Government urged to seek solution to Aceh strife

Government urged to seek solution to Aceh strife

JAKARTA (JP): Amien Rais, speaker of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), has urged President Abdurrahman Wahid to initiate
a meeting with the leaders of legislative bodies and the
Indonesian Military (TNI) to seek a comprehensive solution to the
conflict in Aceh.

"The President and Vice President should invite leaders of the
MPR, the House of Representatives and the TNI to a day-long
meeting to seek a comprehensive solution that will be offered to
Acehnese people," he said in a seminar discussing the ideal
format for Aceh's future here on Friday.

The format could be offered to the congress of Aceh people
slated to be held in the North Sumatra capital of Medan next
month, he said.

He said the Acehnese could be divided into three groups; those
that defended the current administration system; those that
demanded the immediate implementation of special autonomy in the
region; and those struggling for a self-determination referendum.

"I'm afraid that Aceh, which has contributed trillions of
rupiah to the nation's development from its rich natural
resources, will finally secede from Indonesia," he said.

Former home affairs minister Syarwan Hamid, another speaker at
the seminar, warned the government of complications in the Aceh
problem.

"The main problem in Aceh doesn't regard security matters but
the prolonged injustice the Acehnese have suffered. The province
has a special status but its people have never enjoyed its
specialization," he said.

He said the province contributed annually around Rp 59
trillion to the central government from its natural resources but
only kept less than one percent of it.

Anhar Gonggong, a historian from the University of Riau in
Pekanbaru, asserted that the Acehnese did not need an appropriate
administration system but concrete actions to end their prolonged
suffering.

"Whatever decisions the government and the political elite
will make, they should end the sufferings of the Acehnese," he
said at the seminar.

Inconsistency

Separately, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of
Violence (Kontras) criticized the government's inconsistent
policies in handling the conflict in Aceh, which has left 105
people, mostly civilians, dead over the past month alone.

Kontras' coordinator in Aceh, Munarwan, said that more
military operations had been conducted, despite President
Abdurrahman's pledge to use nonmilitary approaches to solve the
conflict.

Munarwan said the escalating violence in the troubled province
was represented by the extended area of conflict, from three
regions in the first quarter of 1999 to nine regions now.

There are now new parties playing a role in the conflict,
other than the Indonesian National Military (TNI) and the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel group, such as religious leaders,
students, nongovernmental organization activists and villagers,
according to a Kontras report.

He said a recent inquiry Kontras carried out in Aceh found
evidence of military involvement in some civilian beatings and
killings, and arson attacks on shops, an elementary school
building and a rice mill.

It also said that the six marines who were killed last Monday
in Ujong Blang village in Jeumpa regency were not ambushed while
praying in a mosque as reported.

While urging a cease-fire and dialog, Kontras suggested that
the National Commission on Human Rights set up an inquiry
commission in Aceh, similar to the team formed to investigate the
violence in East Timor and Maluku.

In Lhokseumawe, the capital of North Aceh, a man was killed in
a bomb blast on Jl. Perdagangan at around 11:30 a.m. on Friday,
local police chief Lt. Col. Syafei Aksal said.

The victim, identified as Mochtar Usman, was on the sidewalk
when the bomb exploded.

Police have questioned two witnesses, identified as Yunus and
Ibrahim, both from Samtalira Bayu village, 14 kilometers south of
Lhokseumawe. (01/50/edt/rms)