Surrendered GAM rebels express fears over their safety

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."