Illicit small arms trade in region aggravates RI conflicts: Analyst

Illicit small arms trade in region aggravates RI conflicts: Analyst

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The illicit trade in small arms in the Southeast Asian region has
contributed greatly to the arsenal of secessionist movements and
warring factions in sectarian clashes in Indonesia, enough to
prolong the duration of the conflicts, analysts say.

Analyst from Centre for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS) Philip J. Vermonte said on Thursday that arms procured
illegally from the region's hot spots had changed the balance of
power among conflicting groups in Indonesia.

"The Free Aceh Movement, which allegedly gets their firearms
from sources in Thailand and the Northern Philippines, has enough
capabilities to challenge the Indonesian Military. The same is
true for conflicting groups in sectarian clashes in Poso, Central
Sulawesi, and Ambon, Maluku," he told The Jakarta Post on the
sidelines of a seminar on small arms trafficking and security.

He said the sprawling geographic characteristic of the region
and porous borders among Southeast Asian countries accounted for
easy entrance of smuggled firearms originating from Cambodia,
Thailand and the Northern Philippines.

Philip called on member countries of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to embark upon full cooperation
to tackle the issue of illicit small arms trading.

"Many plans of action have been drawn up ... but little has
been done in curbing the demand for small arms in the region. The
ASEAN members seem to be reactive, rather than proactive, in
dealing with the issue," he said.

A survey in 2001 showed that small arms and light weapons
cause the deaths of at least 500,000 people around the globe each
year, of which approximately 300,000 resulted from armed
conflicts.

Another CSIS analyst, Landry Haryo Subianto, shared the same
concern. However, he emphasized that domestic sources of illegal
arms could not be played down.

"The murky nature of military arms procurement has hampered
the way for shedding light on how small arms change hands," he
told the Post.

For example, he said that apart from acquiring firearms
overseas, Acehnese separatist group GAM was also believed to
procure their weapons from domestic sources, especially from
unruly military personnel.

Currently, around 250,000 to 300,000 handguns of various
types, mostly produced by local producer PT PINDAD, are being
used by military personnel on active duty.

Landry said the proliferation of illegal small arms had also
contributed to the increasing severity of crime. "But the
officials dismiss the use of firearms as primary instruments of
crime, and they are hesitant to trace and investigate the source
of the weapons," he said.

The lack of updated regulations had also restricted the
government's means of curbing the illicit small arms trade.

"What we have now is an obsolete law enacted in the 1950s
derived from the colonial era, which does not give an adequate
definition of small arms, let alone provide comprehensive
measures in handling problems related to them," he said.

He said the absence of an up-to-date, more specified
definition of "small arms" made it difficult for the police to
stop the burgeoning homemade gun industry.