Praise, brickbats for Habibie's Aceh trip

JAKARTA (JP): An Acehnese community leader here expressed appreciation over President B.J. Habibie's day trip to Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, on Saturday.

Antara on Sunday quoted a statement from Mustafa Abubakar, who also raised concerns over a clash between demonstrators and security personnel. About 100 people were reportedly injured in the clash. Demonstrators were trying to reach Baiturrahman mosque where the President held a discussion after conducting Friday prayers with locals.

Mustafa, representing the Taman Iskandar Muda organization which deals with the Acehnese community, urged the "seriousness of related parties to immediately act on all instructions, promises and programs mentioned by President Habibie during his visit".

The President promised, among other things, that all dead victims of the military operation of 1989 to 1998 would be given a proper Muslim burial at the expense of the state, if relatives so wished. The remains of many victims were found in exhumed graves by fact-finding teams shortly after the military operation status was lifted last year.

Habibie, who apologized for all the impacts of the military operation, also pledged that action would be taken against all those involved in rights violations.

The government has been considered slow in following up results of fact-finding teams, leading to recent calls by students for a referendum on the province's future, as seen in Saturday's protests.

The statement of Taman Iskandar Muda added that regarding legal action as promised by Habibie, "immediate, concrete actions should be taken as soon as possible against rights violations during the military operation, for the sake of returning the dignity of the Acehnese people".

Meanwhile students of the Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung lashed at the government over the Friday clash.

The violence, they said, "shows that the government is not willing to tolerate differences of opinion by driving (dissidents) away using their political tool, the Armed Forces."

The Friday incident, a statement signed by the university's Student Committee said, "reinforces our commitment that Indonesian students should continue the struggle to total change... towards democracy, which has now been betrayed by the Habibie regime." (anr)