GAM suggests independent team to probe latest killing in Aceh
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Responding to accusations made by the Indonesian Military (TNI) that they were behind Thursday's killing of 30 civilians in East Aceh, Aceh separatists GAM suggested on Friday that an independent team be set up to probe the massacre and take the case to an international tribunal.
Amri Abdul Wahab, commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in northern Aceh, said that the independent team must be given freedom to investigate the killings.
As many as 30 people, not 31 as reported by most of the media, were shot dead on Thursday by unknown gunmen at PT Bumi Flora, an oil palm plantation company in Idi Rayeuk district, some 80 kilometers south of the capital of East Aceh, Langsa.
Munawir, a doctor at Idi Rayeuk public health center confirmed on Friday that 30 people, including a five-year-old and a housewife, died from gunshot wounds.
Thursday's massacre was believed to be the worst in Aceh since July 1999, when soldiers killed GAM supporter-turned-Muslim teacher Tengku Bantaqiyah and 56 of his students at an Islamic boarding school in West Aceh.
GAM accused TNI of conducting the Thursday's massacre, while TNI said it was GAM members who conducted the brutal action.
"Let the fact-finding team decide who's to blame in the massacre. If GAM is found guilty, we are ready to take responsibility for that at the International Tribunal and if TNI or the police are found guilty, they must also take responsibility," Abdul Wahab told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
"This (the shooting) is a gift for Indonesia, as promised by Megawati for the country's anniversary," he said, referring to President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
He earlier claimed that the unidentified gunmen at the aforementioned incident were TNI soldiers, frustrated following GAM's attack on a local TNI post the day before.
"They (the gunmen) arrived at the oil palm plantation and ordered people to line up and then shot them," Abdul Wahab said.
Police's version
Meanwhile, police spokesman for the Aceh Law and Order Operation Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said, in a telephone interview with the Post from Banda Aceh on Friday, that the separatist group, led by Ishak Daud of GAM, conducted the killing.
"The rebels threatened the plantation employees in the hilly area not to report the incident, not even to the Indonesian Red Cross, so many eventually died due to loss of blood," Harunantyo explained.
Police quoted witnesses as saying that the incident took place between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, when the plantation workers were going to collect their wages. The residents eventually notified the police later at 3 p.m.
"They were gathering to collect their pay when the attackers sprayed bullets at them," Harunantyo said, alleging that the rebels tried to rob the workers.
Ten of the people killed on Thursday morning died instantly at the scene. Seven others received severe gunshot wounds in the massacre and are being treated at Langsa General Hospital in East Aceh, the officer said.
Both GAM and the Indonesian government have made significant peace efforts through a series of talks. Several talks sponsored by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Center have been held in Geneva and the latest talks took place at Kuala Tripa Hotel in Banda Aceh.
The latest talks were fruitless and after just three days of talks, six negotiators from GAM were detained by police on suspicion of subversion. (50/edt/sur)