Government spurns talks with Aceh separatist group

Government spurns talks with Aceh separatist group

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi ruled
out on Thursday the possibility of holding a dialog with the
separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), saying it was not a legal
organization.

Speaking to journalists after meeting with President B.J.
Habibie at Merdeka Palace, the minister said the government would
meet only with legal groups and Aceh community figures to help
ease the escalating tension in the province.

"We will not (hold such a dialog) ...up to now we have no
(plans) to hold talks with the Aceh rebels group," Muladi said.

When asked why the government agreed to talk with East
Timorese rebels and not with Aceh rebels, the minister said the
situation in East Timor was completely different from that in
Aceh because the histories of the two provinces were not
comparable.

"It is totally different. Historically they are also
different."

A number of human rights activists have urged the government
to talk directly with Aceh rebels as it did with East Timorese
independence fighters. However, the government insisted that Aceh
has been a part of Indonesia since the country's independence in
1945, while the United Nations has never recognized Indonesia's
sovereignty over East Timor.

Aceh Police chief Col. Bahrumsyah had proposed direct talks
with Aceh rebel leader-in-exile Hasan Tiro to enable the
government to get first-hand information about his plans to set
up an independent Aceh state.

Muladi said the government would proceed with its plan to set
up an independent team to seek a peaceful solution to the
problems in Aceh.

"The team is being established and it is expected to be
successful in its mission to calm down the tension," he said.

Muladi's statements came as the National Commission on Human
Rights proposed that its team, which has been working on the Aceh
case and has visited the province five times, be entrusted with
the task instead.

Commission members Bambang Soeharto and Clementino dos Reis
Amaral made the suggestion in a media briefing on Thursday.
Bambang expressed the hope that the commission's team would be
accepted by the Acehnese and succeed in its mission.

Muladi hinted that he objected to the proposal.

"The presidential decree on the establishment of the team will
soon be issued, and the team will go to work immediately," he
said.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence
(Kontras) recently urged the military to pull out the riot troops
(PPRM) from Aceh to help ease the tension and stop villagers
fleeing from clashes between the separatists and the military.

Separately, Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid
dismissed the mounting calls for withdrawal, saying the force's
presence was needed to ease the tension.

"It is impossible, unless we want Aceh separated (from
Indonesia), then we can withdraw the whole security apparatus
from there," the minister said after attending a plenary session
of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

Syarwan may well be among the most well-informed Cabinet
ministers about Aceh, because, as a colonel, he was commander of
the Lhokseumawe district command in North Aceh from 1991 to 1992,
at the height of the nine-year military operation in Aceh started
in 1989.

"No country in the world wants disintegration," he said.

Aceh Governor Syamsuddin said it was possible for the
Indonesian Military (TNI) to withdraw the PPRM personnel.

He said he believed TNI would seriously consider the
withdrawal if the situation in the province returned to normal.

Meanwhile, 100 Muslim students demonstrated in Surakarta,
Central Java, demanding the government and the military handle
the Aceh case immediately to prevent more civilians becoming
victims in the province.

Nurhayadi, a demonstrator, said the government and the
military should be blamed for the tension and for their failure
to keep their promises to the Acehnese. (har/prb/rms)