Govt urged to take tough measures against GAM

JAKARTA (JP): National Police Chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro urged the government on Wednesday to take a hard-line stance on the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in order to help solve the prolonged conflict in the troubled province.

"The government must take a tough stance on whether separatist activities in Aceh are merely a violation of the law or acts of rebellion. The Aceh conflict cannot be solved immediately if it is simply seen as a matter of violating the law. The military must also be deployed to the province if armed separatism is classified as acts of rebellion," he said in a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission II on legal and home affairs here on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) also believed that the government needed to take tough measures against GAM, who are believed to have been behind the killing of numerous security personnel and civilians in the province.

Bimantoro argued that Aceh's problems had been prolonged because the government had yet to take a clear stance on the status of GAM's activities as to whether they were merely an infringement of the law or a rebellion.

"The government will not be able to solve the conflict if it continues to deploy only police personnel to enforce the law as stipulated in Presidential Instruction No.4/2001 because they are not merely facing law-breakers but armed rebels who are fighting for Aceh's independence," he said.

Bimantoro said the police fully supported the government's peaceful approach of holding political talks with all sections of the Acehnese community. They also backed accelerating social and economic development to improve the province's social welfare but regretted the absence of tough measures taken by the government against the separatist rebels who had killed many police personnel and civilians and attacked public infrastructure.

He conceded, however, that the strife-torn province was returning to normal following the enforcement of the presidential instruction, though a harder military-style approach was needed to quell the separatism.

Bimantoro also said the police could not handle many violations of the law due to the absence of prosecutors and judges in many districts across the province.

"Aceh's provincial police cannot proceed with investigating rebels detained for breaking the law and are forced to release them when their period of detention expires because of the lack of prosecutors and judges," he said.

Citing an example, he said the police were allowed to detain suspects for only 12 days and the detention period could not be extended without approval from prosecutors. (rms)