, said after a discussion on ethno-
religious conflict here.

"In such an emergency situation, which naturally involves
repressive measures, people might be incited to fight the state
and we would probably lose Aceh for good."

President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri along with related Cabinet ministers should visit
Aceh soon, Bahtiar and sociologist Sardjono Djatiman of the
University of Indonesia, said.

"Abdurrahman is a kyai. He should be able to win people's
hearts. So go on and try. The Acehnese basically wish to be
treated as humans. Don't just send ministers who act as if
nothing happens out there," Sardjono said.

"What the Acehnese need are concrete improvements and changes
for a better life. The government must fulfill their promises to
compensate the victims of violence and let's hope that Aceh
doesn't have to again experience the nightmare of an emergency
state."

In Yogyakarta, rector of Gadjah Mada University Ichlasul Amal
suggested that the government avoid the use of coercion in
addressing the separatist movement in Aceh, saying that such a
militaristic approach had proven fruitless.

Amal said the government had no choice but to maintain peace.

"A peaceful way is the only choice for the government, for we
are not going to either destroy or defeat the Acehnese or the
separatists there," he said.

Amal said the government should drastically reduce its
dominant role in solving the Aceh problem and let the Acehnese,
the pro-Jakarta groups and proindependence groups settle their
dispute.

On the contrary, the House of Representatives urged the
government on Thursday to declare by Sunday at the latest a civil
emergency status in Aceh to fight armed separatism in the natural
resource rich province.

"We hope the emergency can be announced as soon as possible,
at least before the beginning of the Ramadhan fasting month,"
chairman of House Commission I for defense, foreign and political
affairs Yasril Ananta Baharuddin said.

Yasril said the emergency law should be intended for GAM and
the Information Center for Aceh People (SIRA).

Speaking at a joint news conference with the chairman of House
Commission II for home and legal affairs, Amin Aryoso, Yasril
viewed that GAM and SIRA should be declared rebels.

"If the civil emergency can not decrease the tension in a
month, it could be elevated to military emergency status," Yasril
of Golkar Party said.

He suggested the government apply Law 23/1959 on an emergency
state to take stern action against the two rebellious groups.

But for the majority of Acehnese, Yasril proposed that the
government conduct a dialog and offer special autonomy for the
province soon. (01/44/edt/jun)