Now, elected representatives in Aceh also face screening
Now, elected representatives in Aceh also face screening
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The central government and the martial law administration in Aceh
will expand the scope of a proposed screening program to local
elected representatives and village heads in the war-torn
province.
The screening, aimed at uncovering any links between officials
and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, will now apply to all the
members of legislatures in the province following the arrest of
two local legislators on charges of financing separatist
activities.
Martial law administration spokesman Col. Ditya Soedarsono
denied allegations on Saturday that the screening would discredit
the state apparatus in the province.
"This screening is aimed at creating a clean and strong
administration, not discrediting local officials," Ditya said as
quoted by Antara.
Originally the screening, scheduled to last from July 1 to
July 30, was targeted at 67,000 civil servants.
The screening, Ditya said, was part of an attempt to
strengthen the local administration, which was one of the
purposes of the integrated operation in Aceh. The operation is
primarily intended to quell the three-decade-long rebellion,
provide humanitarian assistance and enforce the law in the
province.
Zulkifli Adam, a member of the Sabang legislative council
representing the United Development Party, and Marwan of the Aceh
Besar legislative council representing the Golkar Party were
arrested on Thursday on suspicion of being involved with GAM.
They also face dismissal from their respective parties.
The arrests came a few days after 76 village heads resigned en
masse, citing intolerable pressure from both the Indonesian
Military (TNI) and GAM.
Ditya said that the strengthening of local administrations
would comprise improving supervisory functions to help create
professional, clean and strong state institutions.
Commenting on the screening plan, National Commission on Human
Rights (Komnas HAM) member Achmad Ali suggested that the tests
should not be exclusively conducted by military officers.
Achmad said civilian officials should also be involved in the
process to ensure it complied with the prevailing regulations and
human rights principles.
"It must be conducted as part of the integrated operation in
Aceh," Achmad told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He suggested that the public should not react negatively to
the planned screening, saying it was designed to detect GAM
members who might be working in the bureaucracy and other
institutions.
But Munir, the director of the advocacy group, Impartial, and
a human rights campaigner, lashed out at the plan, which he said
would revive the authoritarian practices of the past.
Munir, who admitted to having been screened in the past, said
the results of the screening tests could possibly be used by the
martial law administration to label critical Acehnese people as
being "pro-rebel".
During the New Order regime, screening was conducted on people
seeking jobs in government and military institutions to detect if
they had any links, direct or indirect, with the now defunct
Indonesian Communist Party.
Ditya said the martial law administration was continuing the
process of recruiting district and village heads, and renovating
government office buildings in Aceh.
He added that the local administration would soon replace
existing ID cards in the province with new ones, which use the
national red and white flag as a background.