Megawati to go to Aceh despite rising tension

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to arrive in the city on Saturday, only two days after unidentified men shot dead a university rector here.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in Jakarta that he hoped Aceh would be peaceful during the President's visit.

"God willing, (it will be) conducive," Susilo was quoted as saying by Antara on Friday when asked about whether or not the President would continue with her plan to visit the restive province.

The President is scheduled to make a one-day trip here to hold talks with community groups in the governor's office and at the Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh.

Participants of the talks will be selected by Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh.

She is also scheduled to visit a photo exhibition on the visit of first president Sukarno, her father, to Aceh in 1949.

Susilo, who emerged from a meeting with Megawati, Vice President Hamzah Haz and Military Commander Adm. Widodo A.S., refused to answer further questions from reporters and went straight to his waiting car.

Widodo later flew on an Air Force airplane to Medan accompanied by National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro. They arrived at 5 p.m. in Medan. They are scheduled to fly to Aceh on Saturday morning to prepare for Megawati's visit.

Baiturrahman Mosque was quiet on Friday morning as security officers blocked roads leading to the mosque for two hours for a rehearsal of Megawati's arrival there.

An eight-by-eight meter wooden stage, adorned with fabric embroidered in gold thread, has been erected on the mosque's grounds.

The body of Syiah Kuala University rector Dayan Dawood who died on Thursday was taken to the mosque later on Friday prior to burial.

Dawood was shot dead in his car in broad daylight on Thursday by two unidentified men on a motorbike while he was being driven home from the university. He was the fifth public figure to be shot dead this year.

Dawood, a former chairman of Aceh's Golkar Party, offered to mediate a dialog between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government earlier this week. GAM rejected the offer.

Deputy spokesman of Aceh's Law and Order Operation Comr. Sudarsono told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the police had strong leads in Dawood's murder.

The murder was related to the assassination of a building contractor, Agus Indra Budi, whose body was found with gunshot wounds a couple of days ago in Aceh, he said.

"We believe that both murders are connected and that they both involved personal matters, possibly extortion by some groups," the officer said, adding that there was a possibility that GAM rebels were involved in the killings.

Tension

Tension rose days before Megawati's arrival. On Thursday evening a human rights activist was shot dead by an unidentified man near his house in Leungpeut village in Simpang Ulim district, about 350 kilometers east of here.

Yusuf Usman, 41, was dragged out of his home by an armed group of people at 10 p.m. and shot dead about 25 meters from his house, executive director of Aceh's Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations on Human Rights Maimul Fidar said.

The military claimed that eight GAM members were killed in gunbattles with the soldiers in two separate places on Thursday.

Three were killed in Alued Modek village, Sawang district, about 40 kilometers to the south of Lhokseumawe, and five in a raid on a house in Trumon village in southern Aceh.

The house was a GAM quarters, Aceh Selatan Military Commander Lt. Col. Agus Permana told the Post on Friday.

GAM claimed that they killed four TNI members in Kutablang village in Gandapura district in North Aceh.

TNI spokesman in Aceh Lt. Col. Firdaus denied the claim.

House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung said he hoped the President would hold a heart-to-heart talk with the Acehnese.

"Despite the spate of killings of Acehnese figures, the President's visit to Aceh is a necessary one," he said on Friday.

Akbar said the talks should be held with members of the public who really understood the Acehnese problem. (42/50/edt/hbk)