Govt seeks native Acehnese speaker

JAKARTA: Government is desperately looking for an Indonesian interpreter to translate into English evidence on the role played by Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders in exile, which is presented in the Acehnese language.

Interim coordinating minister for political and security affairs Hari Sabarno said on Monday translation was necessary to support the legal processing of three GAM leaders based in Sweden.

If possible, the interpreter should live in Sweden or Belgium, according to Hari.

Sweden has launched an investigation into the GAM leaders -- Hasan Tiro, Zaini Abdullah and Malik Mahmood -- whom Indonesia has accused of leading a rebellion in Aceh. While Hasan evaded detention due to his age, Zaini and Malik were released on Friday due to an inability by prosecutors to understand evidence presented by Indonesia that had been written in Acehnese.--JP