Peaceful means promised in Aceh

Peaceful means promised in Aceh

By Budiman Moerdijat & Muharram M. Nur

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid said during a visit here on Tuesday the government would shun brutal military operations in the province, pledging to seek a peaceful solution to the problems in Aceh.

Speaking to some 500 people invited to the Batiturrahman Grand Mosque to commemorate the Revelation Day of the Koran, Abdurrahman promised the Acehnese would not see a return of the brutal military operation introduced in the late 1980s to crack down on separatist rebels in the province.

"Our approach now is to foster brotherhood to reach a consensus on what we want to do with this province, in the context of our sovereignty," Abdurrahman said.

He said past security measures taken by the central government in Aceh had been a "wrongful" approach, as they had been applied "indiscriminately".

"This approach victimized innocent people ... we should not continue this," the President said.

He said the Acehnese had become defiant of the government because they were deeply traumatized by brutal military operations.

"Therefore, I have called on all state apparatus not to treat our own people as the enemy, but as a friend," Abdurrahman said.

He also said he would embrace members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) as "friends", and that negotiations with them would continue after the current humanitarian pause expires on Jan. 15.

"We will continue to engage in dialog until everybody agrees that Aceh will have its independence within the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," Abdurrahman said.

He admitted his failure in ending the violence in Aceh during his first year in office had frustrated him to the point that "if I were not a Muslim, I would have probably killed myself".

Hundreds of civilians and security personnel have been killed this year in the continuing violence between security forces and GAM.

The government and GAM representatives signed a humanitarian pause in May, which was then extended in September. However, the accord has failed to bring a halt to the violence.

Some top security officials in Jakarta earlier suggested that if by Jan. 15 Abdurrahman's reconciliatory approach had failed to bring concrete results, the government would resort to a military operation in Aceh.

Explosion

Tension greeted Abdurrahman's brief visit to the territory. Two hours before his 10 a.m. arrival at Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport, a grenade exploded at the residence of a local military police chief, just a half kilometer from the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque.

Most shops in Banda Aceh were closed and the streets were deserted during Abdurrahman's two-hour visit for fear of violence.

Aceh Besar Police chief Supt. Sayed Hoesainy confirmed the grenade attack, saying it was the work of two unidentified men on a motorcycle.

Sayed said the police bomb squad also defused a homemade bomb planted on the road connecting Banda Aceh and Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport.

"The bomb was found during a police sweep," he added.

Separate grenade attacks occurred at two police dormitories. One took place at Kebun Kelapa, some two kilometers from the grand mosque, and the second was at the Lam Jame boardinghouse, though the grenade did not explode in this incident.

There was no immediate report of fatalities or damages.

Residents in East Aceh and Pidie regencies also suspended their daily activities on Tuesday, leaving much of the area quiet and seemingly deserted.

Some residents said the suspension of activities was a strike.

"The strike was held in protest of the (President's) visit, which the public believes will not satisfy the people's aspiration for a referendum or put an end to the violence," a resident named Usman said.

The heightened level of security for the President's visit was acknowledged by Abdurrahman himself when he said he had to wear a bulletproof vest under his batik shirt.

Abdurrahman and his entourage, which included several Cabinet ministers and 10 ambassadors from Organization of Islamic Conference countries, were scheduled to be flown from the airport to the mosque by helicopter, but heavy rain prevented this and the President was driven to the mosque under heavy escort.

A scheduled meeting with activists and representatives of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) and GAM at the airport also was canceled.

Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh said the SIRA representatives canceled the meeting on Tuesday morning, though he gave no reason for their decision.

There was some anxiety at the end of the President's speech at the mosque when an Acehnese student insisted on meeting with Abdurrahman.

Presidential guards eventually allowed Effendi Hasan, a student at Syiah Kuala University, to meet briefly with Abdurrahman in a separate room.

Effendi later told journalists he conveyed three demands to the President during the meeting, including the immediate release of SIRA leader Muhammad Nazar, who is currently being detained by the police.

He said he also called on the President to hold a referendum in Aceh and not to revive military operations in the province.