Rights body demands access to monitor war

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.