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.