'Military operation misses the target'

A'an Suryana and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) called on Friday for an end to the military operation in Aceh, slamming it as having failed to live up to its initial objectives.

Instead of bringing peace to Aceh, the military operation had claimed a significant number of civilian casualties, and undermined democracy and human rights.

"The military operation has missed its targets. It should be reviewed, and both Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) must go back to the negotiating table," Ori Rachman, the coordinator of Kontras, told reporters on the sidelines of a discussion here.

The discussion, titled "Evaluation after One Month of Military Operation in Aceh", was held by the Indonesian Muslim Students Association (PMII).

Under the military operation, the situation in Aceh had become worse, said Ori, with more than 500 schools having been burned down by unidentified armed groups since the military offensive against GAM began on May 19, with the TNI apparently powerless to stop things going from bad to worse.

To add to the misery, the military operation had forced more than 30,000 civilians to flee their homes for security reasons.

Being forced to become refugees had certainly degraded their quality of life as they had lost their jobs and means of earning a living, Ori said.

The number of civilian casualties had now reached alarming proportions, he said.

"Some 150 civilians have been killed and more than 60 persons have gone missing during the ongoing military operation," said Ori. He that added Kontras had obtained its figures from the accounts of family members of the victims and by crosschecking the bodies removed by the Indonesian Red Cross.

Kontras has long had an office in Banda Aceh, and it is currently staffed by about 10 persons. Kontras has approximately 50 volunteers working throughout Aceh, and the main duty of both staff members and volunteers is to collect data on missing persons and the victims of violence in Aceh.

However, the Kontras data on civilian casualties is somewhat different from the data provided by the government.

Sudi Silalahi, the secretary to the coordinating minister for political and security affairs, said on Friday that 62 people who had gone missing and there had been 57 civilian casualties.

Ori said the military operation had not only destroyed the lives of many Acehnese and killed many civilians, but also posed a threat to democracy in the country.

"Police sweeps and surveillance operations targeting Acehnese, who are suspected of being GAM members, are now normal throughout the country, disrupting the liberties of civilians," Ori said.

The military and government have adopted policies that restrict the rights of activists from non-governmental organizations (NGO) and journalists from entering and monitoring what is really happening in Aceh, he added.

The government and military have also stepped up pressure on the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), after it revealed the finding of a mass grave in Aceh.

This pressure could discourage the commission from continuing monitoring rights violations against civilians in Aceh, he said.

"The military should open access to all monitors, especially activists and journalists, in order to prevent possible human rights violations during the military operation in Aceh," stressed Ori.