Kodam for Aceh?

To thinking citizens, the idea of setting up a new regional military command (Kodam) today might sound strange or outlandish, if not blatantly antithetical to the nationwide struggle to establish a civil society.

However, in the case of the demand of the people of the troubled province of Aceh that its long dissolved Kodam be reinstated, their reasons deserve serious study, but only if the measure is intended to help accelerate the return of peaceful conditions there. Aceh's previous military command was rather grandly referred to as Kodam Iskandar Muda (after the powerful sultan who ruled the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam in the first part of the 17th century.)

The idea of reinstating an Aceh Kodam has been an "on again, off again" proposal. When President B.J. Habibie's government announced the idea of reestablishing a Kodam in Aceh, many parties in the province, who had been traumatized by the brutal and inhumane military operations conducted under the code name of DOM, flatly rejected the proposal. They included the local assembly (DPRD), which is now one of the supporters of Kodam's reinstatement. They now say that they are proud of the name Iskandar Muda.

The people of Aceh are irritated by the presence of the Operational Command for the Rehabilitation of Security (Kolakop) in Lhokseumawe, an industrial city and regency capital of North Aceh. The function of Kolakop, which is headed by an Army brigadier general and the provincial police chief, has been queried. If a semimilitary agency chaired by two brigadier generals can be established, why not set up a Kodam in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, with a clear status and situated in the provincial capital instead of in Medan?

History shows that in 1629 Iskandar twice tried to free Malaka from the yoke of Portuguese colonial power. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Aceh achieved great prosperity under the monarch and controlled the northwestern portion of what's now known as the Indonesian archipelago.

But there are also community groups, especially non- governmental organizations, that do not care about historical sentiment and fear a repetition of cold-blooded military operations, carried out in an even more callous way.

The Kodam was abolished along with 16 others throughout Indonesia and merged into 10 new military commands in 1985. The functions of the Kodam Iskandar Muda were moved to the North and Central Sumatra Military Command located in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra. The Acehnese were somewhat demoralized by the measure because, historically speaking, Aceh had played a leading role in the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia in the 1940s whereas Medan, then the capital of the East Sumatra region, with its traditional, procolonial aristocrats had been the capital city of the Dutch-created puppet state of Negara Sumatra Timur (East Sumatra State).

However, after the central government explained that the change had been implemented for the sake of efficiency, the people of Aceh were able to accept it. Studying the mood of the people during a meeting between delegations representing the Aceh administration and the Acehnese people, we would tend to say that President Megawati will soon give her nod of approval to the plan.

But amid the wave of change currently sweeping the world and our country, the President needs to give more thought to demands to abolish Kodam throughout the archipelago. With the fall of Soeharto's despotic regime, which abused the power of the military from the central military headquarters right down to the village level in the pursuit of its own interests, this noble idea should have been seriously discussed many years ago. But back then it was completely unthinkable because of the presence of so many pro-Soeharto elements both within and without the government. Considering that Kodam usually ask for police assistance to secure special events, it could be viewed as a redundant unit anyway.

Back in Aceh, where the law has long been held at bay by both separatists and members of the armed forces and police, the local government should announce, as part of its plan to reinstate Kodam, ideas on how to make the best use of the new military command to: first, bring to justice those officers who have committed human rights violations, because what the Acehnese badly need right now is the restoration of their pride, whether that be based on historical factors, ethnic pride or justice. And second, when the time comes, to join other people throughout the country to campaign for the abolition of military commands at all levels in order to raise our nation to the same level as modern and civilized countries.