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NEWS & LETTERS, June 2004Indonesia's fake 'peace' gesture in AchehAfter a year of martial law in Acheh, Indonesia announced that it would end on May 19, and “civil emergency” status will begin instead. This sham change will take place without the withdrawal of some 55,000 troops and police that are operating in the province to quell the Acheh National Armed Forces (TNA/GAM) and the many civil society movements for independence. Although civil emergency status will allow puppet civilian authorities to function, the military will continue to impose curfews, set up blockades and detain suspects indefinitely. Military operations will continue in large areas where the government has been unable to defeat TNA/GAM. The new status will only mean continued abuses by the Indonesian military (TNI), which has murdered, tortured and further impoverished the population of the north Sumatra province under martial law and earlier military campaigns. TNI just recently orchestrated such events as forming militias to attack and kidnap GAM members’ families. In Nisam, a village in northern Acheh, a local militia has been holding civilian hostages since May 10, when the victims’ house was burnt down. According to a report released May 3 by SIRA, an organization that worked for a referendum on Acheh’s status before it was forced underground, the TNI has been increasing the intensity of its repressive actions against civilians. The number of those arrested and killed for allegedly helping or giving money to TNA/GAM is on the increase. SIRA received reports that in the previous week, hundreds of civilians had been arrested and many of them had already been executed without any due process of law. In East Acheh TNI troops continue to gather information through “cuak” (paid informants) to establish data on any civilian who ever helped or contributed money to TNA/GAM, or any civilian who had ever asked for a contribution from the public or from shopkeepers. There are hundreds of civilians in detention at present, traumatizing their families with the possibility that they too would be executed. There is no law or authority that can protect them from this possibility. May 16, another 170 GAM prisoners from the Pidie, Jantho, and Meulaboh areas learned they would be sent to Java prisons the next day. Sending prisoners far away deprives them of any contact with their families or supporters, and allows further abuse to take place. One civilian prisoner, Muhammad Nazar, a leader of SIRA, was convicted of serious crimes for giving a speech in which he called Indonesia “colonialist.” Another, Abu Thaha, will be sent to Java without having been convicted at all. A recent report from Amnesty International states, “Nearly all aspects of the lives of ordinary citizens are adversely affected by the military emergency, people are terrorized by the numerous killings and the ever present threat of arrest, torture and ill-treatment. At the same time, economic and social life has been severely disrupted by the intense military operations.” Amnesty has new testimonies from individuals who have been tortured by both the military and the police in recent months. Methods include beatings, burning with cigarettes, having plastic bags placed over their heads, and electric shocks. It also received credible accounts of rape and other forms of sexual violence against women. In one case, Amnesty reports, a 12-year-old girl from North Acheh is alleged to have been raped by members of the Indonesian military in August 2003. In another case, three women from East Acheh, one of whom was pregnant, are reported to have been forced to strip and been molested by soldiers. To Amnesty International’s knowledge, neither of these cases has been investigated. Months before the change in status, TNI began a campaign to continue martial law. It created fake evidence of popular support from the Achehnese. During a recent visit by members of Indonesia’s parliament, TNI mobilized thousands of villagers to rally all over Acheh, forcing them to show support for extending martial law. In a few areas the participants were even given money to participate in the rallies. The threats and modus operandi of the mass mobilization were the same on every occasion. The texts of the “popular” declarations condemning independence groups and praising improved economic and security conditions under martial law, were identical. The number of people required from every village is always the same: 20 to 40 persons. Also, hundreds of militia have been sleeping on the streets and telling passing military trucks that they will not allow the Indonesian military to withdraw from Acheh. To stop the atrocities perpetrated by Indonesia's military, we urge the international community to stop providing any military assistance to Indonesia, and we urge countries to put pressure on Indonesia to allow international humanitarian agencies to operate in Acheh, and to allow UN special rapporteurs to visit Acheh. We also urge countries to bring the Acheh issue for discussion in the UN General Assembly and European Parliament. --Reyza Zain, Acheh Center |
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