[Who is a Free Aceh rebel, how does he operate, and what fuels Aceh's separatist war? Lee Kim Chew visited the guerilla bases in the strife-torn north Sumatran province to find out. This is the first of three articles.]
It was a perfect day for a shoot-out – clear, bright, and bloodless thus far. The first shots fired in anger that morning in the wooded hills of rural North Aceh came from an ambush which the guerillas of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had set up for Brimob, the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade.
The encounter was short and sharp, as the rebels used hit-and-run tactics. They withdrew when the security forces poured in reinforcements. The score this round: one Brimob police killed, along with a villager caught in the crossfire.
This was just one of many skirmishes the security forces have had with the underground GAM since the so-called "humanitarian pause" was declared in July to stop hostilities as peace talks in Geneva between the two sides got underway.
Aceh, stuck in a separatist war, is into a new bout of blood-letting. According to the police, 74 people have been killed in the violence in the past 10 months, adding to the thousands of casualties over the decade.
Tension is high in the hot spots. In Lhokseumawe, Brimob, backed by the military, patrol the streets in heavy, fortified trucks, ever ready to shoot. The troops, mostly Javanese, are in hostile and dangerous territory. They carry guns wherever they go. All police posts in the province are fronted with sandbags and roads are barricaded to slow down sneak attackers. Few people travel at night.
People in Aceh have grown used to reprisals, arson, abductions, murders. In Ulee Gle, Pidie regency, what used to be 150 shops smouldered in ruins after Brimob torched them in retaliation against a GAM attack on a police post.
Even the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, is not spared, and small incidents add fuel to fire. A fusillade of shots followed by machine gun fire shattered a quiet afternoon last Tuesday near the campus of Syah Kuala University. In its wake, two cows grazing by the road dropped dead.
"Brimob shot them," a bystander said. "Even the cows are not spared." The jumpy troops had apparently shot the cattle out of frustration. Said a resident: "Sometimes they just shoot into the air to frighten the people. Some of the shooting incidents are staged. They raise tension, give them a pretext to occupy Aceh. "We don't know when this war will end. Acehnese talk about independence and Jakarta talks about autonomy. The Acehnese people are not interested in autonomy."
Fighting between the GAM guerillas and security forces has intensified as both sides accuse each other of violating the ceasefire. Defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud charged the rebels with committing treason, and Jakarta's lawmakers are thinking of imposing "civilian emergency" in Aceh to give the security forces more powers to put down the rebellion.
Just as Jakarta's tough response will make things worse as the separatist war hots up, GAM's violent campaign is unlikely to turn the tide in favour of Acehnese independence. More likely, GAM's hardline stance will stiffen the military's determination to use even more force in Aceh. What is President Abdurrahman Wahid up against?
GAM, an underground movement, is led by Hasan di Tiro, a self-exiled Acehnese leader living in Sweden. The GAM guerilla fighting for independence is invariably a local-born Acehnese, locally educated, intensely Islamic and he nurses a visceral hatred for what Acehnese call "Javanese imperialism".
Take Mr X, a chain-smoking, weather-beaten local chieftain who speaks in Acehnese twang with his beady eyes closed for concentration. "No one in Aceh believes what the government says," he railed. "The Javanese kill Acehnese. They've committed atrocities against us and violated our rights. We are a repressed people."
He insisted on total anonymity for the interview. "No name, no pictures, no place," he said. Not even his nom de guerre. "It's dangerous. Things are a bit hot now." In his black songkok, hangout long-sleeved shirt, sarong, and fake Gianni Versace sandals, this GAM operative is your everyday Acehnese.
Said Mr X: "Acehnese don't want anything from the Javanese central government. We think of nothing else but the day when we will win our freedom. "Aceh has suffered a lot. The government takes all it can and gives little in return. Whether it takes 10 years or 100 years, Acehnese will continue to fight for independence."
What if Mr Hasan accepts the special autonomy that Jakarta is offering? "Then we Acehnese will kill him," he said without hesitation. Is this incendiary separatist talk for propagandistic effect, or does it reflect the depth of his alienation? Probably both.
Anti-Jakarta sentiments are palpable and widespread in Aceh. Mr Hasan, who is engaged for the first time in political talks with Jakarta to seek a solution to the Acehnese problem, is as much GAM's leader as he is a captive of the movement he founded in 1976.
Mr X often delved into Acehnese history during the interview. "We've fought the Dutch. Now we fight the Indonesians. We are not afraid," he said. He is 60 years old.
Tengku Salahudin, a GAM commander in North Aceh, is 35. A marked man for the security forces, he seldom leaves his district. What is he fighting for?
"To take back our country from the Javanese," he replied. "It's independence or death." That is a political slogan. "No," he insisted. "There cannot be peace without independence. That's the choice of all Acehnese." This is jihad (a holy war)? "No, this is a struggle for statehood," he said.
If he died fighting, he vowed, his children would continue his struggle. His eldest child is six years old. This is the hardcore which Jakarta has little hope of winning over.
Some estimate that about one tenth of the 3.5 million Acehnese are die-hard GAM supporters. On the other side of the divide, about the same number are pro-Indonesia.