The Aceh killing fields

Reports reaching us about the human rights abuses committed in recent years by Armed Forces personnel in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh have made us shudder.

While precise figures may as yet be lacking, estimates made by independent investigators on the basis of field observations and interviews with local residents in the Acehnese hinterland indicate that the number of people who were killed, went missing or were physically abused between 1989 and 1998 runs into the thousands.

Amnesty International, the London-based international human rights watchdog, reported recently that between 1989 -- when Aceh was declared a military operation zone -- and 1992 about 2,000 people, including local civilian supporters of the Free Aceh Movement, were killed in military operations. About a thousand more civilians were detained on suspicion of supporting the movement or simply because they had relations who were independence activists.

Those who doubt the impartiality of Amnesty International's observations will not view the findings of the independent Indonesian investigators with much comfort. Again, while precise figures are as yet hard to come by, many expert observers and most elements of the media seem to agree that the number of people who have gone missing in Aceh since the province was declared a military operation zone has now reached at least 1,600. An official fact finding team from the House of Representatives which recently visited Aceh is expected to clarify this when it releases its report.

Eyewitness accounts of what happened in Aceh during those terrible years will make most people's hair stand on end. "Teuku Ayah could hardly believe his eyes. His knees trembled when he saw hundreds of corpses piled up in a hole in front of him like dead rats. No sooner had he recovered his composure than an officer ordered him and his companions to bury the bodies and level the ground over the mass grave. Ayah's fear heightened when an officer tied another man to a tree and shot him dead. The corpse was simply left there to decompose," Gatra newsmagazine reported in its latest issue.

As shocking as those revelations may be, the use of excessive force on civilians by members of the Armed Forces is not actually new. To this day, the 1991 Santa Cruz incident in the East Timorese capital of Dili remains an indelible stain on the history of Indonesia's presence in the troubled province. More distant, but no easier to forget, is the 1984 Tanjung Priok incident in Jakarta in which hundreds of people are believed to have been shot dead by the security forces.

Similar force was applied during the July 27, 1996, riot in Jakarta, which is still a hot topic for public debate. Most recently of course was the abduction and torture of young, dissenting political activists. In other words the use of brutal and excessive force on citizens of this country, during peacetime, by members of their own Armed Forces intent on achieving political objectives. Tragically this has become common practice in the country over the years.

It is difficult to say exactly when this penchant for killing and torturing their own people began. It was certainly not evident in the early years of Indonesia's independence, when the Indonesian Armed Forces was a people's army in the truest sense of the word, fighting side-by-side with the civilian population to wrench sovereignty from the Dutch. But while it is hard to say when it all began, it is easy to say when it must end: immediately.

ABRI must stop treating dissenting civilians like enemies in a war. And it must do so without delay, or not only will ABRI lose all credibility, the country and the nation will be placed in danger of disintegration. It is no coincidence that separatist movements are strong -- and have managed to remain strong -- in the so-called military operation zones of Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya. The excessive use of force by ABRI personnel is also one reason why its dual function, particularly its role in the nation's politics, is at present under public scrutiny.

This nation needs a strong, dependable and solid Armed Forces. However, it must be an Armed Forces that truly offers security to the citizens of this country. Further serious human rights abuses by Armed Forces personnel simply cannot be tolerated.