DATE=11/29/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA - ACEH
NUMBER=5-44858
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Demonstrators were back in front of Indonesia's
parliament Monday, demanding an independence
referendum be held in the troubled northern province
of Aceh. Their protest was an echo of a much larger
gathering outside parliament last week. As we hear
from Patricia Nunan in Jakarta, the insistence on an
independence vote is the source of sharp debate within
Indonesia's government.
TEXT: /// SOUND OF DEMONSTRATION IN FULL, THEN
UNDER ///
Last week, as the former head of the Indonesian
Armed Forces, General Wiranto, was due to appear
before the Indonesian parliament to answer
questions about the military's role in Aceh, 25-
hundred Acehnese demonstrators protested outside.
The inquiry is part of efforts by Indonesia's new
President Abdurrahman Wahid to appease the
Acehnese, by addressing allegations from human
rights groups that thousands of people have died
or disappeared in the province at the hands of
security forces.
General Wiranto's appearance was the first time
top military officials were asked to justify
their actions before parliament. Indonesia's army
occupied Aceh for 10 years, in an effort to crush
separatist rebels.
But for some of the demonstrators, the
president's efforts to address their complaints
are too little, too late.
/// ACT VOX-POP; WOMAN: ///
I don't know, what is it? A long story.
They promised us years ago about this, but
They never make it come true. Right, so now
it's time for us to fight for ourselves,
for our rights.
/// END ACT ///
In his policy toward Aceh, President Wahid is
walking a very fine line between the need to
quell Acehnese separatist unrest and the concerns
expressed by Indonesia's powerful military.
Last week Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono
Sudarsono compared Indonesia to Pakistan -- where
generals recently overthrew the elected
government -- and warned that the armed forces
may have to play a more dominant role in
government if the civilian authorities failed to
develop what he called a "healthy" political
life.
The spokesman for the Indonesian military, Major
General Sudrajat, says the armed forces want to
convince the president to send more troops to
Aceh to help end the no-win situation he says
currently exists.
/// SUJDRAJAT ACT ///
It is very difficult, being a military
member, not to take strong actions. We are
in a very dramatic situation when the
military takes strong actions, then the
people accuse us of human rights
violations. If we don't take strong
actions, the situation will get worse.
/// END ACT ///
But it is exactly that sort of comment that has
Indonesian human rights groups worried.
Rosita Noer is with a non-governmental
organization, The Independent Commission on Aceh.
/// NOER ACT ///
If the government just stay where it is
now, it's just opening the door for the
military to have a forceful crackdown in
Aceh, and that's what we don't want to
have. No more. Enough is enough.
/// END ACT ///
Around the Acehnese provincial capital of Banda
Aceh, highways and villages are littered with
pro-referendum billboards and murals. Banners
bearing the word "referendum" hang in front of
market places and bus stops. To many ordinary
Acehnese, the idea of becoming an independent
nation is natural.
/// ACT VOX POP ///
Aceh is Aceh, the government belongs to the
Acehnese, not to the others.
/// END ACT ///
To counter that sentiment, some Indonesian
government officials want to move as quickly as
possible to implement several provincial autonomy
bills now before the Indonesian parliament. The
measures would give the Acehnese more of a say in
their own affairs, and would provide the province
with more of the revenue from Aceh's natural gas
and oil deposits.
/// REST OPT ///
A leading supporter of autonomy for Aceh is
National Assembly Speaker Amien Rais .
/// RAIS ACT ///
If they see good economic infrastructure,
if they see modern hospitals, good schools,
good universities, and if their average
income increases by maybe 100-percent --
because Aceh will share, will have maybe a
lion's share of their own resources -- by
that time, probably the aspirations for
independence will die down. This is what I
hope.
/// END ACT ///
Political analyst Wimar Witoelar agrees: the only
way for Indonesia to move forward is to become a
federalist state.
/// WITOELAR ACT ///
I think that it makes a lot of sense for
Indonesia to be a federal country, just
like Germany or Australia, or a lot of
these countries which you don't think of as
federalist states (but) are really federal
because there's so much heterogenity and
geographical disparity. But as always, the
transition is so much more difficult than
the end result. So I don't think anyone
could have a reasonable argument against
federalism, except that the process would
be very painful.
/// END ACT ///
It is the prospect of a "painful transition" that
President Wahid is trying to avoid - both for the
benefit of the Acehnese, as well as for the
relationship between the military and his own
administration. Last week he refused the
military's demands to impose martial law in the
three districts of Aceh where guerrilla unrest is
the highest.
But while the president has promised to reduce
the military presence in Aceh, he has also
allowed the police to deploy almost 900 extra
forces to ensure security for the 4th of December
anniversary of the founding of the Free Aceh
Movement guerilla group. Making such seemingly
contradictory gestures may be good strategy for
now, but it is not clear how long President
Wahid's efforts to placate all sides in the Aceh
situation can be successful. (Signed)
NEB/PN/FC/gm
29-Nov-1999 04:43 AM EDT (29-Nov-1999 0943 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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