I've been publishing the
World Death Report here lately, and I realized that day after day I post body counts of people killed in Aceh in Indonesia, but many people may not understand where that is or what's going on.
There are active, ongoing "hot" wars around the globe that have nothing to do with Iraq, Afghanistan or American troops. If you'd like to know more about the ongoing Indonesian civil war, read below.
Indonesia is a gigantic country with over 235 million people, making it the fourth most populated country in the world. Unlike the United States, Indonesia is a vast archipelago of islands small and large, populated by a wide range of people of varying ethnicities, language and religion.
Islam is certainly the most common religion, but there are also significant Christian, Buddhist and Hindu communities.
Indonesia has had a very violent and troubled past, first as a colony of the Netherlands and then suffering under a brutal occupation by the Japanese during World War 2. Indonesia became independent from the Netherlands on December 27, 1949.
Indonesia eventually became ruled by strongman General Suharto who began the first of many extremely violent crackdowns on different ethnicities in 1968:
The transition from Sukarno's Guided Democracy to Suharto's New Order reflected a realignment of the country's political forces. The left had been bloodied and driven from the political stage, and Suharto was determined to ensure that the PKI would never reemerge as a challenge to his authority. Powerful new intelligence bodies were established in the wake of the coup: the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib) and the State Intelligence Coordination Agency (Bakin). The PKI had been crushed on the leadership and cadre levels, but an underground movement remained in the villages of parts of Java that was methodically and ruthlessly uprooted by the end of 1968. Around 200,000 persons were detained by the military after the coup.
One of the most infamous and well-known crackdowns concerned the separatist province of East Timor.
East Timor had originally been a Portuguese colony but a military coup in 1974 in Portugal led to the declaration of independence from Portugal by East Timorese in November 1975. Nine days later, Indonesian troops invaded with secret approval from the United States.
Over 200,000 people were killed by Indonesian forces until a second independence was declared (and this time recognized by the United States) on May 22, 2002.
General Suharto was in power from 1967 to 1998 and ruled with an iron fist. After he was forced from power (with the military's help) in 1998, evidence of his human rights abuses came to light.
And this brings us to Aceh:
On returning to Jakarta, Baharuddin Lopa, the Commission's secretary-general, who led the official team, said the group counted 781 "violent" deaths during military operations between 1989 and 1998. The mission also recorded at least 163 disappearances, 368 cases of torture and 102 of rape. Nine mass graves had been identified, he said, noting that the total was provisional.
Lopa estimated that, based on the finding of 12 bodies in a single pit in Bukit Seuntang, in North Aceh district, the eight graves in that area alone could yield the remains of more than 100 bodies. Other observers said the total for all the graves could be 5,000 victims.
Evidence of military torture and executions was clear. Skeletons were found with holes in their skulls, probably from bullet wounds, forensic doctors said. One, a male, was blindfolded, dressed only in underwear, with his arms bound behind his back by an army belt.
The Commission's visit followed a parliamentary delegation that heard testimony from victims last month at sessions attended by some 1,000 people, mostly widows and orphans of disappeared men. On July 29, the Achenese daily newspaper, Serambi Indonesia, said an official report had found evidence of 1,679 corpses and victims, with 359 cases reported on one day that week.
What has been uncovered so far is only a fraction of the abductions and murders implemented by the military dictatorship over the past decade, with the full knowledge and support of Western governments. According to a spokesman for an Aceh non-government forum, an estimated 39,000 or more people have disappeared since 1989. As early as 1992, international human rights organisations such as Asia Watch and Amnesty reported that mass killings were taking place.
Geographically, Aceh is the northern half of an island near the countries of Malaysia and Thailand. Amnesty International published a report in 1999 concerning the repression of the Acehnese people by Indonesian troops:
Since the beginning of this year, hundreds of people have been arbitrarily detained on suspicion of links to GAM, the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka). Many of those detained have been denied access to legal counsel and their families while in military custody. Several have been ill-treated in custody while others have 'disappeared'. Dozens of Acehnese have been unlawfully killed.
"These violations highlight the Indonesian military's continued lack of accountability -- a situation which must be remedied in Indonesia's new political environment," Amnesty International said.
The organization is also concerned about increasing pressure from the military and police to impose martial law in Aceh and about reports that 876 members of the elite police mobile brigade, Brimob have been sent to the province to deal with likely demonstrations in the province.
"Members of Brimob are known to have committed human rights violations in East Timor in recent months. Imposition of martial law would grant further powers to the very same people who stand accused of the violations in the first place."
"If these reports are true, it will seem that the lessons of the recent past -- that repressive actions by the security forces inflame rather than solve conflict -- do not appear to have been learnt."
