Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces are allegedly targeting human rights activists in the violence-hit province of Aceh as President Abdurrahman Wahid asks for Malaysia's help to broker peace talks with separatist rebels.
Mr Wahid's request for the help of Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is scheduled to visit Jakarta tomorrow and Friday, indicates that the fledgling Government in Jakarta intends to take a harsher approach to groups demanding Aceh's independence. Analysts say Dr Mahathir wants Mr Wahid's administration to worry less about Western rebuke over human rights abuses and deal more sternly with separatist insurgencies.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, said a fortnight ago that "Indonesia looks upon Dr Mahathir's leadership as something to be emulated". Neighbouring Malaysia is used as a safe-haven for thousands of Acehnese, including some moderate leaders of the Free Aceh Movement.
Since taking office in October, Mr Wahid has refused repeated requests from the leaders of his armed forces to introduce martial law in Aceh but has ruled out the province breaking away from Indonesia.
The human rights group Amnesty International said yesterday that it had documented evidence that attacks against human rights activists in Aceh had increased in recent weeks with killings, disappearances, arbitrary detentions, harassment and intimidation.
"In a pattern seen in East Timor last year, anyone who reports on the human rights situation is being targeted and driven away to ensure that there are no witnesses to the excesses of the security forces," Amnesty said in its latest report from London.
"It is now virtually impossible for human rights defenders to carry out their work with any degree of security. These attacks on activists are creating an environment in which the security forces can torture and kill free from any kind of scrutiny, and ultimately, accountability."
Separatist leaders in the staunchly Muslim province claim that Indonesian forces have killed almost 200 Acehnese so far this year in counter-insurgency operations.
Amnesty said the Government must take immediate measures to protect civilians in Aceh against the excesses of its own security forces.
Associated Press reported that dozens of soldiers rampaged through villages in the Acehnese district of Senaga on Monday, claiming they were hunting separatist rebels. Last weekend two soldiers and two rebels were killed in firefights.
The Minister for Human Rights Affairs, Mr Hasballah Saad, admitted in Parliament on Monday that the trial of 20 army officers allegedly responsible for a massacre in West Aceh last year has been repeatedly delayed because of a lack of government funds to hold it and the disappearance of a key witness, Lieutenant-Colonel Sudjono.
Mr Wahid has promised that military officers responsible for atrocities in Aceh will be brought before the country's first joint military and civilian courts.