Habibie's trip to Aceh 'a failure'

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights said on Thursday that President B.J. Habibie's visit to the troubled Aceh areas in March was "a failure".

"The President's trip... failed to convince the Acehnese that the government is serious in resolving past rights abuses in the province," Marzuki Darusman, the commission chairman, told The Jakarta Post.

During his visit, Habibie apologized for the excesses of a decade of anti-rebel operations in the province and promised to bring the perpetrators involved in alleged rights violations to trial.

Locals, however, said that no concrete steps have been taken since then and the violence has been on the rise in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh. In these regencies at least 80 people, including 41 civilians, have been killed in violence between military and the alleged separatist members since May.

Tens of thousands of people in the three regencies have fled to mosques, schools and other public buildings for fear of further violence.

"It is high time that an independent committee be established to look into the situation there, and propose immediate steps for the government to take, to assure the Acehnese that justice is being done or seeming to be done," Marzuki said.

Also, he added the perpetrators involved in the violations of human rights should be brought to court.

The commission said at least 781 people were killed during military operations, which were only halted last year, and thousands of others had also suffered. The provincial government, however, said more than 1,000 people were killed.

"There is an immediate need to prosecute specific persons who have been found to have committed clear violence on identifiable victims and have them tried in Aceh," Marzuki said.

Marzuki, however, said "the Acehnese are wary of any kind of fact-finding team".

"The independent committee would have to really come up with suggestions and proposals and steps to redress the problem of a loss of confidence of the Acehnese to the central government," he said.

Accusations against soldiers of widespread human rights violations have fueled widespread hatred of Jakarta and the military.

Meanwhile, unidentified groups set fire to a television relay station and a telephone transmission station in Ulim district in Pidie late Tuesday, Antara said on Thursday.

Residents in four districts in Pidie have since been unable to receive television programs, but telephone connections remained intact, the news agency said.

There were no casualties as the arsonists first told guards there to leave, Antara said.

Vice president of the state-run telecommunications firm D. Amarudien said in Bandung that for the meantime telecommunication transmission from and to Aceh would be on satellite lines.

Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi told the evening daily, Suara Pembaruan, additional troops would soon be dispatched to the province.

The troops would come from various units, including the Elite Police Mobile Brigade, Roesmanhadi said, adding the reinforcements would serve as "security guards" to assist police.

He did not specify numbers or when they would be sent.

Calls for a referendum on self-determination and an election boycott have been the strongest in North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie. (byg/43)