Fast forward to the first part of 2003 and the U.S. State Department continues to log serious human rights violations in Aceh:
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses. Security force members murdered, tortured, raped, beat, and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements. The Government also frequently failed to protect adequately the fundamental rights of children, women, peaceful protestors, journalists, disabled persons, religious minorities and indigenous people, among others. Human rights abuses were most apparent in Aceh province, the scene of a long-running separatist revolt. Despite the signing of a December 2002 ceasefire between the Government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), little progress was made on demilitarization, and alleged violations by GAM prompted the Government to place the province under martial law on May 19 and launch its biggest military operation since 1975. This operation was aimed at eradicating GAM and was ongoing at year's end. Despite some evidence that military commanders wished to improve the behavior of their troops in the field, numerous human rights violations occurred. Unlawful killings, beatings, and torture by soldiers, police, and rebels were common. In many cases, the victims were not combatants but civilians. Accurate figures on human rights abuses in Aceh were extremely difficult to obtain.
For numerous reasons, accurate figures on the number of persons killed in Aceh were difficult to obtain. Martial law administrators limited information coming out of Aceh, including restricting access for foreign journalists, blocking cell phones and forbidding contact with GAM. The Government effectively prohibited foreign humanitarian aid workers from the province, except for a limited number of U.N. workers. Data from different sources, even within the Government, were often contradictory. NGO sources frequently questioned casualty figures announced by the security forces, claiming the number of victims was much higher, and that many of those killed were civilians. Security forces and rebels gave conflicting information on victims' identities, making it difficult to determine the breakdown of civilian, rebel, and security force deaths. During the early weeks of the military operation, many of the killings appeared to be executions. The Government and the GAM accused each other of killing captured combatants, and there was evidence to support such claims. Press reports undercounted the number of casualties. Police rarely investigated extrajudicial killings and almost never publicized such investigations.
So, what is the history behind this conflict? Why do the Acehnese people want independence? Why does the central Indonesia government keep fighting? Let's look at the past a little bit. Aceh was formally an independent sultanate but:
The 1641 death of Aceh's Sultan-Sultan Iskandar Thani-began Aceh's decline and sparked Dutch and British efforts to dominate the region.
In 1873 the Netherlands issued a formal declaration of war and invaded Aceh. They found gaining control of the territory more difficult than expected. The Acehnese resisted occupation, touching off the Aceh War, which lasted intermittently from 1873 to 1942. The war was the longest ever fought by the Dutch, costing them more than 10,000 lives.
Perhaps the most critical event in explaining the attitude of many Acehnese is the signing of the 1949 Round Table Conference Agreements. Brokered under the auspices of the United Nations, the agreements provided for a transfer of sovereignty between the territory of the Dutch East Indies and a fully independent Indonesia. On December 27, 1949, the Dutch East Indies ceased to exist and became the sovereign Federal Republic of Indonesia, which in 1950 once again became the Republic of Indonesia when it joined the United Nations. The Kingdom of Aceh was included in the agreements despite not having been formally incorporated into the Dutch colonial possession. Subsequently, the Java-based Indonesian government used armed troops to annex Aceh. Since annexation, the Acehnese have continued to resent what they consider foreign occupation.
In essence, the Acehnese feel they are a separate people (and indeed, speak their own language) from other Indonesians while the central government (controlled by ethnic Javanese since Suharto's reign) feels that the entire archepelago is their domain.
I should mention here that Aceh is very rich in natural gas and petroleum deposits and accounts for 15% of all Indonesian exports. But nobody goes to war over oil anymore do they?
The "Free Aceh Movement" goes by the initials of GAM. Click on their name to see their own website (in English) and read more of their point of view. Here is a sample:
The UN General Assembly Resolution 2621-XXV, adopted on October 12, 1970, which contains a complete program of action to implement the Declaration on Independence categorically called as a crime, all efforts to maintain a colonial domination over any people, and recognized "the inherent right of all colonized peoples to struggle with all necessary means" against the colonialist powers.
The UN General Assembly Resolution 2711-XXV, adopted on October 14, 1970, recognized the legitimacy of the liberation struggle, including armed struggle, waged by the colonized peoples to gain their rights of selfdetermination and to get rid of colonial or foreign domination. All member nations are requested to give necessary aid to such struggles.
These are legal basis in International Law of the foundation of the NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT OF ACHEH SUMATRA in the struggle to regain their legitimate right of self-determination from Javanese/Indonesian colonialism. The movement affirms its internationalist character by its solidarity with other liberation movements of the oppressed peoples all over the globe.
