LAKSAMANA.Net, November 9, 2003 11:56 PM
Review - Regions: 'GAM Still Strong'
Laksamana.Net - Military rule for six months and a huge offensive involving 40,000
troops and police has yet to 'crush' the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
The government allocated Rp1.3 trillion ($153million) funds for the joint operation,
which has seen more than 900 guerrillas and 67 police or soldiers killed since May
18.
The military says more than 1,800 rebels have been arrested or have surrendered.
Though rebels have been pushed out of main towns and into the mountains, they
continue to fight on, as Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono admitted
Monday (03/11/03).
"In terms of personnel and weaponry, GAM rebels remain strong and they have
changed their tactics to full guerrilla warfare," he said after a Cabinet meeting chaired
by President Megawati Sukarnoputri that agreed to extend martial law in the province.
The government formally extended martial law by a further six months on Thursday
(6/11/03). Yudhoyono said the extension was needed to maintain security ahead of
the general elections in 2004.
GAM leaders were adamant the decision would not frighten them off. "We have been
fighting since 1873, so the extension will not change anything," GAM spokesman for
Pidie regency Anwar Husen said.
Meanwhile, the fighting raged on. Soldiers shot dead six alleged rebels in several
clashes during raids on rebel camps and their hideouts in central and eastern Aceh.
The men were gunned down Monday and Tuesday. The military also ambushed rebels
in four villages across the province on Tuesday, detaining six guerillas.
Two separatists were killed on Thursday in North Aceh following a gunfight between
troops and rebels.
Donors and SIRA Unimpressed
The European Union, Japan and the United States - who have initiated a post-war
construction fund for Aceh - underlined in a statement that the extension should be
carried out with "the minimum possible impact to the well-being of the people."
"We also hope that human suffering is minimized and that the transparency of the
situation in Aceh is improved" said the statement.
Jakarta responded with a statement read out by foreign ministry spokesman Marty
Natalegawa.
"The statement issued by the parties ... is regrettable because it was out of place and
could be construed as meddling," the government statement said Friday.
The Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) also said in a statement that the
extension would only deepen the wounds of the Acehnese.
"The increasing number of civilian casualties will only create more hatred among the
Acehnese against the government," SIRA said in a statement signed by chairman
Hamzah.
Military Ordered to Find Hostages
Since the start of the war rebels have kidnapped 181 people including a two-man crew
from the private television RCTI. So far, 25 hostages have been freed and five killed
during raids on rebel camps.
Yudhoyono said Wednesday he had ordered troops to launch a search for 151
hostages held by the rebels, including the RCTI crew held since July.
"GAM is a terror group which takes reporters and innocent civilians hostage," "The
operation has to be conducted soon for the sake of their freedom...We are talking
about 151 innocent people."
The military claims to have killed nearly 1,000 suspected rebels since May but human
rights activists said that many of those killed appeared to have been civilians.
Jakarta has restricted the activities of reporters and human rights groups in the
province making it difficult to verify either way.
Yudhoyono disclosed earlier that the extended martial law would also provide for more
open access for international and local humanitarian organizations to enter Aceh.
GAM Campaigner Gets 7 Years
The Banda Aceh District Court on Monday sentenced Irwandi Yusuf alias Teungku
Isnandar Al-Passe, a campaigner for GAM, to seven years in jail for treason.
The verdict prompted Irwandi to say, "I think the judge is fairer than the prosecutors,"
when commenting on the fact that prosecutors had demanded a 14-year sentence.
Presiding judge Musa Arief Aini said Irwandi was guilty of violating Article 106 of the
Criminal Code for working as a translator for GAM spokesman Sofyan Daud.
Irwandi, a former lecturer at the state-run Syiah Kuala University, was often seen in
GAM activities, including the inauguration of GAM's commander Muzakir Manaf two
years ago.
Meanwhile prosecutors demanded the death sentence for rebel leader Mustafa bin
Ibrahim, 30, the GAM deputy commander for Muaradua subdistrict in North Aceh's
Dewantara area.
Ibrahim was caught along with his wife in the North Sumatran city of Medan on
October 20 as they were preparing to flee to Malaysia.
Both are charged with various crimes said to have disrupted Aceh's security and
economy.
