Banda Aceh – A woman teacher was executed in war-torn Aceh on Thursday, adding to the growing list of more than 50 teachers killed since 1998.
Both the federal government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which is fighting for an independent Aceh, blame each other for the slayings. Still, with teachers dying and schools torched, it is the Acehnese schoolchildren who are suffering.
The military said on Friday that Ms Rohana Hasan, 40, was shot in the head on her way to school in Krueng Panjo, Bireun district, 220 km east of Banda Aceh, Antara reported.
"She was shot by two unidentified men on a motorcycle," the head of the information task force of the Security Restoration Operation Zaenal Mutaqin said. She died a few hours after arriving at the Peusangan Health Centre.
Her death took place only one day after unidentified gunmen shot a 33-year-old teacher despite a plea by her young son not to kill her. She later died in a clinic. It also comes barely a month after public elementary school principal Maryam Hasan was slain.
At least 50 teachers have so far been killed since armed conflicts erupted in the province a few years ago. Others are tortured and school buildings are regularly burnt to the ground.
Some Aceh watchers believe that GAM guerillas want only locally born, locally educated and intensely Islamic Acehnese as teachers to prevent "Javanese imperialism" – and blame them for the killings. On the flip side, some Acehnese leaders accuse the police and military of killing teachers in what they deem as a bid to keep their people from becoming educated.
Others who have been following the protracted issues in Aceh are calling on Jakarta to focus on stimulating the local economy and rebuilding conflict-torn areas, where dozens of schools, offices and homes have been damaged by clashes between the military and the rebels.
Civilians have always been casualties in the long-running conflict between separatist rebels and government forces. "We are at a loss as to how to stop the violence against teachers," chairman of the Aceh branch of the Indonesian Teachers Association A. Mudy told Antara. According to the official, many teachers had also suffered torture or lost their homes in arson attacks.
An estimated 10,000 people have died since GAM began its fight for an independent homeland in 1976 in the energy-rich province on Sumatra, with rights activists putting the toll for this year alone at around 1,000.
Both sides have tentatively agreed to hold peace talks in Switzerland later this month or in October, a report said on Wednesday.