Inclusive dialog needed to end Aceh conflict

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.