Inclusive dialog needed to end Aceh conflict

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An all-inclusive dialog was urgently needed to end the prolonged conflict in troubled Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, not the current military operation, human rights activists and House of Representatives legislators said.

Interviewed separately on Tuesday, chairman of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) Muhammad Nazar and human rights campaigner Maimul Fidar asked the government to begin a dialog as soon as possible.

"An all-inclusive dialog, along with a cease fire, should be put forward by the government, not solved by a military operation," Nazar told The Jakarta Post.

The military operation was only worsening the situation and the current condition, and there was solid proof of that, he said.

Fidar shared Nazar's view, saying that military operations so far had not done anything to solve the prolonged conflict.

"We have seen that a military approach cannot work in Aceh, so the government has to be patient and try to initiate an all- inclusive dialog," he said.

He said that the military approach would be a waste of time and only claim more innocent lives.

"The military cannot tell the difference between the common people and GAM members," the activist said.

The debate over military operations came to the fore as the deadline of Presidential instruction No. 1/2002 nears in July.

Many have seen that the instruction, which has provided justification for the Indonesian Military (TNI) to do whatever it takes to maintain law and order, had failed to create peace in Aceh and instead had encouraged the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) soldiers to step up their fight.

But, unlike the rights activists, House legislators asked the government to simultaneously proceed with dialogs and military operations to deal with the separatist movement in the country.

Legislator Sutradara Gintings of the House Commission I on political and security affairs said on Tuesday that a dialog alone would not settle the conflict, as "GAM is demanding outright independence."

He, however, said that the government and the lawmakers must solemnly set a political decision that the military approach should not be used by the TNI as a "license to kill" civilians.

Meanwhile, Gintings' associate in Commission I, Happy Bone Zulkarnain, reminded that the military must understand that a separatist movement was not merely a military issue.

"Many elements in Aceh agreed to continue talks with the government. It means that a political approach should still be considered," Happy said.

On Tuesday, the commission held a hearing with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu to discuss various problems, including the military's stance over the separatist movement.

Ryamizard, along with his staff, attended the hearing in full combat uniforms and proceeded to question the lawmakers for giving the mandate of stopping the separatist movement in Aceh to the undermanned police. He stated that, "it should be the military's duty."

"The Police are non-combatants, so they're not allowed to deal with the rebel group which is a combatant," Ryamizard said.

Asked whether the TNI was worried about another failure as had happened in East Timor, or its 10-year military operation in Aceh from 1988 until 1998, Ryamizard replied, "Those were not our fault. It's because of the politicians' failure with their diplomacy."

Earlier on Monday, the Commission held a hearing with TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, in which the latter had also taken the same position as Ryamizard in dealing with GAM.

Meanwhile, Aceh's Iskandar Muda Military Command hailed the House's support for the military to heighten its operation in the province.

"The TNI chief has said that such a military operation could be held if it is supported by the people," spokesman for the military command Lt. Col. Firdaus Komarno said on Tuesday.