Asia Times: Acehnese want justice, not bullets


	August 31, 2001	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Acehnese want justice, not bullets
By Richel Langit-Dursin

JAKARTA - The fear that Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri would favor a military approach over dialogue to resolve secessionist movements in the country, particularly in Aceh province, has become a reality.

Almost immediately after Megawati assumed office on July 23 following the ouster of Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's powerful military declared an all-out war against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been struggling for its own Islamic state since the mid-1970s.

"Armed revolt can never be resolved through dialogue," Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security, Bambang Soesilo Yudhoyono, said last week. But the crux of the Aceh question is not armed struggle, as suggested by Yudhoyono, but justice.

Since the fall of former authoritarian leader Suharto in May 1998, violence and human rights abuses have escalated in the country's western-most province. Hundreds, even thousands by some accounts, of people have allegedly been killed by security personnel, despite the government's repeated pledge to settle the Aceh question through dialogue.

From 1989 to 1998, the province was declared a military operation area, known locally as DOM, which has given the armed forces a virtual free hand. In East Aceh, for example, some villages have earned names such as "Widows' Village" since almost all of married women have lost their husbands, either killed by the military or through joining GAM and going into hiding. Aceh has become a tragic killing field in its own right.

"The Acehnese want those responsible for killing innocent people, torturing, kidnapping and raping in the province to be brought to justice," said former human rights minister Hasballah M Saad, who is also an Acehnese leader. He also said that political dialogue should be used to resolve the Aceh question.

Thousands of houses and public buildings have been burned down in the past three months, with both government troops and GAM members disavowing responsibility. And no end is in sight for the violence and human rights abuses.

So far the government has done little to prosecute military officers accused of human rights violations in the province. Indeed, in some cases the accused have in turn charged Acehnese with killing innocent people or of perpetrating other crimes, and they have been promoted, leaving people to believe that Aceh has become a good opportunity for soldiers to advance their careers.

To placate the Acehnese, the government on August 9 passed Law No 18/2001 on Special Autonomy for Aceh, changing the province's name from the Aceh Special Province to Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, with the status of a special autonomous region.

Under the law, Aceh is free to decide on its own symbol, falling short of Acehnese's demand for a different flag, and to set up an Islamic court, called Mahkamah Syari'yah. The law also gives greater powers to the province's governor, who will have input into the appointment of the Aceh police chief and its high court.

The law also stipulates that in the next eight years, Aceh will be able to retain 55 percent of the income it derives from mining and oil, and 40 percent from natural gas, compared with 15 percent and 30 percent respectively, as stipulated in Law No 24, 1999. Beginning in the ninth year, the province will receive 35 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Now, the military, presumably with Megawati's consent, has declared an all-out war against GAM and its supporters. They seem not to have learned, or perhaps don't want to learn, the lesson that violence only breeds violence, and that military crackdowns against secessionist movements only advance the rebels' cause.

GAM has waged a war for independence since 1976, and its numbers have increased steadily despite the heavy presence of government combat troops sent in to stamp out the secessionist movement. During the DOM period, GAM took control of some villages around Lhokseumawe, East Aceh. GAM has also succeeded in socializing its cause to such an extent that virtually all Acehnese are now rallying behind them in calling for a United Nations-supervised referendum to determine whether or not the province wants to stay with or break away from the Unitary State of Indonesia.

Yudhoyono is reported to have said earlier this week that GAM's support base has waned. He is dead wrong because virtually all Acehnese are now GAM members, or at least sympathizers of the organization which security personnel often refer to as Security Disturbance Movement (GPK).

Megawati, in her first state of the nation address on August 16, apologized to Acehnese for past human rights abuses, but vowed to keep the province within Indonesia.

Acehnese have always taken pride in the fact that they have never been fully subjugated by colonialists, including the Dutch, who ruled Indonesia for more than three centuries, and Japan, which occupied the country for more than three years in the early 1940s. According to writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Acehnese have such a "distinct individual culture and courage" that they are willing to take on their enemies, even if they know they will lose.

Declaring an all-out war against GAM is tantamount to declaring a war against all Acehnese, and surely it is a good recipe for advancing Acehnese's independence cause. The tough approach will only harden their determination to seek and fight for independence, especially at this juncture when GAM members have learned much from the East Timor experience that international network and media coverage contributes positively to their cause.

What Acehnese are fighting for is justice, that justice be done to those who have committed crimes. They are also fighting against military impunity, which was very much the case during the Suharto regime. Their struggle, therefore, should be seen as part of the reform movements that have swept the country since the late 1990s.

Refusing to prosecute military personnel accused of human rights abuses in Aceh, and indeed anywhere in the country, will not only derail legal reforms, badly needed to give legal certainty, but also demonstrate that the military is above the law.

And it would also mean that Megawati's administration is still very much controlled by the military.

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