GAM to defy ban and celebrate `independence day' on Dec. 4

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Jayapura/Jakarta

Despite a government ban and military posturing, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) intends to go ahead with its plan to celebrate the 26th anniversary of their proclamation of Acehnese independence on Dec. 4.

"If the military resorts to repressive action to stop the commemoration, it means they have no commitment to creating peace because (to us) Dec. 4 is our independence day, not a day for waging war," GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawood told The Jakarta Post on Thursday via a satellite telephone link.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri warned separatist movements both in Aceh and Papua on Wednesday against holding ceremonies and raising their flags to commemorate their 'independence days'.

Dawood further said that GAM was planning to hold independence celebrations in 18 districts. Acehnese people were asked to stay at home from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. to prevent them from being harassed by security personnel.

Meanwhile, Iskandar Muda Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf said that he would deploy helicopters to monitor the situation in the province on Dec. 4 and called on locals not to heed the rebels' call.

A military official, who requested anonymity, told the Post that the military would no longer tolerate what he described as GAM political maneuvers to avoid signing the peace accord in Geneva on Dec. 9.

"Dec. 9 is the deadline for GAM to sign the accord. We will adopt a repressive approach to quell the separatist movement if the deadline is not met," the source said.

Separately, the police in Papua warned against any celebration of Papuan independence in the province on Dec. 1.

"No celebrations of the independence day or flag-hoisting ceremonies will be allowed. If any groups in society want to remember Theys, they may visit his grave. But there will be no flag-hoisting ceremonies," Papua Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan asserted here on Thursday.

He said the police would arrest anyone who ignored the ban.

The police in Manokwari detained at least 13 Papuans for raising the Morning Star flag in the grounds of an elementary school in the town on Wednesday.

The secretary-general of the proindependence Papuan Presidium Council (PDP), Thaha Al Hamid, said the PDP would hold a flag- hoisting ceremony at Theys' residence in Sentani, near Jayapura, to commemorate the 41st anniversary of Papuan independence, which was proclaimed before Jakarta annexed the country's eastern-most province.

The people in the two resource-rich provinces have taken up arms to fight for independence in response to the government's failure to promote justice and to investigate past and present human rights abuses.