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.