Security situation prevents refugees from returning home
Security situation prevents refugees from returning home
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Tanjung Putus, North Sumatra
Suheri, 27, breathed a sigh of relief when the government and the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a landmark peace agreement last
Dec. 9, thinking that peace would soon return to conflict-torn
Aceh and that he, his wife, and three children could go back to
their home in East Aceh.
But, sporadic armed contact between GAM fighters and the
Indonesian Military (TNI) has forced Suheri to delay his home-
bound journey.
Languishing in a makeshift camp in neighboring North Sumatra,
Suheri, a migrant from Java, is wondering how much longer he and
his family members will have to live as refugees in their own
land.
The Suheri family is just one of some 23,000 families who fled
troubled Aceh in the past few years due to persistent terror and
violence. Most of them took sanctuary in squalid camps in North
Sumatra, while some went to West Sumatra province or Jakarta.
"I want to go home. It is difficult to find a job in this
camp. Sometimes I get work, sometimes I don't. Our lives here are
very uncertain," Suheri told The Jakarta Post last Friday at
Tanjung Putus refugee camp in Padang Tualang district, Langkat
regency, 180 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Medan.
Some families have returned to Aceh after the government
signed the peace deal with GAM, which has been fighting for
independence for the resource-rich province since 1976.
Most, however, are still waiting in refugees camps in seven
regencies across North Sumatra province: Deli Serdang, Langkat,
Asahan, Simalungun, Karo, Mandailing Natal and Dairi.
Since they left East Aceh in 2000, Suheri and his family, like
other refugees, have counted heavily on the generosity of local
people and government assistance which does not come very often.
"I hope all my belongings are still there in Aceh," said
Suheri, who left Java and settled in Aceh in 1991.
Despite the Dec. 9 peace agreement, skirmishes between the TNI
and rebels have occurred sporadically, threatening the accord.
Reports of intimidation, torture and kidnapping have also
surfaced.
TNI and GAM fighters engaged in a 25-minute gunfight on Friday
in Makmur village in North Aceh. According to Aceh military
commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf, at least one soldier was injured
in the incident.
"Returning to Aceh is impossible in the near future. Who will
guarantee our security if renewed clashes take place?" said Edi
Gunawan Sirait, who chairs the Forum for Acehnese Refugees.
But despite the uncertain security conditions, Suheri and
other refugees are still dreaming of going back to Aceh.
They also called on the government to guarantee their security
to enable them to go home as soon as possible.
The government, for its part, had promised Rp 8.75 million to
each refugee family as long as they go home to Aceh.
Another refugee, Mahmun Arman, 38, also expressed his wish to
return home but said poor security in Aceh had discouraged him
from doing so.
Nevertheless, he and Suheri said they were determined to
return to Aceh after they received the assistance fund from the
government.
Mahmun, also a non-indigenous Achenese resident who is still
stranded in Langkat, said scores of refugees have returned home
after receiving government funds despite the high security risks
there.
"Many of my friends have gone home to Aceh. Maybe, I will
follow suit if I get the funds from the government," he told the
Post.
But, the disbursement of the promised funds was temporarily
postponed by Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah on Dec.
13, 2002, following reports of embezzlement by local officials.
Sofyan Nasution, a senior official with the North Sumatra
administration, confirmed on Friday that the central government
had decided to suspend the disbursement of the funds after many
refugees reported that they did not receive the full amount.
In November, refugees who received the funds were allegedly
forced to pay between Rp 750,000 and Rp 1 million to local
officials.
Police in Binjai district later seized a total of Rp 160
million from those corrupt officials, Sofyan added. It was not
clear, however, whether the authorities had taken legal action
against them or not.
"We support the central government's decision to temporarily
halt the assistance fund because it (the disbursement) would be
useless if the money does not go to the refugees," Sofyan told
the Post.
He said that the central government had earmarked around Rp
105 billion to help the Acehnese refugees in North Sumatra
rebuild their houses and provide food and transport allowances
once they returned home to Aceh.
A total of Rp 52.5 billion of the funds was already disbursed
for around 6,000 refugee families, each receiving Rp 8.75
million.
According to Sofyan, at least 11,103 families in refugee camps
across North Sumatra have not yet received the funds.
However, data from the Langkat administration showed that at
least 19,186 families had not yet received the money.
Meanwhile, a group of 12 officials from the United Nations,
which recently inspected the refugee camps in North Sumatra,
praised the Indonesian government in handling the refugees.
Steven Allen, who led the UN delegation who met Deputy North
Sumatra Governor Lundu Panjaitan last Wednesday, said he was
satisfied with the Indonesian government's policies in dealing
with the refugees.
The Indonesian government should ensure that Achenese refugees
are able to get back all the properties they had abandoned in
Aceh when they fled, and to ensure that they can go home safely,
Allen said.
Allen further said that the United Nations was ready to help
the Indonesian government in these two areas, and would also try
to persuade donor countries to join in providing humanitarian
aid.