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HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN ACEH?: A Sober Evaluation
Ladies and gentlemen, It is indeed an honor for me to be given an opportunity to speak before this forum and to share our perspective on the issue of what the organizing committee termed as 'the humanitarian crisis in Aceh''. But before going any further, I wish to reiterate that my participation in this gathering is contingent upon the commitment pledged in written form by the organizer of this event that this forum will not discuss about the political status of Aceh. Let me start by addressing the so-called humanitarian crisis in Aceh. For those ill-informed people, I wish to advise them that indeed there have been thousands of refugees arising immediately after the integrated operations combining humanitarian, law and order, and military operations put in place by the Indonesian government. The influx of refugees has indeed been carefully anticipated by the government when it devised these integrated operations, hence, it has deployed all available resources - with the help of a number of international organizations - to provide them with shelters, medicines, and food supplies to simply avoid any humanitarian crisis. So far, there have been no instances indicating that famine and epidemic entrapped the refugees. In short, there is no humanitarian crisis occurring in Aceh as some have tried to portray in this forum. As to the Aceh operation, the government of Indonesia was forced to conduct it after the Joint Council Meeting between Indonesia and the separatists held in Tokyo (May 17 - 18, 2003), failed to achieve concrete results not only due to the latter's recalcitrant attitudes of negating the sovereignty of Indonesia over the Province of Aceh, but also their refusal to disarm, in material breach of the cessation of hostilities agreement duly signed by the two conflicting parties, and to accept the special autonomy package within the unitary state of Indonesia The legal basis for this operation is the Presidential Decree No. 28/2003 that imposed a six-month martial law on Aceh. In sharp contrast to the case of East Timor, there has been a clear-cut support from the Indonesian people to root out the separatists from Aceh (national consensus). The government hopes therefore that this integrated operation will be able to bring Aceh back to normalcy, so as to allow its people to live peacefully free from fear and intimidation which has for years haunted them. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to bring your attention back to the efforts being done by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, ever since she was appointed as President in 2001, in trying to build genuine peace, security and prosperity to the Acehnese who have suffered for so long due to the continuing conflict in the area. These efforts include the issuance of Law No. 18 of 2001 on Special Autonomy for the Province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam - enacted on 9 August 2001 - by which the province gets a full autonomy in social life, administration, development, and finance. Apart from it, the government has maintained a comprehensive approach with priority to restoring security, enforcing law and human rights, expediting economic development, pursuing dialogue, and seeking rehabilitation, reconciliation, and amnesty. The Indonesian government and the separatists - through the good offices of the Henry Dunant Center - have held many dialogues since 2000. Many agreements have been produced as a result, but the rebels have continually reneged on those agreements by engaging in a range of activities aimed at separating Aceh from Indonesia. The last-ditch dialogue between the two parties was convened in Tokyo, Japan, on 18 May 2003, but regrettably it failed, too, as I explained earlier. Soon after the declaration of martial law, the Indonesian government has prepared itself for the integrated programs in relation to the humanitarian assistance for the people in Aceh. I would like to draw your attention to the facts that the Indonesian government has allocated Rp400 billion for humanitarian aid in Aceh and so far there have been enormous aid programs being done by the government and through UN agencies and international NGOs as well. These include among others: 1. The evacuation program As of 30 June 2003, there were about 35,280 Acehnese people had been evacuated from war zones to safe areas, in order to minimize possible civilian casualties, and primarily to isolate the GAM members from civilians as they have been embedded in with the civilians, and used them as human shield. Thousand of refugees have returned home as the condition is becoming conducive. However, the local authorities are still guarding them from further attack by GAM. About A$36 million has been made available for Acehnese refugees, for a period of six months, which include aid for food and other basic needs. A total of Rp50 billion however has already been spent for this program. The government also set up 82 temporary camps across the province, mostly in and around Banda Aceh, Lhokseumawe and East Aceh regencies for the refugees. For that purpose, 2,000 military tents and some temporary barracks have been provided. 2. The sanitation program The government has allocated Rp50 billion to help improve sanitation at the camps and began by sending 100 water trucks, 20 of which have fire fighting equipment, 400 hydrant tanks; and 30,000 jerry cans of water, to cater for around 100,000 displaced persons during 6-month operations. 3. The Education aid Following the Indonesian government's decision last May 19 to conduct integrated operation in Aceh, the number of schools that have been torched by the Aceh separatist rebels (by 26/6) reached about 525 schools, affecting more than 80,000 students. To keep the continuation of school activities, the government, with the help of local people, is now renovating 92 out of 525 burnt schools in the province of Aceh, and the renovation now is nearing completion. Those 92 schools are located in Bireuen, Pidie, Aceh Besar, West Aceh and Aceh Jaya districts, and Banda Aceh municipality. The Aceh provincial government itself had allocated Rp10 billion for the renovation of the school buildings burnt down by the rebels. Meanwhile, the central government has sent aid packages for about 11,500 students in Aceh, whose schools were burnt down, in three phases. For the first phase, it sent 3,695 packages on 30 May 2003, another 805 packages for the second phase on 3 June 2003, and 7,000 for the third phase on 8 June 2003. The government also sent 115 tents to replace the damage school buildings. These aids enabled the Acehnese students to continue their learning activities. For your information, the burning of schools buildings by GAM has inflicted losses on the state amounting to some Rp100 billion. 4. Health aid The government has established a health post command ('posko kesehatan') in each displaced-person camps, and activated mobile health services for Aceh people who have sought refuge in different places since the launching of military operation in Aceh. The Government has also provided a free health consultation in community health centers around Aceh, and additional foods to 276,584 infants and 55,730 expectant mothers. There have been 740 doctors, 5,000 nurses and 700 physicians deployed to give medical assistance to Acehnese refugees. The Indonesian government also welcomed medical assistance from international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), that have extended 20 tons of medicine, worth US$143,900 to Aceh. The medicines would be used to cure some 200,000 people over three months, in 16 districts and municipalities in Aceh. The Indonesian government itself has also provided medicines, worth Rp28 billion for the next three months.
