Religious leader tells govt to end Aceh war

Religious leader tells govt to end Aceh war

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Jakarta

Chairman Ahmad Syafii Maarif of Muhammadiyah, the country's
second largest Muslim organization, reiterated on Monday his call
for the government to end the war in Aceh and reopen dialog with
the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"It would be better for the government not to make the
decision (regarding Aceh) by itself. It has to ask all those
involved to sit down together and talk. And (it should) avoid
talking about NKRI for the moment, because the word only means
oppression for most Acehnese," Syafii suggested, referring to the
name, the Unitary Republic of Indonesia, that is mostly used by
the military.

Speaking to journalists in Yogyakarta, Syafii expressed his
concern over the fact that only a handful of GAM members had been
killed or had surrendered since the imposition of the martial law
in Aceh last month.

"If the operation can kill some 150 members of GAM a month, it
will only be able to kill less than 1,000 of them (in six months
of the operation). In fact, GAM reportedly has some 5,000
members. So, what about the rest?" Syafii asked, reiterating his
calls for the government to stop the security operation in Aceh
and for GAM leaders not to act just as they pleased.

He suggested that the government seek a peaceful solution to
end the bloody conflict in Aceh in order to win the hearts and
minds of Acehnese people. He pointed out the improved security
condition that followed the signing of the Cessation of
Hostilities Agreement by the two sides on Dec. 9 last year.

The truce collapsed on May 19 when the government decided to
launch a military offensive against the separatists, after the
two parties failed to reach an agreement over the implementation
of the truce.

"It was unfortunate that the government didn't make use of the
good condition," Syafii said.

He also expressed his concern over the way police treated Imam
Suja', chairman of the Muhammadiyah Aceh chapter, who was briefly
detained for questioning several days ago.

"I'm suggesting police not to take a big risk by taking such
unnecessary measures. If good people, like Suja', are arrested
one by one, they will surely remove themselves even further away
from efforts to end the Aceh conflict," he remarked, adding that
he expected to meet National Police Chief Gen. Dai Bachtiar over
the case.

Suja' is known as a peace mediator in the province.

Separately in Jakarta, the National Police headquarters
announced that 124 civilians had been killed since the imposition
of martial law in Aceh.

Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis added that some 67 civilians had also
been injured and 61 others had gone missing.

The data issued by police over civilian casualties in Aceh is
higher than that of the military version, which reports less than
100 civilians killed.

The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) has announced that they had
retrieved more than 180 bodies since the imposition of martial
law, although they did not say whether the victims were civilians
or not.

Police also recorded that 109 GAM members had been killed,
four injured and 10 others were missing. It claimed that the
joint troops had managed to arrest 93 GAM members, apart from 144
others who had surrendered.

Since the military offensive began, as many as 514 school
buildings, 223 houses and 10 offices have been burned down, the
police said. It did not disclose who was responsible for the
arson.