Ministers to visit Aceh soon, Habibie in March

Ministers to visit Aceh soon, Habibie in March

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie has ordered six ministers
to visit Aceh on Monday and will himself visit the country's
westernmost province in March in a bid to alleviate the negative
impact of the military operations there, a senior minister said
on Wednesday.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty
Alleviation Haryono Suyono said the President's visit is meant to
accelerate efforts to restore social and political security there
and to heal the psychological wounds caused by the locals' bitter
experiences with the military operations between 1989 and 1998.

"Insya Allah (God willing) the President will visit Aceh some
time in March," Haryono said after meeting with Habibie at
Merdeka Palace along with five other ministers including Minister
of Religious Affairs A. Malik Fadjar.

Led by Haryono, the six ministers will visit the oil refinery
city of Lhokseumawe on Monday to find out what highly urgent
measures are needed to rebuild the infrastructure and homes of
victims of the military operations. The delegation would also
learn what social and financial assistance is needed in the
province, he said.

"The President has ordered us to take prompt action," Haryono
noted.

In his nine-page report to Habibie, Haryono pointed out that
1,021 people have been killed, 864 remain missing and 1,376 have
become widows, while 680 houses have been burned down since the
Armed Forces (ABRI) declared Aceh a military operations territory
(DOM) in 1989.

According to the report, there were 405 deaths in Pidie, 346
in North Aceh and 270 in East Aceh during the operations.

"The military operation... caused grievous suffering and other
negative impacts on people's lives, as thousands of women were
widowed, children orphaned, many were disabled, and many women
raped," said Haryono.

The minister described how the Acehnese people
enthusiastically welcomed ABRI Chief Gen. Wiranto's decision to
lift the military operations last year. However, the recurrence
of violence by the military had made people believe that the
current government was the same as the previous repressive
government of the New Order.

"The latest tragedy was in Idi Cut, East Aceh on Feb. 2 when
25 people went missing while on the next day 14... corpses were
found in the Arikundoe River. There was a subsequent exodus of
hundreds of villagers, creating more fear and suspicion of ABRI,"
Haryono noted.

The minister dismissed fears of a growing sentiment among the
Acehnese to establish an independent state. He said the Free Aceh
Movement was only a weak organization.

"The essential problem in the region is actually a prevailing
sense of being victims of injustices in the national development
program, including the poor distribution of natural resources and
the behavior of certain central government officials and
officers," the report said. (prb)