Operations against GAM

Operations against GAM

From Media Indonesia

What will become of Aceh following the government's declaration that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is a separatist movement which must be crushed?

Crushing GAM clearly means launching military operations, which also means declaring Aceh to be in a state of military emergency, which will undoubtedly cause wives to lose their husbands, or husbands to lose their wives, children to lose their parent(s) and parents to lose their children.

Civilians will lose their homes, stores, cars, etc. Civilians will, for sure, become victims of war on a daily basis. And there will be more suffering and victims if the state of emergency is changed into Military Operations Zone (DOM), like that during 1989-1998.

I personally do not believe that declaring Aceh to be in a state of military emergency is not aimed at solely crushing GAM. Why? Because like in many past cases, what decisionmakers said was not what was executed in the field. Yes, there were deviations of the central government's policy, in particular during the DOM period where there were incidents power abuse, violations of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, etc.

Therefore, I would like to appeal to the central government and all parties concerned to prioritize dialogs with GAM and the Aceh community at large in solving the Aceh issue, as already recommended by the House's Special Committee on Aceh.

IMAM ISTEN'S

Jakarta