Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – With the police and military leaders repeatedly labelling him an agent of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Mr Nasir Djamil knows it is no longer safe to stay in his hometown.

Just look at what happened to Mr Zaini Sulaiman Ishaq, a fellow member of the Aceh provincial legislature (DPRD), who was shot dead by unknown visitors at his own home last Saturday, Mr Nasir said. The cold-blooded attack took place days after Aceh police chief Chaerul Rasyid said in a closed meeting with DPRD members that there were "GAM members among the legislators". So heeding advice from friends and friendly local journalists, Mr Nasir has decided to leave for Jakarta tomorrow to "get some fresh air and a medical check-up".

He is one of several Acehnese figures who will leave or will have left before President Megawati Sukarnoputri's weekend visit to the strife-torn province.

Having been labelled a 'GAM sympathiser', Mr Nasir would hardly have made the guest list in planned dialogues with the President anyway. He and his vocal friends in the legislature were not even allowed to meet a delegation of Cabinet ministers who visited Aceh two weeks ago.

Ms Megawati revealed yesterday that she would not meet GAM rebels nor discuss anything pertaining to separatism during her visit. Observers say the DPRD members, known to be critics of the central government and its militaristic approach in cracking down on separatism, are hardly supporters of the separatist cause.

They, too, have reportedly been attacked by the rebel group that has been fighting for independence from Indonesia since 1976. The late Mr Zaini, who headed a committee working on the Aceh special autonomy Bill, and several local legislators and officials were once picked up by the rebels and released only after they were "debriefed" at the rebels' hide-out.

In another incident, the GAM members took away Mr Nasir's official car.

When he went to the local GAM command centre and demanded his car back, he was threatened and was forced to resign from the legislature.

"In the last five months, since the security operation started, it has come to the point that if you criticise or differ in opinion with the government or the military and police, you'll be stigmatised as a GAM ally," said Mr Nasir. "This worked on some of my friends, who have since kept their mouths shut."

A number of other legislators have also quit town or are planning to, citing the most convenient excuse: 'Attending family matters'.

Even the Director of the Rehabilitation Action for Torture Victims in Aceh, Mr Nurdin Abdul Rachman, fled the province in May after a series of threats.

With so many legislators leaving town, Acehnese are even more sceptical that the President's visit would bring any change to their situation.