Sending off the sons to the unknown war in Aceh

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."