Military option not the best solution for Aceh: Minister
Military option not the best solution for Aceh: Minister
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Voicing an opinion at odds with that of other government
officials, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on
Monday that the military option was not the best solution to
settle problems in the restive province of Aceh.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Hassan said that Indonesia
should be more flexible in dealing with Aceh as the military
option was no longer the best answer.
Hassan underlined that a military approach to deal with the
separatist movement was legitimate, but Indonesia should, at the
same time, forge a dialog with the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM).
He made the remarks in response to the government's plan to
revive the Iskandar Muda Military Command (abolished in the early
1980s), on the grounds that the existence of a separate military
command would reduce the central government's interference in
security affairs in Aceh.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who has the final say and
has reportedly given a "positive response" to the plan, is
expected to announce her decision in the near future.
"The problem is that Indonesia lacks flexibility to combine
approaches to settle the separatist movement. In the end there
should be a combination of law enforcement, economic approaches
and dialog," Hassan said.
"We should learn from the Philippines, namely that the
military option is not the only way; I do not believe that the
military option is the best solution for dealing with the
separatist movement," he added.
The government's plan to reestablish the military command in
Aceh also met more resistance on Monday, this time from a human
rights group, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of
Violence (Kontras) and the Aceh-Sumatra National Liberation Front
(ASNLF).
The groups said in separate statements that the plan would
worsen human rights abuses rather than restore security and order
as the government claimed.
"The plan must be rejected because it would only repeat the
mistakes made by the Soeharto regime in the past when dealing
with Aceh," said Hendardi, head of the Indonesian Legal Aid and
Human Rights Association (PBHI).
"The Megawati administration is doomed to fail because
reviving the military command means repeating Soeharto's
mistakes," Hendardi said.
The PBHI claimed that history proved that military
institutions in the regions were established to support the
military's desire to maintain its dominant political role.
"This plan will reopen the doors for the military to come back
into the political arena and stall the democratization process,"
Hendardi said.
The plan to revive the Aceh military command has raised
questions about the military's promise to reduce its political
and territorial roles.
It comes at a time when the military has abolished some
powerful positions, such as the head of sociopolitical and
territorial affairs post, from its organizational structure.
Hendardi pointed out that East Timor's secession from
Indonesia and the escalating violence in Irian Jaya and Aceh were
all evidence that the security approach did not pay.
The key to a solution of the Aceh question was, according to
the PBHI, a justice and prosperity -- not security -- approach
"The impunity that the military and police enjoy in Aceh has
destroyed the Acehnese people's trust in the government," he
said.
"Jakarta is not sensitive to what the Acehnese need ... the
people are still open to dialogue," Kontras' executive Ori Rahman
said.
ASNLF spokesman Tgk. Sofyan Dawod charged that the government
were trying to make it appear that the military command was being
reestablished at the behest of the Acehnese people.
Dawod said that pro-Jakarta Acehnese leaders like Governor
Abdullah Puteh, who came to Jakarta to request the
reestablishment of the military command, could not claim they
represented the people and, in fact, only represented themselves.
"Abdullah Puteh should explain his stance to the people.
Otherwise he will have to face the consequences of his actions,"
Dawod said in a statement.