Militias to join TNI course after martial law

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

More than 100 Acehnese claiming to be local people and members of various anti-separatist movements met with officials of the Ministry of Defense here on Wednesday as part of what seemed to be a government-sponsored week-long course on national defense.

Briefing the press after the meeting, Yahya of the Association of Students for Religious Propagation in Gayo Lues regency said that the course was very useful for participants as "it teaches us many things about nationalism and basic military training".

Yahya also said that during the course participants were taught to sing the national anthem, Indonesia Raya, and recite the principles of the country's ideology, Pancasila.

"In Aceh, there are a number of anti-separatist groups that usually join troops patrolling in remote villages to hunt down rebels. I frequently join them and have learnt that only a few Acehnese people can sing the national anthem," he said.

Another Acehnese, Muslizar of the Struggle Against the Separatist Free Aceh Movement Front (GPS GAM), described how soldiers decided whether or not villagers were rebels.

"The soldiers usually order villagers, especially the youths, to gather in a certain area and order them to sing Indonesia Raya or to recite the principles Pancasila. If they can't do so, they are considered to be rebels," said Yahya, adding that suspected the rebels were "processed" afterwards.

Beginning last Friday, a total of 129 Acehnese started a seven-day nationalism course sponsored by the Ministry of Defense in the hilly Puncak area of West Java. They are the first batch of Acehnese to join the program.

Most of the participants are leaders of pro-Jakarta militias, such as the Anti-separatist Movement (Geurasa) and the Separatist Hunters.

According to the ministry's director general for defense capabilities, Rear Adm. Darmawan, the course would be held regularly, saying that the government was responsible for developing the spirit of nationalism among Acehnese people.

"The objective of the course is to create nationalist cadres among the Acehnese who will share the same perceptions on the development the province as part of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia," he said.

Government troops are currently on the offensive against the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been fighting for independence for resource-rich Aceh since 1976. Close to 15,000 people have been killed since then.

During the one year of martial law than ended on Tuesday (May 18), civilians were either mobilized or forcibly drafted into militia groups across the province to help crush the guerrillas.

Members of these groups are equipped with sharpened bamboo sticks and machetes, with some of them wearing red-and-white headbands. Many claim they were the victims of violence that they blamed on the rebels.

Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin once said that the members of the anti-separatist movements were recruited from villages in the province and were given basic training by soldiers.

Sjafrie argued that the establishment of the groups was aimed at strengthening the ability of civilians to defend themselves against the separatists. He refused, however, to call them militia groups, despite the fact that their members were allowed to carry sharp weapons.

Human rights activists have expressed concern over the widespread establishment of militia groups in Aceh, saying that the trend could precipitate a wider civil war there.

In 1999, the TNI backed the establishment of pro-integration militia groups in the country's former province of East Timor prior to a UN-sponsored independence vote there. The militiamen were blamed for widespread intimidation, thuggery and carnage in East Timor both before and after it voted for independence in August 1999.