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