ACEH: 'Australia is helping the army to kill my people'

February 20, 2002
Issue 

BY MAX LANE

"It was extremely disappointing to see Australian Prime Minister John Howard shake hands so enthusiastically with Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Doesn't he know how her government treats the people, not just in Aceh, but all over Indonesia?", Aceh's outspoken democracy leader Kautsar told Green Left Weekly. Kautsar is chairperson of the Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), which campaigns for Acehnese independence and for democratic rights for all the people of Indonesia.

Kautsar was imprisoned for six months last year after he helped organise a protest against the US oil giant ExxonMobil. He was freed after a court cleared him of the police charges.

"Hasn't Howard heard Megawati's statements to her soldiers that they need not worry about violating human rights when carrying out their duties? Doesn't he know about the terror in Aceh?", Kautsar added.

In response to statements by Australian government officials that claim that Australian military cooperation with Indonesia would not include assistance for Jakarta's elite commando forces, Kopassus, Kautsar pointed out that "there are many Kopassus troops in Aceh, but you will not find them in Kopassus posts".

"They are all serving in other units. Kopassus troops may be better trained, but otherwise there is no difference between them and the rest of the army. The Australian government is helping an army that is terrorising and killing my people. It should cut all military ties with Indonesia and also end any commercial ties that help finance the military", the Acehnese leader said.

There were more than 1700 documented cases of killings in Aceh last year. Human rights organisations say at least 170 more died in the first few weeks of this year. The Aceh Information Centre (AIC) issues daily reports of people being assassinated.

A typical case was the killing of Jailani bin Teungku Yahya Wahab Jailani, the 26-year-old son of the late Teungku Yahya Wahab, an adviser to the late Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerilla commander in chief, Teungku Abdullah Syafie.

Jailani was arrested by soldiers on February 4 and told to take them to his father's grave. When they got to the grave, he was told to run and then was sprayed with bullets from behind. According to the AIC report, the bullets penetrated his upper torso and also caused his head to break into pieces. His hands and legs were also broken. The troops then went back to his house to tell his family that all the children of the late Teungku Yahya Wahab will be killed whenever and wherever they find them.

Terror

"The terror against the people is getting worse", Kautsar told GLW. "We estimate that there are now 60,000 troops and police deployed in Aceh. Murder, disappearances, rape and torture just spread and spread. The military's posture also gets harsher. They issued a shoot-on-sight order during a general strike last month. They have told businesspeople that if they support GAM, they will be arrested. The military told them that they couldn't use the excuse that GAM forced them to help. Civil servants have also been threatened. In the villages, the repression is even worse."

Kautsar described how village heads are intimidated. "The district military commander called in the village heads from the whole area and told them that they must report monthly who are GAM supporters in their village. He told them that there are always six GAM supporters with four weapons in every village and if the village head doesn't turn them in each month, he will be considered a GAM supporter. The whole strategy is to terrorise the support base of GAM. But virtually the whole population of Aceh sympathise with GAM because they want to be free."

Only small ultra-reactionary Islamic groups support Aceh's integration with Indonesia, Kautsar told GLW. Some work with the military. One group, Indonesian Islamic Students, recently organised a concert with the military under the slogan, "Peace is beautiful".

Another group organised a demonstration against the visit of the US ambassador to Aceh. However, Kautsar noted, protest was not against US support for Jakarta's state terror in the province but to oppose any role for non-Muslim groups in efforts to mediate in the conflict. These forces were socially isolated, said Kautsar, and can only play a political role because of the backing of the military.

Negotiations

Indonesia's terror campaign has forced GAM, the largest and only armed pro-independence force, underground.

"It is no longer possible for GAM to run the local civil administrations like it did a year or so ago. Now organising is done quietly. The people are still totally behind the call for independence and are very loyal to GAM", Kautsar explained.

"Because the FPDRA concentrates on unarmed civil organising and campaigning, we have a little more room to organise. As a result more people are joining us. They don't want to be passive, they want to do something. It is hard for us also, but we have been able to organise some open protests, despite the intimidation."

Kautsar said that a recent round of negotiations between GAM and the Indonesian government were a backward step compared to the previous negotiations. "Probably the most important agreement last time was for the establishment of a Democratic Consultative Bureau to be staffed by GAM and Indonesian government appointees. This bureau was to facilitate open discussion of all the issues, but that never happened. Jakarta never appointed anybody to the body. Now, the right to openly discuss the issues without reprisals is not even on the agenda."

"These last negotiations were held under duress. There are still GAM negotiators in jail, both in Aceh and in Jakarta. We really wonder why GAM agreed to the talks when their own negotiators are being held in prison", Kautsar added.

This will be a tough year for Aceh, Kautsar told GLW. Megawati has clearly opted for a military solution. But he pointed to signs of progress on other fronts.

"The FPDRA has now expanded its network, including in Banda Aceh and Lohksumawe. We are joining up older people now, not only students. These include farmers and small traders outside the towns. In the towns, labourers, trishaw drivers and others are joining.

"After being quiet for a while, university students are also beginning to organise again. There are many small new faculty based groups on the campuses and some have done joint actions on campus with Students in Solidarity with the People (SMUR), a member organisation of FPDRA. We have been able to form a new coalition, the Democratic Society Coalition (KMD), but it still confined to Banda Aceh."

Another positive development, said Kautsar, was the GAM leadership's new preparedness to listen to new ideas and work with other political forces. "They appear more open to working with the democratic movement in Indonesia than before. They have seen how some Indonesians are supporting us on human rights issues and, in the case of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), supporting us on the issue of a referendum and independence."

Kautsar elaborated that PRD lawyers from the People's Legal Aid Institute were defending the main GAM political prisoner on trial in Jakarta and that this has been noted in Aceh.

[Kautsar will be attending the Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference in Sydney, March 29-April 1. Visit < http://www.global-A HREF="mailto:revolt.org"><revolt.org>.]

From Green Left Weekly, February 20, 2002.
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