Jakarta – Indonesia has slammed the US, Japan and European Union for issuing a statement regretting the extension of martial law in Aceh province.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegwawa said the joint statement of the three powers was improper and smelt of interference in Indonesian sovereignty.

"The statement issued by those calling themselves co-chairs of the Tokyo Conference on the Indonesian government's decision on integrated operations in Aceh should be deplored, because it was improper and showed a tendency to interfere in a domestic affair," Marty told the press on Friday.

In their joint statement issued on November 6, the European Union, Japan and United States, which co-chaired the Tokyo preparatory Conference on peace and reconstruction in Aceh, expressed their "concern over the extension of the state of military emergency in Aceh." The statement came hours after the Indonesian government on Thursday decided to extend the state of military emergency in Aceh, where Jakarta is fighting a separatist rebel movement.

The emergency, declared last May 19 for a six-month period, was to expire on November 18. But with Thursday's cabinet decision, the emergency will be valid for another six months.

Marty said the three powers' statement showed they did not understand that the Indonesian government's decision to extend the military emergency in Aceh had been made after very careful consideration and was based on input from various institutions in the country.

He said what the Indonesian government had been doing so far was trying to restore and maintain national sovereignty as well as peace for its people, especially the Acehnese people "who have been living under the threat of the separatist Free Aceh Movement [GAM]."

"International support for Indonesia's integrity should instead be shown by pressing GAM to disarm themselves and to accept Aceh's special autonomy as the modality of the final solution of the Aceh question in the framework of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," he said.

Marty said the statement, issued jointly by the US, Japan and European Union showed they had an improper understanding of the integrated operations being carried out by the Indonesian government in Aceh.

"The statement does not reflect a good understanding of the integrated operations which are in fact not merely military in nature," he said. He said the integrated operations include humanitarian operations, the upholding of the law, the empowerment of local administrations and the revival of the local economy.

"We are paying close attention to those matters. We don't need foreign powers to remind us how important it is to uphold human rights," Marty said.

Thursday's three-power statement said: "We encourage the government during the state of military emergency to carry out its activities with the minimum possible impact on the well-being of the people of Aceh and in an approach that includes humanitarian aid, restoration of civil institutions and upholding the law." Marty said the statement produced by the US, Japan and EU as co-chairs of the Tokyo Conference was "irrelevant." "Actually, the Tokyo Conference's co-chairs no longer exist as the Tokyo meeting in May, 2003, failed," he said.

The US, Japan and EU last May 17-18 jointly organized a conference as a forum for dialogue between Jakarta and the separatist GAM to evaluate the implementation of the so-called Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) in Aceh. But the conference failed to produce a peaceful solution to the Aceh question. On May 19, the Indonesian government imposed martial law on Aceh and launched integrated operations, including a military offensive against GAM. Marty said Indonesia's stand on the three powers' joint statement would not effect its bilateral relationships with those powers.