Sweden promises to follow up RI request over GAM leaders
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Swedish authorities may be moving towards following up on Indonesia's request for action against exiled leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) living in that country, saying they would be summoned to explain the evidence of terrorism presented by Indonesia.
Director General for Political Affairs at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anders Linden said that his office would question the GAM leaders about the evidence.
"They have promised to summon Hasan Tiro and his fellow GAM leaders, and question them about the evidence and complaints we presented," Ali Alatas said after a meeting with Linden at the latter's office.
Alatas said further that the Swedish official had promised that his government would take (political) action against the GAM leaders as soon as possible without waiting for legal action from the Swedish attorney general's office.
Before his meeting with Linden, Alatas met with the Swedish deputy attorney general, who promised to study the evidence presented by the Indonesian delegation and to give an official response within two weeks.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's special envoy Ali Alatas and his team were in Stockholm to urge Swedish authorities to take action against exiled Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders in that country, including the GAM-designated Aceh president Hassan Tiro, prime minister Malik Mahmood and foreign minister Zaini Abdullah.
Alatas' team, which arrived in Stockholm at the weekend, handed over to Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh what it claimed was "proof of the links between GAM representatives in Sweden and terrorist acts committed by GAM rebels in Indonesia."
The delegation brought with them faxes, and transcripts of e- mails and orders sent from Stockholm to Aceh as evidence that the Acehnese exiles were involved in criminal acts.
The team is the fourth delegation the Indonesian government has sent to Sweden since 2000 to convince the Swedish government to take action against the GAM leaders.
GAM leaders have been living in Sweden for many years and have taken out Swedish citizenship. To date, the Swedish government has taken no action against them, saying they had done nothing to violate Swedish law.
On Tuesday, Alatas' team met with Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh, who said her government could take no action against the GAM leaders as they had not breached Swedish law.
Alatas said that Swedish Deputy Attorney General Christer van der Kwast promised to study all the evidence from the Indonesian team in accordance with Swedish law.
"They will decide on whether the proofs we have submitted are sufficient for them to proceed with a legal process, or whether they need more proof, or whether the evidence is insufficient for them to act," Alatas said.
Alatas, who is also a former foreign minister, underlined that Indonesia had no intention of attempting to pressure Sweden over the issue, but was simply requesting Stockholm's support for its efforts to stamp out armed rebellion in Aceh.
The delegation is slated to return home on Thursday.