GAM says ministers' visit touristic
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): GAM could not guarantee the security of the Indonesian ministers visiting the restive province, according to GAM spokesman Sofyan Daud.
"It depends on developments, especially when their visit is proven to cause the people and GAM to suffer more," Sofyan said to The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday. He did not go into details.
"No one here wishes a visit from Indonesian officials, which will make no difference in the Aceh people's demand (for freedom)," he said.
As many as 13 high-ranking officials, including ministers and security chiefs arrived and spent the night in Medan on Tuesday and were scheduled to fly to Banda Aceh before proceeding to Lhokseumawe by land. Lhokseumawe is known as one of the strongholds of GAM.
However, after a closed meeting with Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh at the Tiara Hotel in Medan on Tuesday night, the officials decided to go to Lhokseumawe (from Banda Aceh) by plane.
Last April the helicopter carrying the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and his entourage, including reporters from Jakarta, was shot at by unidentified armed men when the helicopter was about to land at the ExxonOil plant in Lhokseumawe.
The Indonesian authorities said that the separatist group the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was behind the shooting.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono leads the team in the two-day visit to Aceh.
He said in Jakarta on Monday that the visit was aimed at finding short-term and immediate solutions to the complex problems in Aceh.
However, GAM considered the visiting Indonesian ministers as "tourists" as they would make no difference to the peace deal prospects for the Aceh people.
Interviewed by The Jakarta Post in Banda Aceh on Tuesday Sofyan said that what the people of Aceh wanted was international observers or a kind of a fact-finding team which would investigate the human rights violations in Aceh,"the results of which will then be forwarded to an international tribunal for proper legal process".
Some people interviewed by the Post in Banda Aceh also said that they didn't expect anything positive from the government officials' visit.
"Such a visit is usually initiated by a sweeping operation on motorists or pedestrians just to make sure that the security is guaranteed for the officials. People are not free to go anywhere during the officials' visit. So, no visit would be better for us," said a Banda Aceh man, who wished to remain anonymous.
The release
Asked about the government's decision to free the six GAM negotiators who have been detained since July, Sofyan said that the six GAM negotiators deserved that without any preconditions. "They committed no sin, furthermore, their release is one of the conditions (set by GAM) for the Indonesian government to continue talks with us."
"The release of the six benefits both the Indonesian government and GAM. Indonesia will be the target of international criticism if they do not release them."
The six GAM negotiators are Tengku Nashiruddin bin Ahmad, Amni bin Marzuki, Amdi bin Hamdani, T, Kamaruzzaman, T. Mahmud and Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba. They are all being detained at the Aceh Police Headquarters for treason under Criminal Code Article 106 and forgery under Article 236, since some of the suspects also held fake passports.
Susilo asserted in Medan on Tuesday that the release of the six negotiators would be possible as long as "they were not implicated in any other charges".
Speaking to reporters Susilo said that certain "rules of the game" had to be established if the central government and GAM were to sit at the negotiating table again.
Sofyan Daud said that GAM always responded positively to any peace efforts initiated by the government. "But violence must be stopped and what has been reached in the previous talks must be fully respected and implemented."
The separatist group has been fighting for an independent Islamic state since the mid-1970s.
The peace talks between the rebels and government representatives were sponsored by the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center, which has been mediating discussions between the two sides in Switzerland over the past 18 months.
Violence and killings continue despite the peace talks. GAM always accuses the Indonesian military of being behind the violence, while the Indonesian military says GAM is to be held responsible for the violence.
Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration has been aware of the importance of a peaceful solution to the Aceh problem.
The newly elected President Megawati, in her first state-of- the-nation address on Aug. 16, apologized for past human rights abuses in Aceh and the easternmost province of Irian Jaya.
She pledged to maintain national unity and outlined her vision, which will focus on efforts to rescue the country from its current dilemmas. (42/50/sur)