Hopes for normalcy still remote in Aceh

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Lhokseumawe, North Aceh

Saturday night is no longer lively in the North Aceh capital Lhokseumawe where youngsters used to gather in street cafes downtown or just ride around on motorcycles.

"Before the imposition of martial law we used to hang out until 11 p.m. But now 10 p.m. is already too late. There have been rumors of a curfew, so we refrain from going out at night to avoid security raids and armed clashes," high-school student Rizal Fahmi, 17, says.

The youths here have even decided to stay away from the beach next to the Marine Headquarters, because, as 16-year-old Taufik Hidayat says, "bombs are planted there often."

Soldiers and Mobile Brigade police are all over in the city, where roaming armored vehicles and tanks are commonplace.

Entering the third month of the integrated military operation to quash Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, clashes have expanded to the residential area downtown, where most of the victims are believed to be civilians. The martial law administrator argued that such incidents proved the operations had managed to suppress the insurgents who had left their hideouts in the remote mountainous hamlets or coastal areas.

As part of the efforts to separate GAM members from civilians, the martial law administration has ordered residents to obtain new identity cards.

Other efforts include transporting residents to refugee camps, a strategy that Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto admitted had hurt the Acehnese as many had found their belongings missing upon returning home.

Two soldiers are standing trial for allegedly stealing money and jewelry from a house belonging to a woman in a refugee camp.

The military court has also convicted three soldiers for raping four women.

Endriartono apologized to the Acehnese people last week for all the excesses of the TNI.

A mere apology is apparently not enough before security and public order is fully restored and residents can return to their normal life.

Lhokseumawe-based military operation command spokesman Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki said the restoration of security and order, which is one of the targets of the integrated operation in the province, would take time.

"Many residents have now taken a stand against GAM members and have even taken revenge for the abduction of their relatives by GAM members. Should we fail to stop them, a communal conflict could have occurred. But the fact is they feel secure due to our presence here."

However, many of the residents do not share Yani's claim.

A vegetable vendor at state-owned market Pajak Inpres in the town, Nurjanah, said she had not been able to reach the market for two months and instead was forced to return home to Cot Me hamlet, Kuta Blang village, as armed clashes between the security forces and GAM members continued.

"We'd better stay at home and let the vegetables rot," she said.

Along with other vendors, Nurjanah used to hire a pick-up truck carrying them from home at 4 a.m. to the market, returning home about noon.

"We had to pass three security check points on a one-way trip where we sometimes were forced to pay Rp 2,000 (about 25 US cents) at each post or leave some of the vegetables," she recalled.

In many hamlets where male residents once went into the forest to pick pinang (areca nuts), their main source of money, they have stopped, letting the women do the tough job in a bid to avoid trouble.

"We are prone to becoming the target of both the military and GAM," Muhammad Salim, a resident of Alue Papeun hamlet in Nisam, said on Saturday.

After staying in the refugee camps at Kedai Amplah for 20 days, Salim said his family's 30 Siamese chickens had gone. "One chick from the chickens was worth Rp 30,000 on the market."