The military says more than 500 GAM rebels have already been sentenced since the
campaign to wipe them out began.
Papua: HIV & Freeport
Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, and home to one of the world's largest gold mines, is
estimated to have around 10,000 people with HIV/AIDS.
The American-owned Freeport mine gets an almost permanently bad press but a
priest last week come up with a new spin on original sin, by inferring that Freeport is
in some way responsible for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the area.
Father Bert Hagendoorn, head of the AIDS Foundation in Timika says Freeport is
largely to blame for the estimated 40,000 people infected in the city Freeport built to
service the mine.
He says Freeport has backed the commercial sex industry in Timika, which now has
the worst infection rates in the province.
Hagendoorn says infected sex workers are spreading the virus. Out of four hundred
commercial sex workers checked last year, twenty-nine were infected.
"Freeport has eight thousand local bachelors and so they started a number of
commercial sex centers that were used also by local people and apparently there
were a number of HIV infected sex workers" he said.
Kopassus Back in Action
Some 50 commandos from the elite Special Forces (Kopassus) and local troops
ambushed suspected members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) during a
pre-dawn "sweeping operation" on Wednesday (5/11/03) near Yalengga village, in
Jayawijaya regency in the mountains of central Papua.
They shot dead 10 alleged separatists, including a top rebel leader, after an armed
raid on Tuesday on construction workers and police in a school building in the Papua
regency of Paniai, some 1,000 kilometers west of Jayapura.
One worker died after being shot in the head during the attack. Three more were
reported dead on Thursday, with two others missing and three others in hospital.
The ambush, mounted during darkness, followed an intelligence report that OPM
guerrillas were planning an attack, led by Murib, on Wamena, the capital of
Jayawijaya.
Eight bodies were found after the initial firefight, along with weapons and hundreds of
rounds of ammunition, local military commander Colonel Agus Mulyadi said.
Yustinus Murib, also known as Kelly Kwalik, leader of a faction of the OPM, was
killed in a second exchange after surviving rebels fled into the jungle,
Troops seized three M-16 rifles, one revolver, one Mauser rifle, thousands of bullets
and a number of documents concerning the Papua Free Movement's (OPM) fight for
independence.
"They were going to attack the inauguration of the local mayor and according to
documents we found, they were also going to attack the local parliament office and
the local police warehouse." Mulyadi said.
He said the weapons carried by the rebels were stolen during the raid on an armory
several months ago, led by Murib.
From spent bullet casings found at the scene, the weapons used were Mauser rifles,
M-16 rifles and FN Pistols, all said to have been used in previous incidents attributed
to OPM rebels.
Separately, Lt. Col. Gustav Agus Irianto, the chief of Jayawijaya district military
command, said military personnel were hunting down more suspected rebels.
Gustav said the 10 shot dead earlier had been buried on Thursday 'somewhere' in the
Jayawijaya regency, ruling out the possibility of positive identification or autopsies.
Armed Forces (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto praised troops involved in the raid,
promising TNI would continue to search for at least 30 remaining suspected rebels
believed to be in the area.
S. Sulawesi Rights Court
An ad hoc human rights court in Makassar is making ready to try two senior police
officers charged with committing serious human rights violations in Abepura, Papua,
three years ago.
Makassar District Court head Andi Haedar said Tuesday that six prosecutors had
been appointed to prepare charges against Brig. Gen. Johny Wainal Usman, the
current deputy chief of the police Mobile Brigade (Brimob), and Adj. Sr. Comr. Daud
Sihombing. Five judges have been assigned to the trial.
In November 2000, following an attack on the local police station which left at least
two policemen dead, police launched a sweep to search for civilian suspects and
killed five civilians in a clash in Abepura. Villagers fled their homes.
Usman was then the deputy chief of Papua's Brimob, while Daud Sihombing was the
Jayapura police chief.
Prosecutors are waiting for verdicts on the Makassar McDonald's bombing suspects
before submitting dossiers on the police suspects to the court.
Komnas HAM Sets Up Shop
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) inaugurated on
Wednesday a representative office in the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) capital of
Kupang.
Governor Piet A. Tallo, provincial regents and the secretary general of Komnas HAM,
Gembong Priyono, signed the agreement setting up the branch.
