Rights body demands access to monitor war

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) gave a warning on Thursday of possible unchecked human rights violations in Aceh during military operations as the administrator of martial law had started to curb the flow of information.

Commission member M.M. Billah, who is chairman of Komnas HAM's ad hoc monitoring team for peace in Aceh, said the space for rights activists to monitor rights violations in the conflict- torn province had been shrinking.

"Komnas HAM's representative office in Aceh reported that they had not been able to reach workers from the Human Rights and Legal Aid Post (PBHAM) in East Aceh or South Aceh as well as rights workers in Bireuen because telephone lines have been disrupted.

"Starting Wednesday, the administrator of martial law has limited public access to information to only the Indonesian Military (TNI) media center in Banda Aceh. It has become difficult to obtain independent sources for balanced reports," he said.

Billah was speaking in a media briefing on the plan to send several of the ad hoc team members later this week to monitor the latest condition in Aceh. He did not reveal details of the trip.

To get more "breathing room" for their activities in the province, the team has drafted a memorandum of understanding with the Aceh police chief and will also try to get approval from the state of military emergency ruler.

"But we have not yet received a response," Billah said.

Meanwhile, Aceh martial law administrator Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya expressed on Thursday his disappointment over the way the Indonesian media was reporting the war in Aceh.

"Journalists should use their conscience to decide whether certain news is appropriate to be printed or aired.

"I'm asking you and your fellow reporters, let us -- in our respective professions -- work for the same goal, which is the interest of this nation and the safety of this country," he told dozens of reporters at the media center in Banda Aceh.

Endang was refreshing his statement made Tuesday night "that statements coming from GAM (Free Aceh Movement) spokespersons would be blocked because they twist the facts" and that all reporters covering Aceh would have to be registered.

Earlier, rights activist Dita Indah Sari had questioned the government's policy not to allow international monitoring teams to enter Aceh. "It would only strengthen the notion that perpetrators of rights violations in Aceh can get away easily," she said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the international community would be closely monitoring the Aceh conflict to see whether the TNI or GAM forces committed rights abuses.

"As the TNI has learned from their experience in East Timor, the international community's tolerance for impunity is shrinking," Brad Adams, executive director of HRW's Asia division, said in a statement.

HRW also urged the Indonesian government to give independent monitors, diplomats and foreign journalists immediate access to Aceh.

Entering the third day of the massive military offensive in Aceh, 287 schools had thus far been torched, and 27 rebels have been killed or captured, according to the TNI. However, a GAM spokesman and villagers in Bireuen district said that 10 civilians were killed.

With international monitors evacuated from the region because of the hostilities, it has become extremely difficult to verify either side's claims.

There have also been reports of "disappearances", while several Acehnese were reportedly arrested due to their alleged links to GAM.

Reports also said that in the past two weeks, one PBHAM worker in East Aceh was kidnapped from a bus and has not yet been found, while another worker disappeared and later was found murdered.