TNI says no to demilitarization in Aceh

TNI says no to demilitarization in Aceh

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

The Indonesian Military (TNI) turned a deaf ear to the increasing
calls for a limited demilitarization in war-torn Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam ahead of this year's elections so the Acehnese could
cast their votes without the threat of gun battles each day.

Chief spokesman for the martial law administration in Aceh
Col. Ditya Sudarsono insisted here over the weekend that both the
government and the military had no plan for a cease-fire with the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) nor would it demilitarize certain
districts considered to be free of rebels, during the elections,
which begin on April 5.

"The proposed demilitarization of government-held areas in the
province is not a possibility, because rebels will use such a
window of opportunity to create disturbances. We can't do it," he
explained.

He also said that the martial law administration had pledged
not to violate the people's freedom during the elections and had
been committed to making it a success.

Following increasing intimidation, both by rebels and security
personnel, many political analysts, Acehnese politicians and
other leaders have called on the military and GAM to respect a
cease-fire to allow the General Elections Commission (KPU) to
organize democratic elections in the province.

Col. Ditya added that the martial law administration had
decided to deploy 35,000 security personnel tasked to quell the
separatist group, to enhance security during the election
campaign season and each of the voting days, a process that could
last for seven months.

He also denied that martial law authorities had interfered
with the KPU's work by barring some legislative candidates that
it did not like.

"The military has no authority to delist troubled legislative
candidates. We'll let the people do the selection at the ballot
box," he avowed.

Jakarta imposed martial law and launched major military
operations to hunt for an estimated 5,000 GAM fighters on May 19,
2003, when it deemed that the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement
(CoHA) was a failure. The CoHA, signed by both Jakarta and GAM
in Dec. 2002 in Geneva, was facilitated by the conflict
resolution organization Henri Dunant Centre (HDC). So far, the
military has claimed to have killed and/or arrested approximately
2,000 rebels and those considered their supporters.

The armed conflict broke out in 1976 when a group led by Hasan
Tiro, decided to take up arms to fight for the province's
independence after the government had failed to fulfill many of
its promises to grant the province greater freedoms and a share
of Aceh's natural resource profits.

An estimated 12,000 Acehnese people were killed in the
sporadic conflict between 1976 and 2002, and most of those
occurred during the time that former president Soeharto declared
Aceh a military operation territory (DOM) between 1989 and 1998.

Despite reformasi and brief glimpses of hope for a better
future, many Acehnese no longer have faith in the government due
largely to Jakarta's failure to penalize or try any of the
military officials presumed responsible for human rights abuses
during the DOM period as well as the impeded implementation of
special autonomy.

Photo caption:

ACEHNESE VOTERS: Two university students walk by a newly painted
billboard near their campus in Banda Aceh that tries to assure
the Acehnese that the elections will be fair and honest. In
addition to government posters and billboards, several political
party flags have been raised to get voters' attention.