No Swede success for Jakarta in the case of Aceh separatists
No Swede success for Jakarta in the case of Aceh separatists
William J. Furney, The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore
Right across the political and societal spectrum in Jakarta, there is consensus on one smoldering issue: Admonish Sweden for failing to toe the line on Jakarta's desire to get hold of key Aceh separatist chiefs residing in the Nordic nation.
It is the latest offensive as part of an overall military crackdown launched on May 19 and aimed at, once and for all, stamping out the 26-year rebellion in Aceh that has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people.
But in a kind of George W. Bush "you're-either-with-us-or- against-us" posture, Indonesians are being exceptionally blunt.
"Just cut our diplomatic relations with Sweden," Amien Rais, Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, declared last week.
"Sweden is a small country, and we shouldn't be afraid that West European countries might foster solidarity against us," he opined.
Perhaps Amien is jumping on a cresting wave of general public opinion ahead of next year's presidential election, or maybe he is venting personal indignation at what he may see as Indonesia's right to take charge of its own citizenry, even if some happen to hold other passports, too.
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) founder Hasan Tiro and other members fled to Sweden soon after declaring Aceh independent of Indonesia in 1976.
This week, a top-level delegation headed by former foreign minister Ali Alatas, who served in the Soeharto administration, arrives in Sweden armed to the gills, it insists, with irrefutable proof of the exiles' evil-doings.
The emissaries' hopes of pressuring the Swedish government to extradite the GAM leadership, or at least prevent it from "interfering in Indonesia's domestic affairs", as Alatas put it, could fall on deaf ears, however.
The administration of Prime Minister Goeran Persson has remained steadfast in its refusal to comply with Indonesia's repeated requests, insisting GAM members in its country have not done wrong by its laws.
That stance earned the Swedish Embassy in Jakarta an e-mailed threat to Swedish citizens and interests, forcing its temporary closure last week.
The brief shutdown was sufficient to draw the ire of Amien and others, who deemed it an "insult" to Indonesia, presumably over perceived notions that security in the country was seen as lax.
Even the Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, with about 40 million members, is in favor of cutting off ties with Sweden.
Business, too, is jumping on the bandwagon. The Indonesian Importers Association has slapped a ban on its members bringing products into the country from Sweden.
Its chief executive, Amiruddin Saud, is even pressing Bank Indonesia, the central bank, to halt letter-of-credit transactions for Swedish wares. Those imports include Volvo cars, Ericsson cellphones and fishery products.
All this hasty country-bashing is reminiscent of nationwide scorn heaped on the French by citizens of the United States and Britain, over Paris' veto threat against a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have paved the way for a UN-sanctioned war in Iraq.
But in a move that many observers may not have seen coming, some of the purported evidence winging its way to Swedish authorities may link the Aceh rebels to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, via Jamaah Islamiah (JI), believed to be its regional arm and blamed for last October's bombings in Bali that killed 202 people.
In this entrenched era of global anti-terrorism, that, if aptly demonstrated, would give Indonesia almost carte blanche to deal with the GAM government-in-exile.
Bombings in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia over the past couple of years demonstrated GAM and JI had similar intentions and therefore could be in cahoots, according to Indonesia's Police Chief, Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.
Yet, the fact that the insurgents have not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, and that among the bevy of suspects arrested, none has to date implicated the rebels, would suggest the interests of GAM and hardened terrorists lie poles apart.
More likely to help Jakarta eradicate GAM would be getting the UN to list GAM as a terrorist organization, a move it is contemplating.
Such an unprecedented move, though, would bode ill for Indonesia's relations with many other nations. It would send out an undiplomatic message: Do it our way or not at all.
In an editorial entitled Volvo Diplomacy, The Jakarta Post pointed out the irony of Indonesia's politicians driving around in luxury Volvos, the state car of choice, while roundly deriding the Scandinavian country.
In fact, in what could be a trend-setting act, Speaker Amien reportedly swopped his official vehicle for a lesser, but apparently more ethical, Honda model.
Others opted for the Toyota Lexus, according to reports.
Rightly, the paper suggested that before making extradition and other demands on foreign governments, Indonesia should first prepare a case against the perceived exiled wrongdoers, initially trying them here in absentia.
Politicians' bellicose statements demanding retribution against Sweden only served to show how they had "failed to grasp the consequences with regard to Indonesia's international standing", it said.
Still, in the coming weeks, the likelihood is that Jakarta's knee-jerk reaction to Sweden's staunch stance will fizzle out, and jolted egos will once again see some degree of reason.
And all the while, in the killing fields of the oil-rich northern tip of the vast island of Sumatra, the battle rages on.