Lifting provinces' DOM status

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.