Shoot-on-sight order a crime, says human rights activist

Shoot-on-sight order a crime, says human rights activist

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An order to shoot on sight a person for unclear reasons is a
criminal act as it constitutes a threat to someone's safety,
human rights activist Munir said on Wednesday, urging the
government "to discharge the military officer who imposed the
order."

Munir, former chairperson of the National Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS), said that the
order was a political manipulation by both the military and the
government as "it is was focused on the Acehnese who have
rejected the plan to revive the Iskandar Muda Military Command."

"The government earlier said that the revival of the military
command there was upon the request of the Aceh people as they
(the Acehnese) want to live a peaceful life.

But looking at the military's stern reaction to the strike in
opposition to the plan, it shows that it is the military that
wants to establish a military command in the province and not the
Acehnese people," Munir told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Munir was commenting on an earlier order issued by Brig. Gen.
Djali Yusuf, commander of the Aceh military operation, to shoot
on sight anyone found disturbing public interests in the
province.

"I have ordered all security personnel to shoot on sight those
found intentionally disturbing the peace or public interests,"
Djali told the Post on Monday.

Djali's order came after leaders of the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) called for a three-day general strike starting on Wednesday
to protest what they considered as excessive brutality by
military and police personnel.

The strike also was in objection to the government's plan to
reinstate the Iskandar Muda military command in the province as
an effort to "maintain integrity across the country."

Meanwhile, a number of noted human rights activists expressed
opposition on Wednesday to the government plan to revive the
military command, saying that the move would only lead to the
deaths of more innocent victims in the restive province.

They also urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri to cancel the
plan, saying that although the security approach may put an end
to armed struggle there, it would also bring suffering to
innocent people.

Human rights activists calling for the cancellation of
military command in Aceh included Hendardi and Johnson Panjaitan
of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI),
former director of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute (YLBHI) Bambang Widjojanto, Smita Notosusanto of the
Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), Binni Buchori of the
International NGO Forum on Indonesian Democracy (Infid), Riefki
Muna of the Research Institute for Democracy and Peace (RIDeP),
Ifdhal Kasim of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy
(ELSAM), and noted Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis.

"The plan is a serious obstacle to our efforts to disclose the
gross human rights violations during and after the imposition of
the military operation there," they said in a statement,
referring to a ten-year military operation known as DOM, in the
region from 1989 to 1999.

Hendardi and Todung condemned the government's plan saying
that the reestablishment of the military command in Aceh would
only give "an opportunity to the military to again violate human
rights."

"Actually, the government has many options to solve separatist
problem in Aceh, including imposing the special autonomy in the
province as well as to try security officers accused of gross
human rights violation there.

"Reviving the military command in Aceh is definitely not the
answer," Hendardi said.

Todung further urged both the military and GAM to stop
involving civilians in their conflict.