Surrendered GAM rebels express fears over their safety

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

Ninety-nine people fill the Military Police detention camp for former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group. All have surrendered but not everyone is a GAM member.

Some had lost faith in the struggle for Aceh's independence while many others had merely joined a few GAM meetings and feared worse treatment if the police found out about them.

M. Nur, 41, falls into the first category. He joined GAM in 2001, saying that widespread injustice drove people to embrace the rebel group.

However Nur realized that GAM was also to blame for the grief among his people. He had had enough, he said.

"I gave up because GAM's struggle is so different now. GAM members too like to make people suffer," he said on Thursday.

Now the former GAM fighter lives with the other 98 people at the detention camp. Once a week, his wife and four children visit him.

The camp consists of five large tents. They will remain here until another camp outside Banda Aceh has been completed.

"We prosecute immediately those whom we arrest and transfer them to prison," said Military Police commander Lt. Col. Sulendra. "But those who have surrendered only receive counseling, and are being kept here temporarily."

No one knows how long they will be detained for. Meanwhile there is not much to do for the 99 detainees. Most just sit and relax inside their tents while others exercise.

Twice a day they receive counseling on religious issues and patriotism.

GAM has been fighting for an independent state since 1976. The province is rich in natural resources, in particular gas, timber and agricultural products.

But three decades under the Soeharto rule has left the province's 4 million population impoverished. The 10-year military operation between 1989 and 1998 to crush the rebel group worsened conditions in the province.

Human rights violations have been flagrant and economic development has almost come to a halt.

Over 10,000 people were killed in the decade-long war, mainly civilians. Rights groups blamed both sides for the atrocities, but said Indonesian troops had committed most of the rights abuses.

The current war followed the collapse of a five-month old peace deal on May 18. During the six weeks of fighting the Indonesian Military (TNI) said it had killed over 300 GAM rebels.

Around 680 others had either been arrested or had surrendered.

The government is preparing Nasi Island off the coast of Banda Aceh as a detention center for GAM rebels. The island had once served as a GAM training ground.

"I entered GAM in March 2003 and was only able to learn how to march on Nasi Island," said 28-year old Hamdani, a resident of the island before he entered the camp.

He said he joined the group because he knew some GAM rebels who convinced him of their struggle. "I along with two friends then surrendered after we decided that this was the best thing to do," he said.

Asked what he planned to do next, he said he wanted to live with his father who lived alone on Nasi Island after his mother died.

"I want to go home soon, my poor father is living by himself," he said. "But if Nasi Island is still unsafe, I don't dare return. I might be killed."

Fear of revenge killing is high among former GAM members who wish to return home. Lt. Col. Sulendra said many of the detainees refuse to go home.

But reports of harsh treatment of GAM supporters in military controlled areas also abound.

Zulfikar knows that. "Someone told the military that I was a member of GAM," he said. "I thought it'd be better to surrender before I get arrested."

He denied that he had joined GAM and was surprised that someone would want to set him up.

"In these times people can just accuse anyone they don't like of being a GAM member," he said. "Somebody who isn't a GAM member is accused of being one simply out of dislike, I am an example of that."

According to him, only a third of the detainees here are actually GAM members. The rest, he said, were ordinary people who were forced to surrender because they just happened to have attended a GAM meeting, a speech, or gave the rebels some food.

Zulfikar said that sometimes GAM held a meeting or a speech and forced villagers to attend. "If everyone has to surrender because of this, it's like asking all of Aceh to surrender."

Lt. Col. Sulendra agreed that many among the detainees had surrendered for the wrong reasons.

"We will look into it and see who had once been a real GAM supporter and who just tagged along or surrendered for other reasons."