The programs mentioned above are the major humanitarian assistances given by the Indonesian government to the people of Aceh during the imposition of martial law, while there is some more which cannot be explained in my presentation. According to the Presidential Decree No. 43/2003, humanitarian assistance from friendly countries, international bodies, and international and local NGOs to be coordinated by the Coordinating Minister of Social Welfare on behalf of the President as the Central Martial Law Administrator. The fact that we all should be thankful for is the excellent cooperation since the start of integrated operation between the central government, Aceh provincial government, the military personnel, policemen, local people and some international organizations of United Nations body. This cooperation has positively supported the humanitarian assistance of the government to the people in Aceh, to help them back to normal life, and to bring peace to Aceh. The facts, which I have hereby outlined, speak volume. Our government is so determined to avoid any humanitarian crisis arises from the military operation. It is precisely the reason why we launched the humanitarian operation side by side with the military operation to avoid the occurrence of a humanitarian crisis. Ladies and gentlemen, The separatists, unarguably, has long committed atrocities, violence, intimidation, abduction, and killings against the people of Aceh. Even during the military operation, as many as 106 civilians were killed by the rebels. They were not killed in the crossfire of gunfights between government forces and insurgents but in isolated incidents. The killed civilians were civil servants, schoolteachers, village heads, retired military personnel and their family members. The numbers, however, do not include civilians who were killed by GAM for refusing to support the movement or for having assisted the military or police. Recently, the policemen in Aceh have also found mass graves in Guci village Permata Regency and Kampung Krueng Pase, Alur Cemp village, Central Aceh, which are strongly believed to be the bodies of Acehnese people that have been slaughtered by GAM, when it did 'sweepings' in the two villages in 1999-2001. Yesterday, a local civilian witness, Mr Husain, has crystal-clearly testified that he had been kidnapped, locked up, and tortured by the rebels for six months, during which he had forced to become member of the separatist movement. He further testified that he personally knew that the rebels have massively killed more than a hundred villagers who refused to join the group and pinpointed the locations where their bodies inhumanely dumped. We should, however, admit that some military members had also violated human rights during the military operation. They are being brought to justice to account for their mistreatment of the local civilians, some have already sentenced. The Aceh court is also currently processing the case of some armed forces members who have allegedly raped four Aceh's women. Six personnel have been previously sentenced to jail and fired for their mistreatment of civilians. The reason for giving the above brief description about how the government has reacted to violations committed by its military members, is to bring to your attention that the Indonesian government, being a government that was democratically elected by the people, has a firm commitment to promote and protect human rights and to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice, whoever they are, military, armed rebels or civilians. The strong civil society emanating after the fall of Soeharto has made it even impossible for those to get away from their sinful actions. For this purpose, we gave a briefing on human rights to all military personnel operating in Aceh, and equipped them with human rights guidebook as well.
As in every war - a guerilla war in particular - collateral damage cannot be avoided. In this regard, the government is determined to minimize the damage and to ensure that those who fail to protect and respect human rights during the military campaign will be brought to justice. Ladies and gentlemen, Let me conclude my presentation by conveying our hope that the integrated operation will be able to bring Aceh back to normalcy, so as to allow its people to live peacefully free from fear and intimidation, which has for years haunted them. We also hope that this integrated operation will bring the rebels into the realm of a united, prosperous, and democratically governed Indonesia where all people can live in peace and harmony regardless of their race, skin colors, and religious beliefs. Thank you.
Trini G. Sualang |
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