'Military operation misses the target'

'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.