Voices from below the ground

Voices from below the ground

By Barbara Leigh

SYDNEY, Australia (JP): Last month at the National Art Gallery
of Indonesia was an exhibition of young women's paintings. One
of them was a quite beautiful and yet terrifying installation by
a woman who was born and grew up in Aceh, Endang Lestari.

The plaque on the installation stated "Beek Gilho Na Leung" --
"Don't Step on the Grass". My imagination took me below the
grass. All that was visible above were masses of tiny "plants".
But instead of plants I saw voice boxes and in my imagination
they were crying at what was happening to their land.

Hanging above the "grass" was a tirei (Acehnese hanging that
is used for all rites of passage) that was adorned not with gold
thread embroidery, but with red stained tiny plaques of
remembrance.

Since I was last in Aceh in 1999, attitudes on all sides have
hardened considerably. In the early years, reformasi opened many
boxes where lids had been locked tight for decades. The calls
for a referendum were earsplitting.

When former president B.J. Habibie visited Aceh, he
continually stressed the concern of the central government for
the people of Aceh. Apologizing profusely for the violence of the
army against the people, he said that he would revive the rail
link to Medan and revive the economy of Sabang, but much to the
chagrin of most of those there, he did not call for a referendum.

As a result of his visit, 85 religious schools were given
government status. Not long after that visit, Abdurrahman Wahid,
or Gus Dur, became President. He mentioned in one of his
statements that Aceh could have a referendum.

On the strength of such a Presidential statement, the then
Governor felt free to also come out in favor of a referendum.
The groundswell of support for a referendum then jumped
exponentially. Young people who were reluctant to be part of what
might be seen as a radical fringe group began to join the ranks
of the committed. The word "referendum" was used not just in
student radical groups, but also in serious discussions among the
middle class in major Acehnese towns.

Letting the people decide was seen to have merit and was seen
to be a just way of settling the issue. Such a position is still
maintained by a number of leading Acehnese, with the only
question being appropriate timing.

Back in Jakarta, alarm bells were ringing loudly within the
ranks of the army. There was no way that the army leadership in
Jakarta could tolerate such a move. They had just suffered the
ignominy of a defeat in East Timor. There were moves for
independence in a number of other regions. The army would lose
its whole raison d'etre if the republic began splintering.

Besides there was the issue of Exxon Mobil and the
contribution it makes to government coffers. The result was that
a decision was made to increase the number of troops in Aceh.
The rationale was protecting "the unity of the nation".

By the beginning of 2001, 30,000 troops had been sent to Aceh.
The population of Aceh is only 4 million, so that makes a soldier
or policeman for every 133 persons. Imagine the gender imbalance
of the situation and the complete failure of the law, and it is
easy to see why sexual violence is now a weapon of war within
Aceh.

Everyday human constraints are breached in the most dreadful
ways. The law is completely corrupt and unable to deal with any
of these cases. One of the most outstanding cases of blatant
disregard of the law is the case that took place beginning on
Dec. 6, 2000.

Four young volunteer field workers for the group called
Rehabilitation for Torture Victims of Aceh (RATA) were stopped by
an army vehicle and taken to an abandoned house to be executed,
one of the young men survived. He later testified to the police.
This led to the arrest of eight men. Four were civilian
informers for the military (cuak): Ampon Thaib Geudong 48, known
as Teunku Pon; Abdullah bin Yusof, known as Guru, 37; Maimun,
known as Buyong, 44, and Madiah, 44. These four mysteriously
"escaped" last month on March 22, 2001. The army detainees are
reportedly still is custody in the Bukit Barisan regional
military command in Medan -- Maj. Jerry Patras, intelligence
chief for military resort (Korem) 001 in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh
and three of his subordinates. There is no proof that these men
are still in custody.

The Indonesian National Human Rights Commission had planned to
use the RATA killings as a test cast before a new Human Rights
Court established in Medan on March 12, 2001. However the Banda
Aceh police turned the case over to the High Court in Aceh for
prosecution in a koneksitas court, a much less powerful court
involving civilian and military judges.

In a Human Rights Court, they could be prosecuted for the
serious charge of crimes against humanity if it could be shown
that the killings are part of a broader pattern of state-
sponsored abuse. As the New York based Director of Human Rights
Watch, Sidney Jones stated, "This was a test case for the
capacity of the government to prosecute human rights violators.
If the security forces can't even hold high profile thugs like
these, what hope is there for justice in Indonesia?"

She went on to say, "If the reports are true, this escape
means that no civilian between Medan and Lhokseumawe is safe."
Recent reports coming out of Aceh would indicate that civilians
throughout Aceh feel under threat.

The navy now controls the ports in Aceh. Militia groups, as
in Timor Leste, have sprung up to add their intelligence to the
"dirty" work of the army. The military informers are notorious,
and are frequently those who are killed for their lack of
loyalty. If they are not killed, the financial rewards are more
than they could expect otherwise. As shown above, the capacity of
those in power to protect these informers (who are often blatant
abusers of human rights) means that there is an increasing
bravado and lack of concern for being brought to justice. Indeed,
justice itself becomes a term that begins to lose all meaning.

Reports indicate that many of the Acehnese who are forced to
flee their homes and reside in mosques are those who live in the
mountains. One could be cynical and question whether the rich
source of income provided to the military by coffee in Timor
Leste is now being replaced by their access to fertile coffee and
ganja growing areas of Aceh.

Reports said truck drivers between Medan and Banda Aceh went
on strike in May, due to the frequent stopping and extortion of
drivers. Trees are placed across the road, forcing the vehicles
to show down and stop. When traveling by bus, every passenger
has to be examined showing his or her identity card. This can
happen every half hour or 20 minutes along the journey.

Many of those who are suffering the most are the villagers who
are forced to leave their homes, bicycles, motorbikes, chickens,
small gardens, and rice fields, and who now have nothing and must
live in the mosques and rely on the goodwill of those in the
towns. Those in the towns are paying dearly for basic foodstuffs.
The army does not know a GAM (Free Aceh Movement) supporter from
a non-GAM supporter, and yet every day six or seven killings take
place. Silence and fear that is much more repressive than that
endured during the Soeharto years has now dropped like a blanket
on Aceh.

As the former rector of IAIN (State Institute of Islamic
Studies) Jamiah Ar-Raniry in Banda Aceh, Professor Dr Safwan
Idris said in a high level briefing meeting when he was last in
Jakarta, "It is necessary for the military to be withdrawn from
Aceh if a solution is to be found." Professor Idris, a gentle
scholar who had studied in the United States, a person who was
seen as a candidate for Governor, and who was close to his
people, was shot at close range in his house last year.

The person who came to his house claimed to be a student when
he arrived at the door at 7 a.m. That claim is believed by no
one. No arrests have ever been made. His recommendation from
below the soil to the government in Jakarta is still the soundest
advice that exists. Withdrawing the Indonesian Military and the
Mobile Brigade from Aceh is an absolutely necessary pre-requisite
to constructive dialog.

The voices from below the ground cannot be silenced.

Barbara Leigh PhD, of the University of Technology, Sydney in
Australia, is a former lecturer at IAIN Jamiah Ar-Raniry Banda
Aceh (State Institute of Islamic Studies). She is author of
Tangan-tangan Trampil: Seni Kerajinan Aceh (Hands of Time: The
Crafts of Aceh), Jakarta: Djambatan, 1989.