Maria Ulfah, Jakarta – Chief of Army Staff Ryamizard Ryacudu said he would not withdraw troops from conflict areas such as Aceh and Papua.

"Separatists in Aceh and Papua, if left alone, could become seeds of disintegration," he said during a discussion at an inter-religious forum, on Wednesday October 13 in Jakarta. He said that the army would remain deployed in these conflict areas to defend Indonesia's unity.

"What day is it? If I withdraw the troops from Papua on Saturday, there is no doubt that on Sunday they the separatists would declare independence," he said. He also said that the multidimensional crisis to have struck Indonesia remained unsolved.

He said that there were many areas to date which sought independence from Indonesia."This has been limited to discussion, but if ignored, it may very well become reality," Ryamizard said. He likened areas such as Maluku and Poso to a spark in a hay stack which could ignite at any moment. "You only need to blow on it a little, and it will ignite," he said.

He could not confirm whether troops would be maintained in Poso and Maluku. He said this would depend on the condition in these regions, because to date, troop numbers had been halved in order to provide security in areas of conflict. "If Aceh or Papua broke free this would mean the army was incompetent," he stressed. "Because the entire responsibility of defending Indonesia's unity lies in the hands of the army," he said.

[From BBC Worldwide Monitoring, October 14, 2004.]