Military kills GAM chief in gun battle
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
The Indonesian Military has shot dead the commander of the armed wing of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Tengku Abdullah Syafei, in a raid on his jungle headquarters, the military and rebels announced on Wednesday.
Syafei, 46, was shot in the thigh and chest during a 30-minute firefight with Army soldiers in Cubo, Pidie regency some 135 kilometers east of Banda Aceh on Tuesday morning.
Pidie District Military Chief Lt. Col. Supartodi said seven people were killed in the gunfight, including one of Syafei's wives, 50-year-old Aisyah Umar.
The bodies of both Abdullah and his wife were later identified by their relatives at Sigli General Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
As of 6 p.m., thousands of anxious visitors, local figures and journalists were still at the hospital, amid tight security, hoping to view Syafei's body.
According to Syafei's family, his body will be laid to rest in his home village in Matang Glumpang Dua in Bireun regency, 220 kilometers east of Banda Aceh.
The death of the charismatic Syafei is likely to be a serious blow to the separatist group, which has been under severe pressure since President Megawati Soekarnoputri flatly rejected demands for independence and ordered a crackdown shortly after assuming office in July.
Sounding rather despondent on Wednesday, GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawod said he was not sure that Syafei was killed. "The odds are 50-50. There are too many security officers around us to check," he said, declining to comment further.
The raid was launched on Tuesday morning at about 9 a.m. after the military received a tipoff about the rebel base in Cubo.
Supartodi said one of Syafei's armed rebels managed to escape during the 30-minute battle.
He said the military seized a satellite phone, three AK-47 automatic rifles, an FN-Minimi submachine gun and reading glasses believed to belong to Syafei.
Syafei's death came days after Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh invited him for peace talks. But rebels on Wednesday rejected the invitation.
"GAM has never considered the idea of having a dialog with the representatives of the Indonesian government in Aceh. GAM will only agree to hold a dialog between equals, namely at the level of national leadership," its chief spokesman Teungku Isnandar said in a press statement.
Syafei entered the limelight as a rebel leader and commander of GAM's armed wing in 1998.
The last time Syafei appeared in public was at GAM's 24th anniversary on Dec. 4, 2000 in the Jeunib area of Bireun regency.
In an interview in November 1999, he said that he joined GAM on Dec. 3, 1976, just a day before its establishment was declared by top GAM leader Hasan Tiro on Mount Halimun, Bukit Barisan, in Pidie. Tiro now lives in exile in Sweden.
The media had not interviewed Syafei for about one year, apparently due to tight security measures and surveillance of separatists. He made statements only through a spokesman.
"It is impossible for journalists to enter certain villages to interview rebel leaders without being spotted by security forces. Besides, we also think that Abdullah Syafei's forces were cornered so he had to be very careful because media coverage could have easily led government forces to them," said a local journalist who has interviewed the GAM military chief previously.
Speculation concerning Syafei's role in unrest in Aceh raised questions about his true objective. Some claimed he was planted by the central government to create further instability in the area.
Analysts further say that Syafei probably disappeared from public view because he had been ousted in a coup by GAM splinter groups.