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DATE=11/12/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / ACEH (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256080
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  The Indonesian government has sent a popular 
Muslim politician to the province of Aceh in response 
to growing calls from the people of the province for 
an independence referendum.  As Patricia Nunan reports 
from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, leading 
Indonesian politician Amien Rais believes that 
Indonesia will disintegrate if Aceh is allowed to 
become independent.   
TEXT:  The speaker of the national assembly, Amien 
Rais, says he has  not  brought any specific proposals 
to Aceh.  But instead has come to listen to what the 
people have to say.  Mr. Rais is expected to meet with 
the governor and several local leaders to discuss 
demands for an independence referendum in Aceh.  
Mr. Rais, along with the speaker of parliament and 
other ministers, has said that if the people of Aceh 
were to vote for independence in a special ballot, 
Indonesia would disintegrate.  Government officials 
began voicing their concerns after President 
Abdurrahman Wahid indicated earlier this week that he 
might be willing to allow an independence referendum 
to be held.  
Mohammed Nazar, the leader of the Aceh referendum 
information center, says the pro-independence movement 
is aware that it is the legislators that it has to 
convince to hold the ballet more so than President 
Wahid known by the nickname Gus Dur.
            /// NAZAR ACT ///
      The nation's government and each province has 
      to determine that they agree with the referendum  
            /// END ACT ///
Analysts say the central government wants to offer the 
Acehenese greater control over the revenue derived 
from the province's natural resources as part of a 
compromise to holding an independence ballet.  
Meanwhile, the Indonesian military says it is 
withdrawing six hundred troops from Aceh Friday. Armed 
forces spokesman Major General Sudrajat says the move 
is in line with a pledge made earlier this month that 
all troops sent to occupy Aceh would be withdrawn in 
phases over the course of November.  
Analysts say much of the resentment by the Acehenese 
people toward the central government is based on the 
tactics employed by the Indonesian military.  During 
its ten-year occupation of the province, at least two 
thousand people are alleged to have been killed or to 
have disappeared at the hands of Indonesian troops 
since they were sent to aceh in 1989 to crush a rebel 
separatist movement. (Signed)   
NEB/PN/AG/KL
12-Nov-1999 09:16 AM EDT (12-Nov-1999 1416 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.