Fast forward to the present day: Human Rights Watch reports that military brutality in the region continues:
On 19 May 2003 military emergency status was declared in the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province (known as Aceh). The Indonesian armed forces declared at the time that they had approximately
40,000 police and soldiers in Aceh, fighting an estimated 5,000 members of the armed opposition Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The military emergency was initially declared for a six-month period but on 4 September the Indonesian armed forces chief suggested that military operations could last until the GAM no longer posed a security threat. In June it was reported that the Indonesian police force had lowered the age for recruitment into the police force in Sumatra (where Aceh is located) from 18 to 17.
In May, UNICEF warned of an emerging humanitarian crisis, with thousands of children affected by internal displacement, the burning of some 500 schools and the disruption of health and sanitation services. Since the declaration of the military emergency, access to Aceh has been highly restricted and the province has virtually closed to outsiders. Activities by Indonesian or foreign NGOs deemed to run counter to the aims of the military emergency administration are banned. All humanitarian assistance must be coordinated by the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, and special passes must be obtained by relief workers for travel within the province.
While there were no reports of children being involved in Indonesian military forces, children as young as 11 were reportedly killed by government security forces after being accused of GAM membership. In May, a military spokesman said that ten people from four villages in the area had been shot, including a 13-year-old. The spokesman claimed the victims were GAM members shot during a clash that began with an explosion at a bridge. A police supervisor reportedly said "don't look at their ages [but at] what they have done". Indonesia's human rights commission has noted strong indications of "extrajudicial killings" during the incident, although it has yet to reach a conclusion as to which party was responsible. According to the head of the team that visited Aceh "two children were among the victims [of extrajudicial killings]. Children cannot become the shooting target of either side."
The huge nation of Indonesia is currently undergoing nationwide elections this week and they have been fairly democratic and open except for a few "minor" incidents in Aceh:
The Bireun District Police Chief Handono Warih said that suspected separatist rebels shot and injured two civilians in an attack on a polling station in Bireun regency of Aceh province during Indonesia's parliamentary elections on Monday (5/4). The attackers struck about one hour before the polling station at Blang Rheum village in Bireuen district opened at 7 am. "The attackers must be GAM," Warih said, referring to the acronym of the violent armed separatist group, the Free Aceh Movement. The shots injured two civilians helping to guard the polling station. Warih said there were four other attempts to disrupt the elections in Bireun. The other incidents included shots fired in the air with the obvious aim of discouraging people from voting.
And finally, one last interesting angle on the Aceh/Indonesia civil war. The United States has long been a "friend" to Indonesia's leaders, including during its long tyranny under Suharto. Whereas in the past, the United States supported Indonesia for its stance against "Communists", it is now an ally because of its stand against "Muslim extremists". Aceh, conveniently enough, is populated by people who follow a more "pure" and unblended form of Islam (contrast to the island of Bali).
There are also geo-economic considerations:
The importance of Indonesia is well known but sometimes this is lost in the single-focused Washington policy environment. Only China, India and the United States have larger populations. Indonesia has vast natural resources. Half the world¡s shipping fleet passes through straits with Indonesian territory on one or both sides. U.S. investment in the country totals some $25 billion, and more than 300 major American firms are represented. These factors matter, but there is one overarching issue that could affect the future not only of the region, but of the world: The longer-term future of Islam could be strongly influenced by success or failure of Indonesia¡s democracy.
That excerpt is testimony in front of the U.S. Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific from March 17, 2004. The staits mentioned are the Strait of Malacca, mention of which caused some panic in Indonesia's capital of Jakarta:
Indonesia and Malaysia, which border the busy Strait of Malacca, expressed reservations on Thursday to using U.S. troops to guard the waterway through which more than a quarter of the world's trade passes.
Reacting to persistent reports that Washington was planning to deploy troops on high speed vessels to patrol the Strait, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted in the New Straits Times newspaper rejecting the proposal.
Spokesman of Indonesia's ministry of foreign affairs, Marty Natalegawa, told Reuters there had been no formal discussions with the Washington about deploying vessels in the Strait.
But he added: "The issue of safety and security in the Strait is based on the international law of the sea, (and) is the responsibility and the right of the coastal states -- namely Malaysia and Indonesia."
Reports of U.S. troop deployments surfaced after the top American military official in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, told a congressional committee in Washington on March 31 that the government had begun initial talks with Asian nations on maritime security in the region.
Fargo said formal discussions on the plan, dubbed the Regional Maritime Security Initiative, would begin by mid-year.
I didn't quote from Fargo's testimony because it isn't online yet.
Anyway, that's more or less the situation in Aceh, Indonesia where a bloody civil war and crackdown has been going on since 1949.
Any questions or comments would be more than appreciated.
Damai
-Soj
