GAM leaders' arrest and the Acehnese

GAM leaders' arrest and the Acehnese

From Gatra

In 2001, the Indonesian government asked Sweden to deal with its citizens causing destruction in Indonesian territory. Sweden at first declined the request, but after evidence was supplied in June last year, it acknowledged the deeds of Hasan Tiro and his group in Aceh.

On June 15 the Stockholm district prosecutor's office arrested three leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) -- Hasan Tiro, Zaini Abdullah and Malik Mahmud -- and declared them suspects on charges of serious violations of international law, though the three were later released.

GAM has for decades considered the Indonesian Military (TNI) an enemy to be fought, while the TNI has seen GAM as a separatist and rebel group threatening the sovereignty of the unitary state of Indonesia.

Thousands of ordinary people have been killed by GAM in the Aceh conflict and the movement's leaders are foreign citizens: Hasan Tiro and Zaini Abdullah are Swedish citizens and Malik Mahmud possesses a passport from Singapore. The Aceh war has thus been controlled by foreigners.

The arrest and conviction of the GAM rebel chiefs would be meaningful if seen as part of the efforts to improve the lives of the Acehnese. Law enforcement, humanitarian operations and economic programs should therefore play more prominent roles in Aceh than military campaigns.

Tiro and his accomplices should be immediately brought to court to let the world learn what they have done to Aceh, while GAM should be listed as a banned separatist organization so that the Acehnese will have the courage to resist its moves.

IFUL SAMEY Bogor, West Java