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Jakarta To Issue Ultimatum To Aceh Rebels
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Start negotiations in the next seven weeks or we will wipe you out when the current “humanitarian pause” expires. This is the ultimatum issued on Sunday to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) by the Indonesian government.
Indonesian government officials and Army chiefs hope this ultimatum will help put an end to months of hesitations and mishandlings of the Aceh issue.
Jakarta will, on Monday, order the police to begin enforcing a strict ban on civilians carrying weapons in the region. This means the police can effectively start hunting down any alleged GAM member or supporter suspected of possessing arms.
The GAM is yet to issue any protest to the United Nations on the ultimatum but it is believed it will step up its guerilla warfare against the police and stationed army battalions in the province.
For the past two weeks, Aceh has been the center of attention in Jakarta. Mass rallies were held in Bandah Aceh, the capital city of the restive province. Hundred of thousands of people rallied, saying they supported independence for the province.
An Indonesian security operation to flush out a rebel base in the flash point has forced thousands of villagers to flee their homes in fear. Most of the villagers moved with their belongings to Bandah Aceh, accusing the Army of terrorizing them.
This operation was conducted while Army Chief General Endriartono Sutarto said two weeks ago that the military would pull its troops out of the strife-torn province if that were what the majority of Indonesians want.
The current plan to declare an emergency in Aceh has not been fully accepted by the various political parties in Jakarta. Several party leaders and analysts have voiced their disagreement over the military option.
The government said earlier it would continue to use the persuasive approach with the Acehnese, not a militaristic one. Defense Minister Mahfud said that, since under international law the use of repressive means to quell separatist movements was not allowed, the Indonesian government would not make use of force.
Human rights groups say thousands of people were killed when Aceh was classified as a special Military Operation Region from 1989-98. Former military commander General Wiranto revoked that status after the fall of ex-president Suharto, but the violence in the province has continued.
TNI (the Indonesian Army) has rescheduled its withdrawal of combat troops from Aceh and has deployed additional soldiers in the staunchly Islamic territory, claiming the personnel are required there in order to maintain national unity.
Deadly clashes continue between security forces and the GAM, but all too often the victims are locals who sympathize with the Aceh opposition.
GAM’s leader in self-exile, Hassan Tiro, living in the Netherlands, said he did not trust Indonesian Prime Minister Abdurrahman Wahid whom he said was “a man of no word. He would never let Aceh be free and would crush the independence movement violently if he is given a chance.”
Indonesia’s decision to quell the movement with violence may bring international condemnation to the country, which is facing impending disintegration with calls for independence from several provinces.
Tiro said last year that it was time for the Acehnese to fight for their independence since the Java-based administration of Indonesia would do everything to exploit the riches of the province for its own survival.
The new plan for Aceh is scheduled to be unveiled before Parliament on Monday.
“We're just short of imposing a civil emergency in Aceh. But our preference is not for it now,” Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, one of the Cabinet members who formulated the new policy stance, said.
“We want to reinvigorate the efforts of the humanitarian pause to the full.”
The bottom-line remains yet unchanged - Jakarta will not accept any challenge to the sovereignty of the state by either Aceh or Irian Jaya – “we are still open to negotiation.”
Jakarta, however, wants to be able to negotiate from strength and not allow GAM or the student referendum movement, Sira, to continue to dominate the discourse because it believes the public does not necessarily share their goals.
The new policy declaration will state unequivocally that Jakarta will not further extend the humanitarian pause - first implemented on June 2nd to reduce tension by stopping offensive actions on both sides - when its second phase ends on January 15th.
The pause was meant to be a confidence-building measure before substantive political talks begin between separatists and Jakarta.
The GAM has accused the Indonesian government of abusing of the pause and continuing to attack its elements, and members of the public who support them.
Jakarta denies the GAM’s statement saying that elements of GAM “have now become more forceful and somewhat acting with impunity. Police and soldiers have been killed in the hundreds,” Darusman said.
The police will now start implementing the law-enforcement provisions of the pause more seriously and arrest anyone with weapons.
And if there is no breakthrough by January 15th, the government will “revert to the national policy of taking action against insurrectionist movements,” which could entail the security option.
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