Jakarta – Deserters from the Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus) have been accused of involvement in widespread violence in restive Aceh province, where hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed recently.
Abdoeh Hamid, deputy chairman of the National Mandate Party's (PAN) Aceh branch, yesterday said Kopassus defectors have launched terror attacks and intimidation against civilians, as well as security forces, in order to spark clashes between the military and locals.
"Acehnese people point out there are certain deserters from Kopassus involved in the actions of terror," he told the Observer in Jakarta, where he had been attending a gathering of the Indonesian Students Regiment Alumni Association (IARMI).
Hamid, also chairman of IARMI's Aceh chapter, said the Acehnese have demanded that justice be taken against all of the military officers who were involved in human rights abuses during an almost one-decade long military operation, which was revoked in August last year.
The status of Military Operation Region (DOM) was given to Aceh in 1991 during the autocratic rule of former president Soeharto.
At the time, Feisal Tanjung, the current coordinating minister for politics and security, served as military commander and current Home Affairs Minister Syarwan Hamid was the military's chief of socio-political affairs.
A week after Soeharto resigned, reports said a platoon of Kopassus was reported to have gone missing from their barracks.
Sources within the military said that they deserted their unit and conducted anti-government activities by covering up evidence of military involvement in the three-day violence in May last year. It is believed that the deserting unit is now operating in Aceh.
Abdoeh Hamid said all additional troops posted in Aceh should be pulled out from the province as part of efforts to put an end to the violence there. "It requires cultural and religious approaches to find a solution to the Aceh problem," he added.
In Jakarta, Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Commander General Wiranto yesterday denied allegations that security personnel deployed in the troubled province have frightened locals and looted their belongings, forcing them to flee their hometowns.
"It is not true. TNI has never pressed its own people. It never happens. The truth is that the people fear being suppressed by the Acehnese security disturbance groups," he told reporters at Jakarta's State Palace.
He instead said members of security disturbance groups (GPK) – the government's term to refer to all separatists – have forced and influenced Acehnese civilians to do unpredictable things.
"The TNI members themselves are strictly coordinative and belong to the anti-riot troops [PPRM], commanded by the police unit," he said.
The PPRM unit, according to Wiranto, launches security and order restoration operations, which are planned by and reported to commanders in charge of the operations.
Therefore, Wiranto called on the Acehnese people not to be provoked by "misleading" information that there is no security and police officers are deployed to troubled parts of Aceh to loot from locals.
The personnel in Aceh in charge of maintaining security and order are only there to hunt for armed criminals who disturb locals.
"This view must first be understood by local people so that they won't be misled by groundless information. Our aim is similar, namely to make Aceh be peaceful," Wiranto claimed.
Some human rights activists say that when the military can't find rebels in Aceh, it takes its anger out against innocent civilians, to maintain an atmosphere of fear.
On the smuggling of weapons to Indonesia's westernmost province, Wiranto admitted that it has been happening for a long time, especially the movement of Russian AK-47 rifles. Such smuggled rifles are not the Indonesian military's, nor the police's standard weapons, he said.
Some Aceh observers say the military is keen to keep a strong presence in the province, so that it "stay involved" in the drug and arms trade.
In other part of his press statement, Wiranto urged all Indonesians to take an active role in maintaining peace and order in the post-June 7 election period, after Indonesia was highly praised by the international community for its success in holding "fair" polls.