School not priority for TNI operation
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With the burning of at least 248 schools, the Indonesian Military (TNI) has apparently failed to anticipate attacks on schools by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), if the military claim is indeed true that the arson was conducted by the rebels.
Schools were not in the list of facilities to be protected by the TNI as TNI had focussed on safeguarding vital facilities such as oil and gas plants, radio and TV stations, telephone offices as well as government offices.
Moreover, according to TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, TNI did not also provide troops to protect areas where the majority of the people support GAM such as Bireuen and Pidie regencies, where most of the fires occurred.
"Since Bireuen is widely known as a GAM stronghold where most residents support the movement, we (the TNI) did not foresee that GAM would attack them.
"People in Bireuen are also uncooperative with us, but I hope they will learn now that GAM has caused suffering to them," Endriartono said on Wednesday.
He added that the military had deployed reinforcement marine soldiers to the regency to hunt down GAM members and restore security.
Meanwhile in Jakarta, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang disclosed on Wednesday that the police had arrested 12 suspected arsonists, all GAM rebels.
Aritonang, however, did not disclose where they were arrested nor their identities.
The burning down of 248 school buildings has meant that more than 60,000 students in Aceh will be unable to study.
Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said that the government was preparing tents as temporary schools for the affected students.
"We hope the emergency schools will be open in the next one or two weeks," he said in a press conference together with Minister of Education Abdul Malik Fajar, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi and Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh.
Malik Fajar said that his ministry would recruit senior students from Syah Kuala University as temporary teachers during the war.
He also said that the government had allocated some Rp 30 billion (US$3.3 million) in funds to build emergency schools and recruit teachers.
"Our ministry will also send a team from Jakarta to Aceh to help resolve the problems related to the burning down of the schools," he said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced on Wednesday that they would dispatch 300 emergency school kits along with 50 school tents to Aceh for displaced students.
They also called on both warring parties to protect educational facilities from destruction.