We don't need empty promises: Aceh students

We don't need empty promises: Aceh students

JAKARTA (JP): Students and human rights activists in Banda
Aceh told seven visiting ministers on Saturday the Acehnese
wanted concrete evidence the government was serious in dealing
with the province's problems, and not empty promises or charity.

When Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty
Eradication Haryono Suyono presented a list of projects to be
developed in Aceh, a student interrupted him, saying, "We want
the government to bring human rights abusers to court, not
charity."

Haryono had said the government extended Rp 1.5 trillion
(about US$ 200 million) to fund several projects in Aceh.

"The projects will be carried out in three programs --
environment, human needs, and business," Haryono said, as quoted
by Antara.

The government, he said, will also give an assistance
amounting to Rp 5 billion to help businesses, while students in
Jakarta have donated Rp 172 million for the Acehnese.

The assistance and donations were formally received by Aceh
Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud.

A local journalist said the student making the interruption,
Agus Wardi, secretary-general of Student Solidarity for Acehnese
People (SMUR), told Haryono that people wanted the government to
fulfill its promise to punish military personnel guilty of rights
abuses during the military operation in Aceh which lasted from
1989 to last September.

Agus reminded Haryono that during his visit to Aceh in March,
President B.J. Habibie promised to enforce justice. Agus said
people did not need railways or the expansion of Iskandar Muda
Airport if the government did not end violence in the province.

Haryono's delegation included Minister of Education and
Culture Juwono Sudarsono and Indonesian Military deputy chief
Admiral Widodo A.S.

Soon after their arrival at Iskandar Muda Airport, the
delegation was taken to Anjong Monmata, a government hall near
the governor's office, to meet students, government officials and
ulema. Three hundred meters from the hall, some 300 students
demonstrated and attempted to enter the building.

Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid was explaining
the government's plan to grant Aceh special autonomy when a
student, Alfian, interrupted him.

"You are also responsible for the violence," Alfian, a student
at Ar-Raniry Darussalam State Institute of Islamic Studies, told
Syarwan. Syarwan was a military commander overseeing North Aceh
and other regencies in the early 1990s.

Muhammad Saleh of SMUR read out a declaration from the
students and demanded the ministers relay the message to the
President.

In the declaration, the students rejected the plan to
reestablish the Iskandar Muda Military Command overseeing Aceh,
scheduled to resume operations on Sept. 1, saying this move would
only prolong the people's suffering.

They also demanded the government hold a referendum in Aceh to
enable people to decide whether Aceh would remain a part of
Indonesia or become an independent state.

One of the students also presented a referendum flag to
Haryono, who promised to convey the students' demands to the
President.

The protesters outside the hall continued their demonstration
until the ministers left the venue in the afternoon. Police
blocked off the nearby streets.

Chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great), the protesters held
banners calling for the indictment of soldiers suspected of
killing thousands of civilians in Aceh. Dozens of security
personnel have also been killed by unidentified armed people.

Antara also reported Saturday that the Indonesian military
have taken over control of airports in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh,
besides Dili's airport in the East Timor capital following
continuing violence in the provinces.

Air Force Chief's Operational Assistant, Maj. Gen. Kusbeni
said the takeover was temporary while many airport staff had
fled.

An estimated 90,000 Acehnese are still sheltering in mosques
and schools, mainly in the regencies of Pidie, East and North
Aceh. This is a sharp drop from the earlier estimated 180,000
displaced people, officials said on Thursday.

But overwhelmed volunteers fear a return of refugees back to
shelters if there is a lack of security in their villages. A
number of refugees have had their homes broken into and their
valuables stolen by unknown persons. (prb)