Military has failed to turn Acehnese against rebels: Commander

The first six months of martial law in Aceh has yet to encourage people to participate in the fight against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), as evident in the military's failure to capture the rebel group's leaders. The military believes the most wanted persons are either being harbored by or living among the Acehnese. The Jakarta Post's correspondent in Banda Aceh, Nani Farida, interviewed martial law administrator Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya on the targets of the second six-month period of martial law.

Q: What are the flaws found in the first six months of martial law? Are there any changes to be made in the second six-month period?

A: Generally speaking, we will not make any changes, but there will be some adjustments in the field. During the first six months of martial law, we found the Acehnese people's resistance (against GAM) remained weak, efforts toward improving the people's welfare did not work well and law enforcement authorities failed to capture as many rebels as we had expected.

Improvements may be made in the intelligence operation so as to dig up all information related to the rebels.

How much has GAM been weakened during the first period? And how much did the Acehnese people participate in the fight against GAM?

In terms of physical composition, 55 percent of GAM's forces has been paralyzed, and we have seized 30 percent of their arms.

The people's participation remains low -- only 32 percent of the Acehnese population joined the resistance movement against the rebels. We hope to raise this figure to 70 percent with the extended martial law period.

It will take perseverance and patience to convince the people to reject separatism, to refuse shelter to the rebels and to become willing to report to us on the whereabouts of GAM members.

What kept the Acehnese from joining the fight against GAM?

Perhaps our soldiers in the field used an inappropriate approach to win the people's trust. We have taken every possible measure to boost people's participation, including the replacement of village heads with tough military figures. If we detected many GAM members in a particular village, we built more security posts there.

It's not the fault of the local administration alone. Security problems might have contributed a lot to the low level of people's participation.

How much will the second period of martial law cost?

There will be no increase in the budget.

This doesn't concern me, as the budget has been tackled by the leadership in Jakarta, either the office of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs or Indonesian Military Headquarters.

If we need more equipment, which may be expensive, we just ask them to procure it for us.

Some critics say martial law has destroyed Aceh.

What pitiable persons. I think we need to invite them some time to talk about Aceh.

Regarding the general elections, do you think the martial law will adversely affect democracy?

Aceh is in a state of conflict, everybody in the world knows this. If the general elections cannot run 100 percent, everybody expects this, too. But who wants to see the elections fail in Aceh, as it did in 1999? It's better to make sure that the 2004 elections take place in some parts of the province, rather than nowhere. We can't expect it to be perfect -- that would never happen (in Aceh).

What are the indicators of a successful general election in Aceh?

What is democracy? It's more important to safeguard the elections. The elections in Aceh will be no different from those in a country that has suffered a conflict and has fallen under UN supervision.

We only maintain security to prevent troubles. Democracy can still work.

People are prohibited under martial law from assembling. How will this be applied during the campaign period?

Look, I have the authority to ban people from gathering in a group, but I also have the authority to allow them to assemble.

Is there any possibility of easing the emergency status before the expiry of martial law in May 2004?

I wish to see peace return to Aceh tomorrow. Everybody here wants the conflict to end as quickly as possible. Let's hope the martial law lasts only two additional months, not the entire six.