TNI to send more troops to troubled Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Military (TNI) is planning to dispatch more troops to troubled Aceh.

Lt. Gen. Djamari Chaniago, chief of TNI general affairs, claimed on Tuesday that the fresh troops were only part of a routine shift.

"There are not many and it is part of a routine shift," Djamari told reporters, after attending the handover ceremony for the position of defense minister from Mahfud MD to Matori Abdul Djalil.

About 20,000 troops had been deployed in Aceh, including three battalions of combat engineers and 771 troops trained at the Batujajar training center run by the Army's Special Force Command (Kopassus) in Bandung, West Java, Djamari was quoted by Antara as saying.

Deputy chief of the Indonesian Navy Vice Adm. Fred S. Lonan said that the Navy had also deployed five warships to Aceh waters in a bid to help prevent weapons being smuggled from other countries into Aceh.

This deployment was also part of a routine shift and did not constitute a new policy. "We are deploying the warships from Sabang, Belawan and Sibolga," Lonan said.

Commenting on Thursday's killing of 30 civilians in East Aceh, deputy chief of the Army Lt. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri stated that it had been carried out by a rowdy armed group. The case was currently being investigated, he said, without giving details.

At least 30 people were shot dead by unknown gunmen at PT Bumi Flora, an oil palm plantation company in Idi Rayeuk district, some 80 kilometers south of the capital of East Aceh, Langsa.

I Wayan Karya, a spokesman from the Coordinating Ministry of Political and Security Affairs, said on Tuesday that the government would evaluate the effectiveness of Presidential Instruction No. 4/2001 on the restoration of law and order in Aceh.

"We will evaluate the instruction as six of the steps determined in the instruction have not worked as effectively as expected," Wayan said, after a coordinating meeting on political and security affairs.

"This evaluation is needed because economic activities and other services have to continue in line with the upholding of security in the area," he said.

Present at the meeting, which was presided over by Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, were Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayudha, Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil, Communications and Information Minister Syamsul Muarief, caretaker Attorney General Soeparman, TNI Commander Adm. Widodo A.S., police Inspector General Comr. Gen. Ahwil Luthan and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Yacoeb.

Wayan disclosed that the separatist activities had increasingly been curbed, especially in major Free Aceh Movement centers, including Pidie, Bireun, and North, East and South Aceh.

"About 20 percent of the five areas, which used to be classified as black regions, have become gray areas," he said.

After the introduction of the presidential instruction in April, violence in Aceh continued and culminated with the killing of the above-mentioned 30 civilians.

Meanwhile, dozens of Aceh's public and religious figures left the province on Tuesday for Jakarta from Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport in Aceh Besar regency.

An official at Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) provincial administration announced that the figures went to Jakarta on the invitation of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is slated to announce the law on NAD at Merdeka Palace on Wednesday.

"We were informed just in time to ask Aceh's public and religious figures to fly immediately to Jakarta as there will be a meeting with President Megawati at the presidential palace on Aug. 15," said the official, who asked not to be named.

But only 22 of the registered 27 figures were able to fly on Tuesday as the remaining five were unable to obtain seats on the flight, Antara reported. (tso)