Who says Aceh is integral to RI?

Who says Aceh is integral to RI?

By M. Yusuf Daud

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (JP): The struggle of the oppressed peoples
of the world for their right to self-determination has often been
overshadowed by the notion of so-called "territorial integrity"
and the principle of noninterference in the "internal affairs" of
a sovereign state.

The chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) read out a statement during the recent summit in
Istanbul, Turkey, expressing deep concern about the terrible
situation in Chechnya, but at the same time strongly supporting
the "territorial integrity" of the Russian Federation.

In response to Acehnese demands for a referendum to determine
their own future, many Indonesian ministers and top politicians
have bluntly echoed the importance of preserving the "territorial
integrity" of Indonesia through any means.

Is territorial integrity so sacrosanct it legitimizes the use
of force against innocent civilians in order to prevent a
territory from breaking away?

The territorial integrity of a state is recognized by
international law. But human rights, including the right to self-
determination, are also an integral part of international law and
by definition must be the legitimate concern of the international
community.

It is also a cardinal principle of international law that the
legitimacy of a state's control over a territory depends on how
it acquired that territory. In the case of Aceh, the territory
was unlawfully occupied by the Dutch and then handed over to the
newly created Republic of Indonesia after World War II without
due process of international law and the laws on decolonization.

A member of the International Court of Justice, Dillard, has
said: "It is the population who decides the destiny of the
territory and not the opposite."

Furthermore, the concept of the "territorial integrity" of
Indonesia arose during the era of colonialism as a means to
prevent the artificial boundaries of conquered territories from
becoming separate independent states. Therefore, the very concept
of the "territorial integrity" of Indonesia is by no means
sacrosanct or absolute.

In the past months, the people of Aceh, non-governmental
organizations and human rights groups have repeatedly warned the
Indonesian government and international organizations, including
the United Nations, of the extreme danger of the Indonesian
Military's approach to solving the political conflict in Aceh.

Despite that, the Indonesian Military is now planning to
impose martial law in the area -- meaning more blood of innocent
Acehnese will be spilled -- and the UN and western democracies
still consider the Aceh conflict an "internal affair" of
Indonesia.

Here again, the notion of "internal affairs" is going to be
used by the regime as a license to kill more Acehnese and prevent
outside intervention.

This irresponsible attitude of the international community is
also a betrayal of the very principle of the Acehnese's right to
self-determination to decide their own future through a fair and
free referendum.

The decades of flagrant violations of human and political
rights by Indonesia in Aceh is neither an internal affair nor
does it fall under the domestic jurisdiction of any state. It is
an international concern that cannot be resolved without
international intervention.

Even if Indonesia succeeds in occupying Aceh militarily, and
this will certainly result in many more deaths and casualties,
the war will continue unabated.

History shows that it took Dutch colonialists almost a century
to understand the Acehnese cannot be defeated in war. It also
took Indonesian colonialists 54 years to learn how resilient
Acehnese are in struggling for their freedom.

And a peaceful pro-referendum rally in Banda Aceh on Nov. 8,
1999, in which a quarter of Aceh's population (1.5 million
people) from all walks of life participated, is further proof to
the international community that the Acehnese are united and
prepared to sacrifice everything they possess when their
integrity, dignity and honor are downtrodden.

Two decades have passed and tens of thousands of innocent
Acehnese have either been killed or disappeared without a trace.
How long will the international community wait before taking
action to save those lives that can still be saved, or must there
be many more bloodbaths before the international community will
act. Help prove this is not the case.

Given the tragic fact that the Acehnese have been subjected to
centuries of oppression by Dutch, Japanese and Indonesian
colonialists, it is not difficult to understand why an
overwhelming majority -- if not 100 percent -- of Acehnese
believe that independence is the only way forward and a
referendum is the most democratic way to solve the Aceh conflict.

Therefore it is the responsibility of the international
community, including the UN, to support and uphold the right of
the Acehnese to determine their own future through a free
referendum or plebiscite.

And it is also the duty of the UN to prevent the political and
human rights of the Acehnese from being usurped by Indonesia on
the grounds of "territorial integrity" and the "internal affairs"
of the Republic of Indonesia.

The writer is the secretary-general of the Free Aceh Movement
in Europe.