Military may ban foreign teams from monitoring polls in Aceh

Tiarma Siboro and Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Banda Aceh

Amid mounting criticism over restrictions on the press and independent groups in the war-torn province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Monday that the presence of foreign teams monitoring next year's elections in the province was not necessarily needed.

Aceh Martial Law Administrator Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya argued that in accordance with the country's legal system, the government had established bodies to deal with elections, including the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), therefore "we should believe in those bodies instead of relying on foreigners."

"Indonesia is a great country, so why don't we trust our people to deal with our internal problems? We do not need foreign monitoring teams in Aceh before, during and after the 2004 elections," Endang said, as quoted by Antara.

"I don't understand why the presence of foreigners to monitor the elections in Aceh is considered to be an important issue," Endang said.

"What is good for foreigners is not necessarily good for us," he said.

The two-star general was answering a question on whether the TNI would allow monitoring teams from neighboring countries to visit the province ahead of elections to ensure that Acehnese would be able to exercise their political rights properly.

KPU has scheduled the legislative election for April 5, 2004, and has planned to organize a two-phase presidential election in July and September respectively. A total of 24 political parties have been declared eligible for the elections.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri decided in November to extend martial law in Aceh for another six months, arguing that the government was responsible for maintaining security and order in the province before, during and after the elections.

Since the government imposed martial law in Aceh in mid-May to crush the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), more than 40,000 TNI troops and policemen have been deployed to the oil and gas- rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

Rights activists and political observers have criticized the decision for fear that a massive deployment of government soldiers would affect the democratic climate across the territory.

Indeed, Aceh will be the first and only province in the country's history to face a military offensive during the democratic events in 2004.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has criticized the imposition of martial law in Aceh, saying that under martial law, the government and military had effectively barred nearly all independent and impartial observers (including diplomats), as well as international humanitarian aid workers, from the province.

Meanwhile, the TNI announced on Monday that one soldier and four suspected rebels were killed in several armed encounters between government troops and GAM rebels across the province on Sunday.

TNI Aceh operations spokesman Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki said that the four suspected rebels died in a gunfight on Sunday in southern Aceh. Also on Sunday, guerrillas ambushed a group of government troops in eastern Aceh and one soldier died in the gunbattle.

Four other GAM rebels were also arrested over the weekend in eastern Aceh, he said.

Meanwhile, a civilian who worked as a driver for journalists was found dead on Saturday after going missing for several days. His death remained a mystery, but a reporter in Banda Aceh who saw his body believed that he had been shot in the head.

The rebels launched their independence bid in 1976 after Jakarta refused to give increased autonomy to the province. About 10,000 people have died in the conflict and repeated efforts to forge a peace deal have collapsed.