Max Lane – There has been almost total support in Aceh for the three-day general strike called by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for January 16-18 to protest against the decision of the Indonesian government to re-establish an Aceh Military Command.
The Aceh Military Command was dissolved during the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid. Although not influencing the actual number or nature of Indonesian military forces in Aceh, its re-establishment is seen as a signal that Jakarta is committed to a purely military solution to the growing movement for independence in Aceh.
In support of the GAM-called protest, the Acehnese Peoples Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA) announced it was establishing general strike monitoring posts throughout Aceh. FPDRA is the main campaign organisation struggling for independence for Aceh, operating openly in the urban centres. Unlike GAM, however, the FPDRA also advocates a program of fundamental social change to democratise Acehnese society in the interests of the workers and peasants.
The success of the strike may have shaken the government somewhat. An official in Jakarta has now said the plan to revive the Aceh Military Command is "still under review".
Since January 16, the streets of Aceh's main towns have been reported as quiet. GAM has called on the population to stay at home during the strike. All public transport has halted. The military has staffed some buses but there are no passengers. Schools are empty as students and teachers have stayed away from work. Most government offices are open and guarded by military but all news agencies report that few employees have reported for work.
Despite threats of a shoot-to-kill order by Brigadier General Djalil Yusuf, the commander of Indonesian military forces in Aceh, students unfurled banners supporting the strike and opposing the formation of the new military command.
FPDRA monitoring posts have reported that soldiers have marked shops that were closed with a large X sign. Some houses have also been marked this way. FPDRA posts have also reported the arrest of at least 11 students in a house near the main university.
Meanwhile, armed conflicts continue outside the main cities. Human rights organisations have documented 1700 deaths during 2001. This year, 201 deaths have already been documented. Most of these are killings of civilians by the Indonesian military.
A local police commissioner stated that on January 17, one suspected rebel was shot dead, and another captured when police raided a house in Lampu, some 12 kilometres south of the capital, Banda Aceh. In Pidie district, soldiers shot dead a suspected rebel and two soldiers were wounded in two separate clashes, according to the district military commander, Lieutenant Colonel Supartodi. In south Aceh, three civilians were found dead with gunshot wounds. According to an Agence France Presse report, residents said they believed the victims were shot during a clash between troops and rebels earlier in the day.
According to a FPDRA report, an unidentified body, also bearing a gunshot wound was found on the outskirts of Lhokseumawe, the capital of the north Aceh district. Another body was found in Peusangan, Bireun district on January 16.
Indonesian vice-president Hamzah Haz visited Aceh during the strike. He warned the Acehnese that they would never get independence. "People must not be influenced by GAM's promises to establish an independent nation of Aceh as all the wishes of the Acehnese have been met", he told a seminar in Banda Aceh.