It was also witnessed by the chief of NTT police, Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, whose
personnel will play a pivotal role in the investigation of any human rights abuses in the
province.
Governor Tallo was upbeat. "We praise the establishment of the office. It can help
establish and strengthen the supremacy of law in the province," he said.
Komnas HAM has established representative offices in several other provinces,
including Aceh, Papua and Central Kalimantan.
Hundreds of thousands of East Timorese were forced into the province in 1999, during
the post-ballot mayhem in September that year.
Border crossing has sparked shooting incidents near the border, allegedly perpetrated
by both Indonesian and East Timor military personnel.
Recent shootings occurred after border-crossers were discovered prowling around the
border with weapons.
The NTT police chief said he had met East Timor President Xanana Gusmao to
discuss the border issue between the two countries in the Oecussi enclave of East
Timor.
He said the two governments had established a joint committee on the border issue to
determine the borderline.
Tales of Timor Torture
The Australian armed forces have said interrogation techniques used by Australian
InterFET soldiers in East Timor were in accordance with the Geneva conventions but
mew allegations of torture there were made last week on Australia's SBS Dateline
program.
The program said a group of six men were picked up by the Australian army around
September 22, 1999, just days after Aussie forces landed in the province.
The six were all members or suspected associates of the Aitarak militia, one of the
most feared of the anti-independence groups, which went on a rampage after East
Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in an August 30 referendum.
The men claimed they were beaten, kicked, and had their heads forced down
excrement-filled toilet bowls during interrogation.
Two of the men also say they were forced into cubicles where wasps' nests were
present, with their Australian interrogators allegedly stirring up the nests so the
detainees would be stung.
Jao Ximenes, one of the interviewees, said "they put our faces in fresh shit in the toilet
and they made us sleep there."
'Nature's Wrath'
A torrent of water, mud and logs swept through Bukit Lawang resort village 100
kilometers north of Medan late Sunday (2/11/03), leaving scores dead and at least
117 more missing, feared dead.
Days of heavy rain caused a surge in the Bahorok River, which winds through the
village. Dozens of inns and restaurants that line its banks were destroyed in an area
famous for its orangutan rehabilitation center.
Among those killed were five foreigners. Also among the dead were a group of 20
domestic tourists from West Sumatra.
Most of the 2,500 villagers were asleep when the flood hit. Many had been observing
the fasting month and had gone to bed early in order to rise for a pre-dawn meal.
One witness described "a sound like 10 jet planes taking off," when the flash flood hit.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri put the tragedy down to a manifestation of 'nature's
wrath'.
Survivors said most of the dead were drowned, while others were killed as the floods
and fallen trees ripped through their homes or cottages. Most of the dead villagers
could not be identified, as they were not carrying identification.
Five more bodies were discovered on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 132.
Senior officials including Vice President Hamzah Haz have said rampant illegal
logging in the neighboring Gunung Leuser National Park helped cause the disaster.
Langkat district chief Syamsul Arifin said the flood was caused by illegal logging
inside the park and described it as a disaster waiting to happen.
Haz said Tuesday that lack of discipline and professional management of natural
resources had led to the disaster.
He said systematic illegal logging and land clearance, which had affected tens of
thousands of hectares of North Sumatra's forests, contributed to the floods.
Environment minister Nabiel Makarim on Wednesday branded illegal loggers as
terrorists. President Megawati Sukarnoputri said Wednesday that the floods were
"nature's wrath."
Navy frogmen and marines were sent to help search for and evacuate victims but
hopes of finding any of the missing still alive have vanished.
Indonesians are growing accustomed to annual rainy season floods worsened by the
destruction of catchment areas.
Landslides are also an annual problem in Kebumen regency, Central Java, where
most of the area is mountainous.
Landslides which hit eight villages in the two sub districts of Ayah and Buayan on
Monday and Tuesday damaged some 150 houses in two days, local officials and
residents said, though there were no reports of casualties.
Ayah sub district head Sujono was quoted as saying at least six houses were buried
by a landslide in Banjararjo, while about 30 others were damaged in a similar disaster
in Argosari.
Floods and landslides killed at least 50 people in Central Java between 2000 and
2002, including 12 in Kebumen.
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