Wiranto pledges to pardon separatist rebels in Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto offered on Friday a general amnesty to separatist rebels in Aceh in exchange for an end to their guerrilla war.

"We remind the armed disturbance group not to shoot, terrorize the people, damage strategic installations and fly the Free Aceh flag," Wiranto told a meeting with editors in chief of the local media.

"We are preparing a general amnesty, and we remind them not to repeat their acts anymore. In addition, for those who are strong (fighters), we will recruit them to become a part of the Indonesian military in Aceh."

The statement came as human rights activists lashed out at the planned reestablishment of a military command in the troubled province.

"Acehnese are still traumatized by the military atrocities, so reestablishing a military command here would only complicate the situation," Yakob Hamzah of the Iskandarmuda Legal Aid Institute told The Jakarta Post on Friday by phone from the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe.

Yakob was referring to the anti-rebel operations in Aceh from 1989 to 1998, of which the military has been accused of serious human rights abuses.

"What we now need is the protection of human rights and the prosecution of the rights violators during the military operations."

Wiranto said during a one-day Wednesday visit to Aceh that a military command would soon be reestablished in the province.

On Friday he defended the plan, saying the Acehnese community supported the move. "Everyone said it was necessary," Wiranto said of some 200 local officials, legislators, Muslim clerics and student leaders that he met on Wednesday in Banda Aceh.

"I asked them for their opinion, I would not want to make unilateral decisions after what happened in the past, especially in Aceh," he told Antara.

He argued the establishment of a military command was not an equivalent measure to the 10-year military operation. He regretted comments that opposed the plan. "If people do not yet understand what the problems are, they should not make rash judgments."

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said on Thursday the planned military command was "irrelevant because what people want is the withdrawal of troops from the province, an end to military operations and violence and strict measures against perpetrators of past rights abuses".

A decade-long military campaign against the separatist movement in Aceh left more than 1,000 people dead, with hundreds of others still listed as missing.

Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights Marzuki Darusman, however, earlier this year said a military command was needed to control Army personnel and prevent rogue elements from operating in the area without direct supervision.

Meanwhile, Antara reported that members of an "armed disturbance group" in Bayu village, Tanah Luas district in North Aceh, ambushed late Thursday a vehicle with security personnel returning to their barracks.

Two security members suffered gunshot wounds, while one of the alleged assailants died, according to Lt. Col. Amrin Karim, the provincial spokesman for police operations.

He said in a media statement the security personnel also seized 10 military knapsacks, seven black berets, six military uniforms and one large plastic tent from the attackers. Also confiscated were a cellular phone, a walkie-talkie, an AK-47 magazine with 60 bullets, a machinegun magazine with 29 bullets, a motorbike, and four cars: an Opel Blazer, a Taft Rocky, Taft GT and Taft Hiline.

Following Wiranto's promise to withdraw riot troops from residential areas, thousands of refugees began returning on Friday to their homes in Aceh, Antara reported.

"Ever since General Wiranto said riot troops would be retracted from rural areas in Pidie, North and East Aceh districts, thousands of refugees have begun returning home," Pidie resident Tarmidin Usman was quoted as saying.

Usman said about 40,000 residents in Pidie district's Ulee Glee refugee center immediately began making preparations to return home after hearing news of Wiranto's pledge.

"They all left simultaneously," Usman said, adding that thousands more in Merdu subdistrict departed on Thursday for their homes.

Since May, an estimated 150,000 people have fled their villages fearing violence from soldiers and separatist rebels, packing mosques and makeshift refugee centers in several Acehnese towns.

Hundreds of buildings, including schools, have been set ablaze by unidentified groups across Aceh. At least 228 people, including soldiers and policemen, have also been killed. (byg/swe)