Govt holds closed-door meeting on martial law

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

Coordinating minister for political and security affairs ad interim Hari Sabarno chaired a closed-door coordination meeting at the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Tuesday to discuss a variety of security issues.

Those attending the meeting included TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, Attorney General M.A. Rachman and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu.

There was no media briefing after the meeting, but during a doorstep interview at the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs, Hari said later that they had discussed security issues in war-torn Aceh.

"This morning we, the authority of the Aceh martial law administration at the central government, held a meeting to discuss progress after the launch of integrated operations in the Aceh province.

"We evaluated all aspects and agreed to continue integrated operations in the troubled province, even if martial law in Aceh is reviewed," Hari said.

It remained unclear, however, why the meeting was held at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.

Aceh martial law administrator Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, who was at the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs until early afternoon, was not invited to the meeting.

However, he has been summoned to discuss on Thursday alternative measures for Aceh, where the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting for independence for the resource-rich province since 1976. Over 10,000 people have been killed since then.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree in May last year on an integrated campaign, which included security and humanitarian operations, law enforcement and the restoration of local government.

The government also assigned an independent team to monitor operations in Aceh.

Despite strong opposition from rights campaigners and observers, Megawati extended in November the operation for another six months, arguing that the government had to maintain security in the province ahead of the April 5 legislative election.

Rumors have been circulating that the government will lift martial law and place the province under a state of civil emergency.

The Military has claimed that more than 1,300 GAM fighters have been killed since May 2003, with around 2,300 others surrendering to Indonesian authorities. It has also claimed to have confiscated around 1,000 weapons from the rebels.

Earlier, the Military said the number of guerrillas was about 5,000, equipped with around 2,000 weapons.

Asked whether the government planned to withdraw a number of troops from the province, Hari said: "We do not see that it will be appropriate to withdraw troops because GAM has not given up its fight for independence and none of the GAM leaders has been arrested."

Jakarta has on many occasions carried out military operations to quell GAM, which officially began its fight for Aceh independence in 1976.

Asked whether the government was taking into account reports by a government-sanctioned independent monitoring team in deciding future operations in Aceh, Hari said: "We are conducting further investigations into the team's recommendations and plan to deal with those deemed responsible for mismanagement.

"The authority to investigate cases lies with the police and prosecutors," he said, referring to allegations of widespread corruption in the implementation of operations.