Government mulls military crackdown on Aceh rebels

Tiarma Siboro and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja The Jakarta Post Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri dealt the peace process in the rebellious province of Aceh another blow on Wednesday as she ordered tough measures against the separatist movement.

Speaking in a teleconference with Iskandar Muda Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf on Wednesday, Megawati said she had instructed all security troops across the country to maintain national unity at all costs.

"That instruction also goes for Aceh, so there should be tough measures against any act of violence that disturbs public order," the President asserted.

Her statement was the culmination to weeks of debate over whether the government should conduct an intensive military crackdown on rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), as the planned all-inclusive dialog in the natural resources-rich province seems doomed to fail.

Megawati, after inaugurating 13 strategic projects, two of them in Aceh, asked Djali about the recent security situation in the province, which once scared away investors.

In his response, Djali said he could barely maintain security in the eastern part of Aceh, where nine athletes became the latest to fall prey to abduction last week.

"We were involved in a gunfight last night and managed to gun down five members of GAM hard-liners under Ishak Daud's leadership," Djali told Megawati.

He added that the group was well known for its brutality, and the Indonesian Military (TNI) had focused its search on group members across the province.

"We are stepping up our operations to improve security in eastern Aceh, until the territory is as orderly and peaceful as other parts of the province," Djali remarked.

Separately, the office of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs announced here that the government would decide within three weeks whether or not a military operation would be launched in Aceh.

Spokesman for the office Soenaryo said the decision would be based on an evaluation of developments in Aceh.

"The heightened security situation in Aceh has recently forced us to consider whether we can continue with civil authority there," he said after a top governmental meeting on political and security affairs.

He said the government had three options to restore security and peace to the province: maintain the current civilian authority, impose a civil state of emergency, or declare a military state of emergency.

"No matter what we decide in three weeks, we hope it will be the last resort to address problems in Aceh," Soenaryo said.

The meeting was presided over by Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, Attorney General M.A. Rahman, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono, Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil, TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.

Megawati earlier issued Decree No. 2/2002 on civil order in Aceh, which will expire at the end of this month.

According to Sunaryo, the meeting was aimed at evaluating the security situation in Aceh, which he described as being already out of control due to GAM's acts of terror against civilians in killing local politicians, burning schools and robbing property belonging to the U.S.-owned company PT ExxonMobil.

A military source, however, told The Jakarta Post that the current situation in Aceh had not met the requirements for a full military operation and was similar to what happened in the country's former province of East Timor following the independence vote in 1999.

"So, should in the near future we adopt a military approach there, it must be in the form of military assistance to help the province restore peace and order," he said.