Lifting provinces' DOM status

By Hendardi

JAKARTA (JP): Three of the country's 27 provinces -- Irian Jaya, East Timor and Aceh -- stand out with their own characteristics and demands.

And all three have long been under military rule as military operation areas (DOM).

In the reform era, they have demanded that the status in their provinces be revoked immediately and unconditionally.

The New Order government failed to settle the sociopolitical problems in the provinces without involvement of the military. On the pretext of "security", the military status was implemented, without any clarification on when it would end.

The New Order regime coined the term "security disturbance movements" (GPK) for the Free Aceh Movement in Aceh, the Free Papua Organization in Irian Jaya and Fretilin rebels in East Timor.

The status entails a form of military operation that is meant to destroy armed groups considered to be disturbing local security. The term GPK reflects the ideological mechanism of the New Order military, aimed at separating the groups from the local population.

The policy does not seek to find why there are upheavals in the provinces and what the root problem is. Or, for that matter, why there are people who are ready to fight fiercely to the end.

And why there are people who revolt against the New Order by taking up arms.

Armed revolts against the New Order were certainly not without a cause. The question is why the investigation and the explanations on these matters are always shrouded in mystery and never revealed.

Official explanations only touch on "security disturbances" in order to justify the military operations, an approach that fails to look for an effective and integral solution.

The fact is that the people do not feel that the matter of "security" is solved by putting the provinces under military status. On the contrary, many of them "do not feel safe" and many are even killed. Others are overwhelmed by worry and fear, and mutual suspicion reigns in the community.

The people expressed their anger toward various military actions in the area. An East Timor rebel leader now in prison, Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, has pledged that if East Timor is separated from Indonesia, the region will be made a "country without soldiers", like Costa Rica and Switzerland. This shows the people have had their fill of experiences under the DOM status and the dangers it entails.

Their attitude toward the military has now converged with those of the student movement, which demands an end to the dual role of the military in defense and politics.

This is indeed one of the requirements toward real reform; the military must go back to the barracks.

Military activities in the three provinces have resulted in the most serious human rights violations. It is not only a matter of violations of civil and political rights of local inhabitants but, more importantly, so many lives have been lost that they must be categorized as crimes against humanity.

After a relatively quiet period from 1989 to mid 1990s, and the absence of news on movements demanding freedom, reform movements in many regions have awakened the dormant but smoldering "old problem" of Aceh.

The discovery of mass graves in Bukit Tengkorak, Hutan Krueng Campil, Hutan Seureke and Jembatan Kuning was a trigger as it startled the public into realizing the extent of the atrocities under the military. Numerous cases of abductions and the existence of a number of torture camps has yet to be added into the horror story.

Human rights and NGO activists estimate that at least 4,000 people have been killed since 1989 under the DOM status. The Aceh regional government has only recorded 1,021 fatalities, 864 missing and 357 crippled for life. Records also show dozens of women were raped and 681 houses burned down. A total of 1,376 women were widowed and 4,521 children were orphaned (Kompas, Dec. 22, 1998).

In Irian Jaya, where the biggest gold mine in the world lies, it is reportedly common practice for the military to arrest, detain and torture people suspected of participating in the OPM or GPK movement, in many cases without legal procedure. Many people were declared missing. Military activities against GPK often lead to deaths, including of innocent civilians.

The military's rule in East Timor for more than 23 years has never solved the problems and the people's resistance continues.

The New Order has failed to settle the East Timor problem in its entirety. One gross example was the Nov. 12, 1991 incident in Dili in which the military opened fire on young students staging a peaceful rally. Since 1975, about 200,000 East Timorese have allegedly been killed. Like in other DOM areas, violence in East Timor involves rape, sexual attacks and sexual harassment of women. Some describe the violence in East Timor as human rights violations of the nature of an "annihilation of the nation".

Recent attacks and the taking hostage of Armed Forces soldiers in Aceh must be seen in the context of the impact of the implementation of the DOM status during a long period and with various repressive measures.

Although the Armed Forces commander has revoked the DOM status of Aceh, the anger and the hurt of the inhabitants suffering under the status cannot be cured in an instant.

This is especially true if the response to the problem is typically New Order in that it is repressive and refuses to explore the roots of the issue.

Each settlement in the military way should be rejected for experience has taught us that the social cost is too high.

Demands to put an end to the DOM status and to withdraw military personnel from various areas must be met without any conditions. They must be followed up with an integral solution and an immediate improvement of the infrastructure of the community's political life in a democratic way.

The writer is chairman of the board of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, Jakarta.