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