Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh – Fear and despair have returned to haunt Indonesia's rebellious province of Aceh.
With a military crackdown looming, the chilling prospect is more bloodshed, a hardening of hatred towards Jakarta and growing calls for independence that will severly undermine President Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts to bring peace to his giant country.
In a clear sign the government's policies have failed and mistrust has deepened, the streets of the provincial capital Banda Aceh are virtually deserted at night for fear of snipers.
Motorcycle muggers roam the city, residents speak furtively about impending political terror while bodies are regularly found in far-flung villages bearing signs of torture.
The military and rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) blame each other for an upsurge in violence that has killed hundreds of people in recent months. A ceasefire that took effect last June has become a laughing stock.
Many Acehnese want independence, but most just long for peace and an accounting of past wrongs carried out during decades of brutal military operations under the iron rule of former President Suharto, who stepped down in disgrace in 1998.
"Some people want independence and some people want to stay, but what the Acehnese really want is peace," said Saifuddin Bantasyam, a political analyst at Syah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta.
When Muslim cleric Wahid took power 14 months ago, he signalled his intention to try to heal wounds from years of military abuses that killed thousands of people, partly using his religious stature to reach out to Acehnese.
The rebels have not been angels either, drawing criticism from many Acehnese for heavy-handed ways and arbitrary taxes.
But that window of peace has slammed shut. Now, the government has promised to renew military operations in Aceh, a fiercely Islamic province on the tip of Sumatra island, if peace talks with separatists fail. Ominously, Defence Minister Mahfud M.D. on Wednesday said the ceasefire would not be extended when it expires on January 15.
To many Acehnese, such a policy is folly. Suharto failed to bring the rebels to heel, making it hard to believe Wahid's weak government might have more success.
Wahid, at heart a democrat, made a fleeting visit to Aceh this week that appeared to please no one. He is struggling to keep his grip on national policymaking.
Analysts say hardline elements in the military and the elite have used his erratic rule to toughen policy on Aceh and remote Irian Jaya province, Indonesia's other main separatist headache in the country's far east.
Empty promises
To Aceh's four million people, Jakarta has made many empty promises and failed to win hearts with a pledge to extend autonomy by May so Acehnese have more control over their affairs. The issue of Islamic sharia law has also been fumbled.
Then there is the accounting for human rights abuses. Some two dozen soldiers were sentenced last May to up to 10 years in jail in a rare trial after being convicted of murdering 57 people at an Islamic boarding school.
But the officer who issued the order has never been found. "The key is quite simple, the government has to treat the Acehnese with respect and give them a sense of justice. The government has so far failed to deliver on this," Bantasyam said.
Meanwhile, life in Aceh remains wedded to violence. Taufik, a two-year-old boy was recently shot in the thigh by a sniper in broad daylight as his father chatted to a soldier in a village in the south of the province.
A vendor was killed with 15 gunshots to his chest as he slept in his street stall near Banda Aceh ahead of Wahid's visit to the provincial capital earlier this week.
Both sides trade accusations
Not even Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when believers fast and which has fallen in December, has stemmed the bloodshed that neither side wants to accept responsibility for.
"The military is getting more brutal, they don't want to see a calm situation," Abu Marwan, a GAM spokesman in North Aceh's district of Bieuren, a rebel stronghold, told Reuters. Adds Colonel Syarifuddin Tippe, an Aceh military commander: "GAM is gaining the upper hand. We never attack civilians."
It is little wonder people are tired of the independence debate and accusations about who is behind the violence. Ask most residents what they want and the first answer is usually "ketenangan," or calmness.
In Lam Beigeik, a sleepy farming village to the east of Banda Aceh, most residents also say they want independence, prompted by deep-rooted hatred of the security forces. "We want them out of here," said one Moslem cleric.
A short drive to a neighbouring village, residents said they did not mind remaining part of Indonesia. Quietly, one resident complains about "donation fees" collected by GAM.
Tengku Husaini, a Moslem cleric from the influential association of Islamic boarding schools known as HUDA, said the government should hold a referendum on independence. "Let the Acehnese decide what they want, but how can there be one [a referendum] when there is no peace," Husaini told Reuters.