Sending off the sons to the unknown war in Aceh
By Ati Nurbaiti
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto announced last month the redeployment in Aceh of the Crack Riot Troops which gained so much bad publicity following the reported abuse of civilians at the hands of these troops.
The military commander overseeing Aceh, including the volatile regencies of North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie, Col. Syafnil Armen, said in September troops were still deployed in these three regencies.
"They are needed because the people there still face the danger of attack by armed groups" he was quoted by Serambi Indonesia daily as saying.
Security in Aceh is supposedly the responsibility of the police, but they have said they lacked the personnel and needed the support of local military troops.
Reports of sporadic arson and the abduction and murder of civilians and security personnel continue throughout Aceh.
Syafnil said 159 military and police personnel were killed from last November to August. Sgt. Maj. Ishak Rahman, 42, of the Meurah Mulia Military Command in North Aceh, was shot by an unidentified assailant on Sept. 7, becoming the 160th victim.
Even senior Acehnese officers, including police chiefs, have been among those killed. Police officers returning to Java or other islands have been quoted as saying that there are "wild" troops and that it was not the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) they were facing.
The Free Aceh Movement has denied employing terror tactics against civilians, and the Acehnese say they do not believe GAM is responsible for attacks on civilians.
Police and military commanders have said they are not entirely sure who they are fighting, but officers in Pidie are confident they are facing the Free Aceh Movement.
"They're quite strong," an official at the local military command said.
Syafnil, who heads the Lilawangsa Military Command, said last month that to his knowledge the rebels had amassed nearly 1,000 weapons.
Lt. Col. Deden Sudradjat, a former commander of the Crack Riot Troops and now a supervisor of security operations in Aceh, asks "who else" but GAM would be responsible for shooting at military trucks from inside a refugee shelter.
Nine people died in the incident in Titeu Kemala district, Pidie, in early August, and Deden said the GAM commander was a "coward" for only claiming three of the victims as his members.
"Our men could not shoot back," he said, "because the shooting came from among the refugees."
Rebellion
Similar to the official stance on rebels elsewhere in the country, authorities play down the strength of the Free Aceh Movement -- saying the 5,000 members once claimed by a rebel commander likely included sympathizers among the public.
"Less than 1,000 would be more likely," said Aceh Police chief Col. Bachrumsyah.
However, the continued deployment of troops has failed to quell the violence.
The withdrawal of a few thousand non-Acehnese troops seems to have reduced the clashes in the past few weeks and thousands of internally displaced persons have returned to their homes. Of 180,000 displaced persons, less than 40,000 now remain.
Confusion about what and who the Free Aceh Movement is has inevitably led to various ideas and perceptions among the public.
GAM members are either robbers and terrorists or Ratu Adil -- the ultimate savior in times of untold suffering -- depending on who you ask.
A woman whose husband was allegedly abducted by the military told The Jakarta Post: "We are all ready to join GAM if those responsible for our husbands' disappearance are not brought to justice."
If the planned Aceh Military Command is established, observers say they fear that the so far "neutral" students in Aceh "will all join GAM".
Asked who they recognized as the leader of GAM, observers said they only knew of the widely interviewed Teungku Abdullah Syafei.
The rebels are said to want an Islamic state -- a female newcomer to Aceh is advised to wear a headscarf "or else GAM will cut you up". But rebel leaders says this is Jakarta propaganda.
What is more confusing is the reported claim among GAM figures that the movement does not want separation, but "freedom" from oppression.
Nevertheless, "referendum" is the unifying word among GAM and its supporters, as reflected by the ubiquitous graffiti.
Local media is also unsure which is the "pure GAM", the "split faction of GAM" or the "Kopassus GAM", referring to the alleged rebel group formed by the special forces as an intelligence operation.
In Pidie, Teungku Abdullah said the leader of the Islamic boarding school and former political prisoner Teungku Bantaqiah, who was shot dead with dozens of his students by security forces, was not a GAM member.
He also said a GAM leader in North Aceh, Ahmad Kandang, was not created by the military as widely claimed, but was a real leader of the movement. Teungku claims "provocateurs" have used the names of several Free Aceh figures in committing acts of violence.
A number of people say this is a "strategy" of GAM, to reveal only one or two leaders to the world, leaving doubt as to whether there really is a GAM and whether the movement has substantial clout.
Military operations were launched in Aceh in 1989 to crush the rebel movement, and little was heard from GAM until the 1990s.
The movement traces its origins back to the 1970s, when it was established as a reaction to economic and political dissatisfaction with the centralistic government.
As in other areas of the country, the New Order regime attempted to make all local social institutions uniform and exploit the province's natural resources for the benefit of Jakarta.
A book by veteran journalists on human rights abuses committed during the military operations states that Hasan Tiro, one officially recognized GAM leader who now resides in Sweden, is largely unknown among the Acehnese.
Nevertheless, local military commanders say they know what they are up against -- a fairly well trained militia who knows the land by heart.
"We don't know every brook and stream here," says Lt. Col. Deden, who hails from West Java.
He flatly rejects speculation TNI members, ex-military members or "rogue elements" in the military are selling weapons to GAM.
Teungku Abdullah said getting arms was as easy "as buying water or peanuts". According to military intelligence, arms come into the province from abroad.
"Our weaponry is complete," a GAM leader told journalists. AK- 47s and grenade launchers are among the group's known armory.
Locals criticize the military and police for only harassing civilians at roadblocks instead of hunting for armed rebels in the mountains.
Amid accusations that security forces are either incapable or unwilling to face the mysterious armed group, the young men assigned to Aceh remain nervous and unsure as attacks on colleagues continue.
"What a job," murmurs a police officer in a low tone. "You don't even know who the enemy is."