Summary Executions Become
Routine In AcehBy Kathy Marks in Seunade, Aceh
Independent
27 May, 200326 May 2003: (The Independent) The handsome young army captain with the elegant moustache lit another cigarette and placed it between his perfect white teeth. "You must understand," he said, languidly blowing a smoke ring into the air. "We want to protect human rights. We don't want to kill the wrong people."
Two miles down the road, the village of Seunade has just experienced the Indonesian military's interpretation of protecting human rights.
On Friday, three men were gunned down on a bridge as they walked home after harvesting rice in the paddy fields. The following day soldiers returned and dragged two men out of their houses, shooting them dead in front of their terrified families.
It was not supposed to be this way. When Indonesia launched an offensive against separatist guerrillas in the remote province of Aceh, it insisted it had learnt from past mistakes. There would be none of the military abuses witnessed in East Timor, in restive Papua province or in Aceh itself. The welfare of the civilian population would be given the highest priority. Excesses would not be tolerated.
One week later, it is clear that little has changed. Summary executions of men - and, in some cases, boys as young as 12 - have become routine as the military (TNI) moves from village to village, searching for members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
In Jakarta, political rulers appear not to care, secure in the knowledge that their dirty little war can be conducted with virtual impunity.
The international community has already given its blessing to the crackdown, with the United States, Japan, Australia and the European Union all declaring that Indonesia's territorial integrity is paramount. Their fear is that if Aceh breaks away, Papua and other regions may follow - and the world's largest Muslim country could collapse like a house of cards.
So when Indonesia's President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, vows to preserve the unity of the archipelago, the nations of the so-called civilised world nod in approval. The last thing they want in the current global climate is an unstable Indonesia - particularly when they need Jakarta's help in the war on terror. Last year's bomb in Bali served as a reminder that the country is a breeding ground for Islamic extremists.
Indonesia is exploiting that climate to defend its intervention in Aceh, a staunchly Muslim province on the northern tip of Sumatra island where GAM has been fighting for independence for 27 years. Two recent bomb attacks in Jakarta were blamed on GAM in a blatant attempt to equate the rebels with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Islamic terrorist group responsible for the Bali bombing.
As if stamping out Muslim guerrillas were not justification enough, Indonesia has also used the war on Iraq to legitimise its actions. If the US could invade another country on a flimsy pretext, so its argument goes, then Indonesia has every right to suppress unrest within its own borders. Britain, for its part, has supplied the Hawk jet fighters used to bomb GAM bases.
Indonesia has mimicked the terminology of the Iraq war, speaking of the need to win the hearts and minds of Acehnese people and accusing GAM of using civilians as human shields. It has even "embedded" local journalists with army units and gives daily Doha-style briefings at press centres in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, and Lhokseumawe, the second town.
The Indonesian military on the ground in Aceh could not care less about such window-dressing. With martial law declared in the province, the generals are delighted to be back in the driving seat.
Their power had been whittled away as Indonesia struggled to embrace democracy following the fall of Suharto, the dictator, five years ago last week. Now they are strutting around Aceh like peacocks.
At a TNI post outside Seunade, in Pidie district, a platoon of young soldiers offered iced tea and thinly veiled threats as they questioned us about our reasons for visiting the village. Had we been to meet GAM members, did we support the rebels? Lieutenant Djoyono, resplendent in checked shorts and designer stubble, stroked his semi-automatic rifle as he gently pointed out the error of our ways.
Both the military and GAM are feared by the Acehnese. Both are involved in extortion rackets and drug-running, and both harass and intimidate civilians. But there is little doubt that the TNI excites greater dread.
Since the military offensive began, the main highway through Aceh has been almost empty. Water buffalo amble along the road, which is bordered by a lush landscape of paddy fields and banana trees, and monkeys scamper across in threes and fours. But the minibuses that are the main form of public transport are not running, and the truck drivers who deliver staple goods are also afraid to ply the route.
The people of Seunade are petrified after the recent killings. They dare not venture out to work in the fields, and the crop of red chillies ripe for harvesting has been left to rot.
Outside the village, on the banks of a narrow river where ducks swim serenely, a pair of black flip-flops is neatly arranged in the mud. Blood glistens on a pile of charred coconut leaves. It was here that Hasanudin, Radad and Anwar were shot on Friday, their corpses left to bake in the morning sun. Anwar was a GAM member, according to villagers, but was unarmed. The other two were farmers.
On Saturday, soldiers surrounded the wooden huts of two other men. Jamaluddin was shot in the thigh as he tried to escape through his bedroom window; Zakaria was stripped and beaten on the dusty track outside his house. Their widows cling to each other and wail. Nurbaiti married Zakaria two months ago. Her first husband was killed by the TNI two years ago.
Nurbaiti believes Zakaria was killed because he used to run a coffee stall where GAM members congregated. "My husband was a civilian," she said. "He was a peaceful man." According to official policy, troops are supposed to arrest suspected GAM members and bring them to trial.
It should come as no surprise that they prefer a swifter form of justice.
The military operation in Aceh is being planned and directed by the men who presided over the violence that swept East Timor before its independence ballot in 1999. Indeed, one Indonesian general charged with extensive human rights crimes in East Timor failed to appear before a special tribunal in Jakarta last week because he was too busy with the Aceh campaign.
The houses in Pidie district are a riot of red and white Indonesian flags. Every home, every food stall has a flag tied to its gatepost; clinics and schools are positively festooned with them. You would think Pidie the most fiercely loyalist corner of the archipelago. Sulaiman, a village elder, laughed hollowly at the thought. "We do it because they force us," he said. "The military will kill us if we don't raise the flag."