Local people to decide on Aceh troop withdrawals

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief of General Affairs Lt. Gen. Fachrul Razi said here Monday it would be up to the religious leaders and people of Aceh to decide when troop deployment should end in the province.

Speaking to reporters after attending a briefing by Minister of Defence and Security/ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto at the Armed Forces headquarters, Fachrul said: "If the religious council, the religious leaders and Aceh people say 'enough troops', we won't send anymore. We will withdraw our soldiers. When? Anytime. It could be the day after tomorrow, or next week."

Fachrul also discussed the plan to replace the commander of the military district in the North Aceh town of Lhokseumawe, where rioting hit on Aug. 31, only hours after the Armed Forces withdrew 558 combat troops from the region. The first withdrawal of 250 troops occurred Aug. 20.

The unrest left two dead and more than 200 buildings and scores of vehicles damaged. The Armed Forces also suspended further withdrawal of troops from the province, which was designated a military operation area in 1989.

"The replacement has been planned, and it has nothing to do with the rioting," he said, adding that Col. Dasiri Musnar had been in the post "for a long time".

Separately Monday, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing People and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Munir, alleged the Armed Forces instigated the rioting in Lhokseumawe as justification to maintain its heavy presence in the area.

The rioters, mostly senior high school students, were provoked by certain groups to burn or vandalize property, he charged.

"Kontras found indications of military involvement, especially from the subdistrict military commands," Munir told The Jakarta Post. Munir's statement was supported by Aceh's Kontras coordinator Iqbal Farabi in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives urged the government Monday to take immediate measures to restore public confidence because the Acehnese had suffered too long and excessively.

"We call on the government to grant amnesty or pardon for political prisoners or victims of slander (that they were separatist rebels)," the House's fact-finding team said in its report. Led by Hari Sabarno from the Armed Forces faction, the eight-strong team visited Aceh in July to investigate the disappearance of thousands of alleged Aceh separatist rebels.

Wiranto disclosed last Friday the nine-year military operation in Aceh had claimed 760 deaths, including 111 ABRI members.

The National Commission on Human Rights has insisted at least 781 people were murdered and 3,000 women widowed.

Wiranto has publicly doubted both figures, arguing the latter would mean that each of the victim had four wives.

The team also recommended that the Armed Forces reestablish the Iskandar Muda military command (Kodam), which was abolished in 1985. It said combat troops were mostly to blame for the mass killings in the province.

"Deployment of ABRI units who do not know the social, religious and cultural background of Aceh must be avoided," the report said. The team also urged the government to give more opportunity to locals to have more say in their own affairs.

Aceh had its own military command until 1985, when it was put under the Bukit Barisan military command. The command oversees Aceh, North Sumatra, and Riau provinces.

Aceh is divided into two military resort commands (Korem).

Beginning in 1989, the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) and other forces were deployed on a regular basis in Aceh because of an upsurge in armed activities by the Security Disturbance Movement. Meanwhile, students have established the Students Alertness Command (Kokam) in Banda Aceh to monitor the campaign for the implementation of human rights in Aceh. (imn/byg/prb)