North Aceh students demand referendum demands

JAKARTA (JP): About 2,000 students in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, marched to the regional council demanding a referendum to determine whether the province wished to remain in Indonesia or break away.

A local correspondent reported that banners were installed around the council emphasizing the importance of a referendum to settle problems in the troubled province.

Violence involving civilian and military casualties, has sporadically been reported in Aceh, despite a government decision last year to lift the status of the province as a military operations area. Operations began in 1989 to crush a separatist movement.

Council speaker and also former military commander of Central Aceh, Lt. Col. Mas Tarmansyah, signed a statement supporting the call for a referendum. He was joined by the Armed Forces (ABRI) and the dominant Golkar faction council members.

"We're like a public bus; if everyone supports a referendum, what can we do?" said Tarmansyah, declining to elaborate further.

Chairman of the local chapter of the Indonesian Action Front of Muslim Students, Aidil Fan, said the province experienced decades of injustice including the deaths of scores of Acehnese. He said rights violations had continued since the fall of the New Order government.

Earlier this year villages in North Aceh were raided by the military, who charged villagers with harboring a separatist, said to be responsible for the abduction of a number of off-duty military personnel.

Aidil said the military had "stolen" six banners and demanded their return. Students threatened to remain at the council until the military commander, Col. Jhony Wahab, signed the statement.

Recently Governor Syamsuddin Machmud said a federal state was the best way for Indonesia to retain its unity. But students have claimed independence for Aceh is preferable, calling for a referendum in the province.

Students also demanded the removal of Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Chief Gen. Wiranto, citing his inability to maintain law and order in the province.

On Wednesday hundreds of students demanded the president issue a firm policy on Aceh. President B.J. Habibie is scheduled to visit the province on March 26. (anr)