BY IGGY KIM
The Ceasefire of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government, which was signed on December 9, is near collapse. This follows a series of major violations by the Indonesian military since early March.
On March 3, 3000 thugs hired by the Indonesian military (TNI) attacked an office of the Joint Security Committee in Takengon, central Aceh. The JSC is composed of representatives from the GAM, TNI and 100 international peace monitors from the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), which brokered the ceasefire. The JSC was established under the COHA to oversee its implementation.
In the attack, two peace monitors were beaten and several abducted. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence reported that two Indonesian special forces soldiers in civilian clothes were seen directing the crowd.
The TNI is utilising the same tactics as it did in East Timor in 1999, when it organised local militia gangs to terrorise the people into submission.
On April 6, 300 thugs burned down another JSC office in Langsa, east Aceh. The crowd moved to a nearby hotel, where many foreign monitors reside. They dispersed 45 minutes later without incident. On April 7, 1000 thugs mobbed the HDC office in Tapaktuan, south Aceh, demanding its closure.
On April 8, eight Acehnese civilians and one GAM member were shot dead by the TNI in separate attacks. This prompted the HDC to withdraw its peace monitors back to its base in Banda Aceh, the capital.
On April 9, TNI commander General Endriartono Sutarto told Agence France-Presse: "If all [GAM] talk about is independence, we can't continue this [ceasefire agreement]."
The same day, coordinating minister for political and security affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the Jakarta Post: "We do not condone violence. We love peace but maintaining the country's sovereignty is our main objective."
As the COHA nears collapse, the Indonesian government also looks likely to roll back reform of the TNI, including the ending of its role in political and social affairs and the division of powers with the police. This is recommended by a recently released defence white paper that names "imminent domestic threats" as the TNI's main concern.
From Green Left Weekly, April 16, 2003.
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