Scoop Media [New Zealand], Friday, 23 April 2004, 5:37 pm
Rape and Provocation in Acheh, Papua and Maluku
Press Release: Acheh-Sumatra National Liberation Front
Acheh-sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF)
Acheh National Armed Forces (TNA)
Central Military Command
Press release
20 APRIL, 2004
Condemns on Indonesian Armed Force (TNI) Efforts to Mobilize Militia, Rape and
Provocation in Acheh, Papua and Maluku
1. On 18 April, thousands of people in Bireuen were forced by the Indonesian military,
TNI, to participate in an action organized by the military backed militia group led
Sofyan Ali to demand the extension of the Martial Law rule in Acheh. During the last
few days, such forced public gatherings have been held in several other districts in
Acheh. This action is a repetition of the dirty practice the TNI organized towards the
end of the first Martial Law six months ago. The current Martial Law 2 will expire in
exactly a month from now on May 19, denoting the reality that the TNI has been
allowed for the whole year to act outside the law with impunity. TNI is the largest state
terrorist institution in Asia. It has massacred one third of the Timor Leste people,
provoked and maintains the civil strifes in Maluku, Sulawesi and Kalimantan. Murders,
rapes and all sorts of crimes against humanity and genocide are being carried out by
the TNI in Acheh and Papua.
In its lengthly 2003 annual human rights report on Indonesia, the Government of the
United States, stated without any ambiguity, among other things, that Rape and other
brutalities against women have been made a weapon of war by the Indonesian
military. The report says: "The [Indonesian] law requires penile penetration to
constitute rape. On several occasions in 2002 in Aceh, soldiers were not held
accountable for violating women with bottles and other foreign objects. Rapes
committed by members of the security forces were most numerous in Aceh, the
scene of a major military operation against GAM rebels. Human rights activists
expressed concern that rapes were being underreported in the province, partly
because of press restrictions. The NGO consortium Sahabat Aceh reported that up to
100 rapes were committed in Aceh from May to September, but that only 21 cases of
rape or sexual harassment had been reported to the authorities. The TNI prosecuted a
few rape suspects. On July 19, a military court in Banda Aceh convicted three
low-ranking soldiers and sentenced them to between 2½ and 3½ years in prison. The
three soldiers, who were also discharged from the army, raped four women in the
village of Alue Lhok between June 20 and 22. In each case, the soldier allegedly
threatened to kill the victim if she spoke out.".
2. The Indonesian military and police of the Colonial Government of Indonesia
(TNI/Polri) have also carried out extra-ordinary intimidation actions to force the
Achehnese people to participate in the recent general elections in a very cowardice
way. They used militia groups to brutalize and intimidate the people to vote. TNI
troops have kidnapped GAM family members including the wife and two infant children
of TNA Commander Muzakir Manaf and the wife and two infant children of Ishak Daud,
the East Acheh TNA Commander. TNI agents distributed faked GAM pamphlets
threatening to cut the fingers of those who would participate in the election. Such dirty
tactics have been reported by the field monitors of the Acheh Referendum Information
Center (SIRA) in its Open Letter No. 12/2003.
3. The TNI has also launched its dirty intelligence operations to discredit freedom
movements in other Indonesian colonial territories all over the archipelago. West
Papua News Online dated 22 March reported that: "Athanasius Koknak, SE, Head of
the DPD PSI party for for Papua (Handphone No. 08158169447) is establishing a link
between a Kopassus intelligence officer who presented himself as a GAM intelligence
agent purportedly tasked by the Tengku Hasan Tiro in Stockholm, Sweden, to work in
Papua. The relationship between the politician and the Kopassus agent has been
developed since 2001". The intention of this link-up is to create disunity among the
Papuan people, as they have done to their homeland. Resorting to the devide and rule
policy, the TNI is demonstrating its panic and inability to think rationally in facing the
independence struggles of the peoples of Acheh and Papua.
4. During the implementation of the Martial Law in Acheh, corruption has become the
rule of the game. High ranking TNI officers, aided by high civilian officials of the
Indonesian Colonial Administration in Acheh have really turned Acheh into a very
lucrative business area. A Germany based NGO monitoring corruption practices
worldwide has upgraded Indonesia to the no. 1 place for 2003 in the field of corruption.
With the reality and facts that we have presented above, we urge the Achehnese
people to be always aware of the Indonesian dirty tricks. We call on all friendly
peoples in the Nusantara archipelago, especially the Moluccans and the Papuans
who, as the people of Acheh, are struggling for independence, to increase their state
of alert, and to join us in calling on the international community to condemn the
uncivilized behaviour of the Indonesian Government in treating its colonial subjects.
Central Military Command,
TNA Spokesman,
signed: Tgk. Sofjan Dawood
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