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Aceh: A ticking time bomb,
again
By Prangtip Daorueng
JAKARTA - As Aceh's peace effort lurches toward
a possible collapse, fear has taken over the persistent,
if increasingly uncertain, hope that many from that
restive Indonesian province had over recent months.
"We can only hope that God will protect us. We
have no weapons to fight with anybody. We have nothing
but him," said Juanda, an Acehnese human-rights activist
in the provincial capital Banda Aceh.
Like most
Acehnese in the conflict-torn province, where Islam is
the main pillar of life, faith is the only comfort now
for Juanda, who uses one name.
Hasballah Saad, a
former human-rights minister who is now a member of
Indonesian Human Rights Commission, says there is still
time for both sides to reconsider dialogue because they
know that a military approach has not - and will not -
work to address the causes of the 27-year-old separatist
war in Aceh.
On Wednesday, the Acehnese
community sent 55 members to try to meet with Indonesian
President Megawati Sukarnoputri to urge her to keep the
dialogue on track. The group, however, failed to meet
with the president because of her tight schedule.
Juanda said the group's message was clear - stop
the war and resume peace talks, based on the December
2002 ceasefire accord signed in Geneva between Jakarta
and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
The
last round of talks was set for April, but was
postponed. On Tuesday, Megawati repeated her
instructions for the military to prepare to launch a
campaign in Aceh given the lack of the progress in the
peace efforts.
This campaign, government
officials said, would also be made up of humanitarian
assistance, justice, and the restoration of local
government services.
The desperation in Acehnese
society is a far cry from the mood just a few months
ago, when the ceasefire was signed in December. The
agreement received strong support from foreign
governments, including Japan which hosted an
international meeting on Aceh's post-war development
even before the accord was signed.
At the time,
all Acehnese celebrated with joy at the prospect of
peace. But the ceasefire agreement now looks headed
toward a short life.
Two months after the
agreement, clashes between GAM and Indonesian troops
resumed. Both sides have blamed each other for returning
to violence since, and now the delay in the talks has
driven the situation close to a deadlock.
The
Indonesian government has now set a deadline for GAM to
return to the negotiating table by Monday.
The
deadline came with the precondition that GAM, which has
fought for independence from Indonesia since 1976, lay
down its weapons and accept the special autonomy law and
agree to remain a part of Indonesia. GAM, which pulled
out of the meeting in Geneva on April 25, has rejected
Jakarta's ultimatum but said it was prepared to meet
with Jakarta again after Monday.
This intense
political confrontation is quickly moving toward a
resumption of armed struggle, which Acehnese civilians
fear most. "Acehnese want to end this conflict through
dialogue. We believe it is the only solution to the
violence, but we now fear that there is a move toward an
open war here," said Juanda.
The concern is such
that early this month, the Japanese government, which
has spent US$8 million on humanitarian aid to Aceh, sent
a senior vice minister to Jakarta to discuss the
progress of peace deal with the government.
There are other worrisome signs. Indonesian
officials have been putting more emphasis on the issue
of territorial integrity more than in the past and
deploying more troops to Aceh.
Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono says the situation in Aceh has reached
the point where it was threatening the Acehnese, as well
as the territorial integrity of the Indonesian republic.
He said Megawati would decide before Monday on the legal
umbrella under which the combined government and
military operations in Aceh would be launched. He said
there are four possibilities: maintenance of law and
order, a state of civil emergency, martial law, or war.
Susilo insisted that war and diplomacy could
take place simultaneously, and that negotiations could
still resume even when the military operation had
started.
On Thursday, military chief General
Endriartono Sutarto said 2,164 military personnel would
be sent to Aceh the next day, to join some 26,000 troops
and 14,000 police already stationed there. By next week,
there are expected to be up to 50,000 military and
police personnel in Aceh. Indonesian troops would be
facing 8,000-10,000 GAM members who are believed to have
some 8,000 weapons, including SS-1, AK-47 and AK-54
rifles, the English-language daily the Jakarta Post
said.
GAM's forces operate under Muzakkir Manaf,
who underwent Libyan special force training in 1980s.
GAM is believed to have purchased weapons from groups in
southern Thailand, Malaysia and low-ranking military
officers in Aceh itself. It has also collected what are
called nanggroe taxes from business people in
Aceh to support their guerrilla activities.
For
its part, the armed forces has new heavy weapons from
tanks to jet fighters, and the air force has undergone
night-flight training specifically for operation in
Aceh.
"We are not going to surrender even if
Jakarta insists on sending military troops here. We are
ready to face them," GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawood told
the Jakarta Post recently.
In Aceh meanwhile, a
source said some villagers, fearing a resumption of war,
are storing weapons to protect themselves. "Be it knives
or guns, they fear that the situation will be similar to
[the] special-operations period, when nobody was safe
under their own roofs," he said.
This period was
from 1987-98, during which virtual military rule under
the Suharto government led to massive human-rights
violations. At least 7,000 died people during that time
and many went missing, activists say.
Stressed
Hasballah: That period "is proof that military solution
is not the right answer for Aceh because it did not stop
the secessionist movement".
(Inter Press
Service)
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