Woman recounts horror events in Aceh

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was April 24 when most of the villagers of Seuneubok Pango subdistrict in Banda Alam district, East Aceh, fled their homes after fighting broke out between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels there.

However, Ramadan, 25, and his wife, who was in her ninth month of pregnancy, refused to pack up and make the trip to his in- laws' house as his wife was ready to go into labor at any time.

After government troops arrived in the village, they instructed the few remaining residents to gather in a field. The soldiers demanded the villagers show them where the rebels were, but the civilians, including Ramadan and his wife, remained silent as they knew nothing.

To the villagers' horror, the soldiers kicked the pregnant woman in the stomach, and hit Ramadan with their rifles.

Ramadan's wife immediately fainted, while he suffered a broken rib.

The soldiers only let Ramadan go after his wife, who suddenly went into labor. Despite his pain, Ramadan somehow managed to assist his wife give birth. When born, however, the baby's head was clearly injured, and its body was badly bruised.

The baby died after only four short months of life.

Ramadan now fears that they will never have another child due to the injuries his wife experienced.

Ramadan's story was recounted by Acehnese woman Khadijah, who has fled war-torn Aceh.

Khadijah, in her early 30s, lived in Langsa, East Aceh, where she was witness to unceasing violence before she abandoned her home.

Every now and then, she has the opportunity of assisting refugees and people whose villages have been raided by government troops or rebels.

Ramadan's case happened about a month before the imposition of martial law in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam on May 19.

Khadijah said violence and human rights violations against civilians were widespread before martial law was imposed, and have continued unabated since its imposition. She wondered where all the journalists who covered the first weeks of martial law had gone.

"Now is the right time for the media, especially TV, to come to Aceh and show the world what is really happening to the Acehnese people. It's important for the media to do something to restore its image," she said.

She stressed that aside from arbitrary arrests, torture, abductions and extrajudicial killings, the Acehnese people were also suffering in many other ways.

"It's difficult for people to make a living because they have to obtain travel permits even to go fishing. Loan sharks have taken control of the people's crops with the support of military officers," she said.

Khadijah, better known as Incah, said the Aceh people hated the Jakarta-based TV channels because of their unbalanced and distorted reports on the current military operation in Aceh.

"The press should stay neutral, not take sides with either the TNI or GAM. They should be there to help the victims, us, the ordinary people of Aceh," Khadijah said.

An old man from a village in Langsa, who identified himself as Tengku, said he had lost all respect for the press,

"They are war journalists, not peace journalists," said Tengku.

Tengku, who is in his late 70s, said he objected to the vocabulary and terminology used by most journalists reporting on the war in Aceh. He pointed to the headline, "TNI succeed in killing eight GAM members," as one example of the sort of biased coverage coming from the Jakarta-based media.

"If killing people is a success, why don't they treat Amrozi as a hero after his "success" in killing hundreds of foreigners in last year's Bali bombing. What's the difference?" he said.

He demanded that the press promote peace instead of violence, and give more coverage to the suffering inflicted on the people by the war instead of political statements.

According to Khadijah, people were driven to tears seeing the corpses of their fellow Acehnese displayed on TV with reporters parroting the TNI line that they were GAM members without even bothering to check with their families.

"The families won't lie, even if their sons were GAM members. They will confirmed it, and also tell you why they joined GAM. Just ask, that's all, and stop putting out lies on TV," she said.

Tengku told Khadijah that the Megawati government had made a mistake by imposing martial law. However, it could make amends for its mistake to some extent by not extending martial law.

"Throughout human history, no dispute has been settled through violence. Rather, most conflicts have been solved through dialog and communication," he said.

"Living under martial law is like living in hell," Tengku said.