Jacqueline Koch – Jakarta has again raised the stakes for the resource-rich and restive province of Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, where Indonesia faces an entrenched independence movement.
After branding rebels of the Free Aceh Movement as terrorists, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has called for intensified military operations in Aceh.
After a week-long tour of the province, Mr Yudhoyono this week asked President Megawati Sukarnoputri to authorise sending a further 8000 troops there.
The strategy shift comes as Jakarta boasts of armed forces reforms in an attempt to restore military ties with the United States, cut in response to army atrocities in East Timor.
The move to hard-line tactics reverses the military's previous campaign of winning hearts and minds. This tack was used to promote claims of reform in the province, where the military's human rights record is notoriously poor. One commander in Jakarta described the earlier campaign as a "persuasive, not repressive, approach to defeating separatism".
In past months, the military has moved from populated areas into mountain villages where Free Aceh fighters, known as GAM, are suspected to be hiding. This has enabled the military to secure major cities and transport routes. As a result, the conflict has shifted away from public scrutiny.
Despite the hearts and minds campaign, human rights workers say bodies – mutilated, tortured and bullet-riddled – are found every day. The military says those killed are rebels, but many Acehenese say the victims are overwhelmingly unarmed villagers.
Evidence from victims and field reports indicates Aceh's civilians are increasingly terrorised and brutalised by the police mobile brigade, a paramilitary unit known as Brimob.
"If you have to pick which to avoid, between TNI [the army] or Brimob, you would avoid Brimob," said one Banda Aceh resident. Though TNI is under pressure to improve its image, Brimob, which works closely with the army, is not.
Last March, Munawar (not his real name), a 27-year-old hotel clerk, fell victim to Brimob intelligence operations. "They brought me in, stripped me and beat me, they kept accusing me of being GAM," he said.
Brimob officers then gave him coffee to perk him up for the next round of interrogation. "While I answered their questions, I saw them plug in an iron," he said. He was then blindfolded and officers interrogated him while holding a scorching iron to his hands and neck.
Then, with a gun stuck in his mouth, he was ordered to become a Brimob informer. "They told me, 'your destiny is in your mouth'," Munawar said. Eventually released, he was ordered to report to police daily and was again physically abused for refusing to be a spy.
Two days later, Munawar fled into hiding. "I don't want to ruin other peoples lives. I'd rather just die. But if I didn't run, I would already be dead." At a coffee shop in Aceh Besar, a man named Yushal detailed Brimob tactics in the field. "When the Brimob arrives, everyone is trauma-tised," he said.
According to Yushal, Brimob conducts sweeping operations in his village at night. Villagers are called out of their homes. Some are beaten, others are randomly selected for detention. Detainees are often tortured. Officers demand payment for their release.
"In a village nearby, the chief was taken away with his three-year-old son for a week," Yushal said. "When he came back, he couldn't move he was beaten so badly." Yushal says civilians fear Brimob more than TNI. Human rights workers say Brimob still uses Suharto-era enforcement methods – torture, terror, abductions and executions.
Brimob's reputation hasn't eluded the international community. In US legislation last month, Brimob was specifically excluded for police training funds as a result of its poor human rights record.
According to official numbers, TNI has about 20,000 soldiers in Aceh, backed up by 8000 Brimob. Human rights activists insist the number is much higher. GAM rebels are estimated to number up to 3000.