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TITLE: No End In Sight To Violence In Aceh |
AUTHOR: Ian Timberlake |
PUB: The Straits Times |
DATE: February 28, 2001 |
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LHOKSEUMAWE (ACEH) The war came to Mr Iqbal early one morning while he slept. 'I heard a sound really loud, like explosions,' he said. 'My wife didn't wake up, so I grabbed her hand and pulled us under the bed.' Too late. A stray bullet from an exchange of gunfire between Indonesian police and separatist Aceh rebels had already struck Mr Iqbal in the right knee. His only mistake had been to live about 50 m from the local police station - one of many which have been targeted by the Free Aceh Movement guerillas, known as GAM. Mr Iqbal, who is afraid to have his real name published, was wounded on Feb 10, the same day that Indonesian police and GAM signed a pact aimed at reducing violence in this devoutly Muslim province of about four million people. Since last June, a series of accords to limit fight- ing between the two sides have failed to control the situation, human-rights workers in Aceh say amid fears that the Indonesian security forces will intensify operations in the province. 'There's no positive change in the field at all,' said Mr Faisal Hadi of the Aceh NGO's Coalition for Human Rights. At his office in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, a giant board on the wall records the statistics: arbitrary execution, arbitrary detention, kidnapping, torture, violence against women, arson. Police and Military Abuses The Indonesian military and police commit most of the violations, said Mr Hadi, who recorded 1,664 human-rights cases last year, compared with 1,611 in 1999, before internationally-sponsored attempts to curb the fighting began. Human-rights workers here and Western observers in Jakarta say that although the Indonesian government has entered into dialogue, a negotiated solution is not completely acceptable to the Indonesian military. 'This conflict, not only in Aceh, but also in Papua and Maluku, has become its bargaining power with the civilian authorities,' Mr Hadi said. It is a way to strengthen the military's position, he added. Charred remains of houses and small shops are evidence of what local residents say is a common police and military tactic. After a GAM attack on an Indonesian security post or convoy, the police and military often retaliate by burning the property of local residents. Police say they are conducting a 'law-enforcement' operation with military assistance. Off a bumpy dirt road near Lhokseumawe, a GAM commander said Indonesian security forces are searching for his troops 24 hours a day and, if they do not find them, civilians become their victims. 'We attack the military or police. We don't attack the people, or civilians. 'But when they attack now, they're not attacking GAM. They're going after the Acehnese people, whoever it may be - women, small children,' said Mr Sofian Daud, GAM's deputy commander in the Lhokseumawe region, where much of the fighting occurs. While he spoke, clean-cut, smiling young GAM soldiers armed with AK- 47 and M-16 rifles relaxed nearby. On the six-hour journey between Lhokseumawe and Banda Aceh, every small town seems to have a sandbagged police post, sometimes covered in netting to protect against grenade attacks which occur despite wooden barricades designed to slow the traffic in front. One roadblock carries a message for passing motorists: 'Don't forget to pray.' The police operation is led by young men from the paramilitary Mobile Brigade sent to Aceh from other provinces. They travel on high alert, sometimes in convoys supported by armoured vehicles from the Indonesian military. A bright red GAM flag taunts them from atop a rural power line as they conduct searches of cars and buses along the highway. The presence of the security forces is both intimidating and provocative, said Mr Nurdin Abdul Rahman, a university English instructor in Banda Aceh who was imprisoned from 1990-1998 for allegedly being sympathetic to independence. He said the security forces sometimes fire into the air, causing citizens to flee in terror. At night, near Lhokseumawe, almost nobody travels. Those who must, drive with the interior light on so the police, shadows beside the road, can see inside. Is Independence the Way Out? Mr Daud accused some members of the security forces of operating without uniforms after dark to conduct kidnappings and murders. It is an allegation supported by Mr Aguswandi from the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence of Aceh. He said kidnappings by out-of-uniform security personnel have increased since last year's 'humanitarian pause' aimed at curbing violence. 'In many instances, we know it's done by the police, also the military,' he said. Two bodies with gunshot wounds were dumped in a sack along river banks outside Banda Aceh in a typical incident recently. In December, three workers for the Rehabilitation Action for Tortire Victims in Aceh (Rata), a non-governmental organisation which arranges medical treatment and counselling for victims of torture, were executed just outside Lhokseumawe after they were kidnapped at gunpoint by Indonesian military collaborators, according to a survivor. One of the victims was a young nurse. 'What I cannot understand is that Jakarta has never learned that atrocities, military operations and oppressive acts cannot help solve the problem. It never learns,' said Mr Rahman, who heads Rata. A Western observer in Jakarta said abuses by government forces helped perpetuate GAM support, although 'I don't think GAM is completely popular either'. Both sides extort money from the population, Mr Hadi said. The commander of the joint police and military operation in Aceh, police commissioner Kusbini Imbar, said there is no way the forces under his command retaliate against civilians. 'We're from the people ourselves. I myself am from the people. It's impossible that we would hurt the citizens,' said Commissioner Imbar, a native of Java. But the Acehnese have their own language, their own culture, a proud warrior history, and a sense that Indonesia has betrayed promises to recognise Aceh's distinctive character while looting its vast natural resource wealth. For some Acehnese, there is only one solution. 'We must have independence. Aceh doesn't want to be with Indonesia anymore,' said 23-year-old Zulfikri, who lives in a poor Lhokseumawe fishing village beside giant, white storage tanks of the PT Arun liquefied-natural-gas plant. The writer is a Canadian journalist who contributes regularly to The Straits Times on Indonesian issues and developments. END |