Stop blaming others over Aceh

After blaming the press, human rights groups and anyone who expresses a critical view on the military operation in Aceh as obstacles to the failure of the government to speedily eliminate the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the government has now found a new game to play: the Aceh local bureaucrats. The bureaucrats are not only seen as corrupt and unskilled but their loyalty to the Unitary Republic of Indonesia is questioned too.

The government boasts that the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police (Polri) have committed no wrongdoing during the almost four-month military operation. In other words, they are not responsible for the failure to achieve what the government had previously promised: The military operation would be a combination of military offensive, humanitarian mission and an acceleration of law enforcement.

Listen to what Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last Thursday: "There is nothing wrong with our security troops, both the military and police, prosecutors and the rest of the officials outside the administration."

One day later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the government's move to include GAM on the UN's list of terrorist groups, via the UN Security Council. Should Indonesia fail to convince the UN, we are worried that a new scapegoat will be found. The UN would be easy to blame -- as Indonesia blamed it after the defeat in the 1999 East Timor referendum -- as the primary source of the government's failure to solve Aceh problem.

Although it is very difficult to obtain objective data on the latest situation in Aceh due to the severe restrictions imposed on the media, we can guess that the number of refugees and students who cannot return home and go to school remains high. National media organizations refrain from sending their reporters there due to high security risks in the war-torn province.

The government has deployed 35,000 TNI personnel and 14,000 police to fight about 5,000 rebels. We do not have accurate data on GAM's real capacity but the way former Cambodian fighter Son Sann described the number of troops who fought against the Hun Sen government until the early 1990s could be indicative. "The total number of my soldiers was much higher than you would expect, but also lower than I have often told you," he said to a reporter in 1989.

Back to Susilo's statement: We feel saddened that a prominent figure like this retired general still fails to see the truth, to act as a mature official and to confront the harsh reality of what is wrong with the government's strategy on Aceh. Does he think that after dismissing all bureaucrats who fail to prove their loyalty to the nation, peace will automatically come to Aceh and the rebels will easily be kicked out of the province?

When the Indonesian government was busy condemning the UN as the most responsible party for the decision of the majority of East Timorese people to say goodbye to their colonial ruler in 1999, the whole world saw us as a laughing stock. Most East Timorese had no wish to remain part of us because the government failed to win their hearts and minds.

The failure of the military solution in East Timor should be a reminder for Indonesia not to repeat the same stupidity. Indeed, the government has vowed not to repeat the East Timor fiasco, but still we are worried that the meaning of a mistake for the government may be different from that in the public perception.

We are afraid that President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government is of the view that the mistake is therefore limited to President B.J. Habibie's decision to allow the East Timor referendum. What we hope the government realizes is that the mistake was more about the failure of the military solution for East Timor.

President Megawati could order TNI to step up its military operation in Aceh, or to buy the most sophisticated weapons and jet fighters to kill the rebels. She could also force Acehnese people to say that they love Indonesia as much as she does. But she will never win their hearts and minds through the use of force.

We do realize that the government will not be interested at all in calls to halt the military approach in Aceh. Yet we are convinced that the resumption of dialog with the people and the use of peaceful means -- remember GAM is part of Aceh society -- is the only way to achieve a peaceful solution for the province.