'We Have to Believe the Worst': Indonesia's War in Aceh

By Sami Khan

In the small province of Aceh, the Indonesian military (TNI), one of the most brutal armies in the world, has begun its largest military operation since the 1975 invasion of East Timor, and many are fearing the worst.

The reports coming out of Aceh are brief and incomplete but already they paint a frightening picture: "M. Amin bin Tngk Badli 27, of Tanjong Putoh village, Tanoh Luas, North Aceh was shot dead on June 2 2003, and his corpse mutilated: genital and heart cut out. The incident took place at Cot Kruet, Tanah Luas."

"Above Sub-District of Sawang, North Aceh some 50 corpses are littering the roadsides... Above Nisam near Krueng (river) Tuan area, between km 25-29 North Aceh, another 50 corpses are littering the road."

Already hundreds of civilians are feared dead, nearly 500 schools have been destroyed, 23,000 children have been displaced and 300,000 people are expected to become refugees in the next three months if fighting persists. UNICEF is warning of an "exploding" humanitarian crisis.

Despite the strict measures imposed by the TNI on journalists and human rights monitors, scattered and unconfirmed reports are leaking out. Munawarliza Zain, secretary general of the Pennsylvania-based Aceh Center has been inundated with text messages, emails and phone calls from friends and family detailing human rights abuses, and he's trying to relay that information on to the US government.

"Some people in the Pentagon and the Bush administration recognize the brutality of the Indonesian military," Zain says. But so far that recognition hasn't translated into effective pressure on Jakarta. Zain has stepped up efforts to build solidarity between Americans and Acehnese, but with attention diverted elsewhere he's got his work cut out for him -- the conflict has received virtually no press in North America.

"Massacres are taking place and we are completely silent," says Lesley McCulloch, a professor at the University of Tasmania and specialist on Aceh. "We're taken up with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the war on terrorism -- as it's called." With monitoring impossible under the barrel of the TNI's gun, McCulloch says, "We have to believe the worst."

In February McCulloch, a longtime critic of Jakarta's military repression, was released from an Indonesian jail after spending five months in custody for minor visa violations. She was arrested in Aceh along with American nurse Joy Lee Sadler. McCulloch is currently in Malaysia working with Acehense refugees fleeing the conflict.

The latest TNI offensive came after the collapse of last-minute talks between Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (Gam), a rebel group fighting for Acehnese independence. There are an estimated 50,000 TNI troops fighting 3,000 rebels.

The province of Aceh, which lies at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, was never officially part of the Dutch East Indies. Still the Acehnese were among the strongest anticolonial fighters. Aceh was incorporated into the Republic of Indonesia upon independence in 1949, and resistance to Jakarta's rule started almost immediately. Gam was formed in 1976 and survived the brutality of Suharto's reign through the 70s, 80s, until his fall in 1998.

In December 2002 Jakarta and the rebels signed a peace accord, the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) that granted Aceh limited autonomy by 2004 in exchange for rebel disarmament. But it became increasingly clear that Jakarta had no intention of honoring its commitments.

On May 19 Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, politically weakened and desperate to improve her domestic standing, declared martial law in Aceh and granted the TNI free reign to crush Gam. Like the Russians in Chechnya and the Chinese in Western China, the Indonesian government has taken advantage of its improved standing in Washington to increase repression. "And the Bali bombing seems to justify a crackdown on anyone who's dissenting," says McCulloch.

Cooperation between police forces, what's called the "soft option," has gone ahead in the name of fighting terrorism despite the brutal record of the Indonesian police. And up until the latest offensive began, Washington had been pushing for a resumption of military ties with Jakarta. US military aid and assistance to Indonesia was suspended in 1999 after congressional opposition to Indonesian atrocities in East Timor. Still the TNI is using its US-made and supplied weapons against the Acehnese -- weapons that include F-16s, Twinpack helicopters and Hercules transport planes.

Not coincidentally Aceh is home to large reserves of natural gas and an Exxon Mobil facility is guarded vigilantly by the TNI. The area around the facility is one of the most heavily militarized areas in Indonesia. A lawsuit currently before a DC Federal Circuit Court judge accuses Exxon Mobil of complicity in human rights abuses committed by the Indonesian security forces assigned to protect the oil conglomerate's facility.

Human rights campaigners have attempted to raise the profile of the Acehnese struggle by highlighting the cozy relationship corporations like Exxon Mobil play with the TNI. Many Achenese feel extorted by Exxon, with virtually all the revenue flowing to Jakarta. As a result, Exxon has often been the target of Gam raids.

Activists from the Aceh Center, Amnesty International, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN), the Indonesian Human Rights Network (IHRN) and others recently descended on Washington DC for a week of lobbying to pressure Congress and the White House to lean on Jakarta. On June 9 several dozen activists gathered at the Indonesian embassy to protest the offensive.

"If Indonesia wants to keep Aceh as part of its nation, they're not going to do it by killing the people who live there," says Kurt Biddle, the coordinator of IHRN. "We're asking for the US to take a lead role in urging both parties to get back to the negotiating table. The US should also protest the use of US weapons that were sold to Indonesia in the 1970s and 80s."

The deaths of two American teachers in another Indonesian conflict zone, West Papua, has made many members of Congress more receptive to the concerns of the activists. There are other encouraging signs that important people may be listening. At a recent meeting with the Indonesian Minister of Defense in Singapore, Deputy Defense Secretary and former US Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Wolfowitz said that the US "believe[s] very strongly that the solution to the issues in Aceh ultimately has got to be a political one."

"It would be very helpful if Indonesia would make sure that the actions of its forces are transparent and I think the requests of some NGOs to be able to come into Aceh to monitor the situation are good requests and I think it can help to encourage the world that Indonesia is behaving," Wolfowitz said.

For Zain, whose mother and brother still live in Aceh, he welcomes Wolfowitz's comments but knows a 35-year-old strategic military alliance is tough to shake. He hopes American and world public opinion will force Jakarta back to the negotiating table. "We cannot trust them," he says. "We're hoping for assistance from the international community."

But for now the offensive continues.

[Correction: An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated that Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold operates a mine in Aceh. The company's operations are based in the Indonesian province of Papua. (See comment below by Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold's Communications Director.) --ed]