As this issue goes to press, the Indonesian military (TNI) is waging a full-scale war on Aceh. President Megawati Sukarnoputri has instituted martial law and authorized military operations there for a period of six months, which may be extended. Up to 50,000 Indonesian troops will be sent to "exterminate" the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), a guerrilla force of less than 5,000.

On May 19, in the biggest Indonesian military operation since the 1975 invasion of East Timor, paratroopers filled the sky over Aceh, jumping out of U.S.-made C-130 transport planes. OV-10 Bronco counter-insurgency planes, also supplied by the U.S., fired rockets at positions near Banda Aceh, the capital. General Dynamics-manufactured F-16 fighter jets are being used to rocket and bomb rebel positions. Although U.S. weapons shipments to Jakarta are currently suspended, the TNI plans to employ a host of U.S.-supplied "ordnance," including the aforementioned aircraft and five S-58 Twinpack helicopters.

Rizal Mallarangeng, a senior adviser to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, told the New York Times, "This is a blessing of September 11 — that we now know terrorism has two sources, God and nation." Exultant Indonesian officials were also perversely blessed by the recent invasion of Iraq, which provided a series of disgusting excuses to employ overwhelming military force in Aceh. Though warped, there is a certain logic to Jakarta’s argument that if the U.S. can invade Iraq without UN approval, then certainly the TNI can pursue a military operation within its own borders.

The Megawati regime is using more than just U.S. equipment in this latest Aceh campaign. Military PR tactics employed by Washington in the war on Iraq are also in full force: Indonesia has "embedded" about 50 reporters with TNI troops, and the aforementioned parachute drop was an entirely staged photo opportunity (the troops parachuted over the well-secured Blang Bintang airport in Banda Aceh).

There are also disturbing parallels between U.S. attacks on the Palestine Hotel and al Jazeera’s offices, which killed three reporters in Baghdad, and TNI treatment of journalists covering the Aceh war. On May 29 the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned sniper attacks on journalists in Aceh, citing at least six cases in which unknown gunmen opened fire on convoys of both foreign and Indonesian journalists, and noted "mounting evidence of a systematic effort by Indonesian security forces in Aceh to restrict reporting on the fighting there." Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, the military commander in Aceh, provided one of the more blatant examples of this censorship when he warned journalists not to report any statements issued by GAM leaders, saying, "I want all news published to contain the spirit of nationalism. Put the interests of the unitary state of Indonesia first."

On June 17, the body of Mohamad Jamaluddin, cameraman with state-run TVR1, was found in a village near Banda Aceh, eyes and mouth covered with adhesive tape and his hands tied. Imam Nurlambang, a journalist with Radio News Agency 68H reporting on the situation of refugees in Panton Luas, South Aceh, was attacked by security forces on July 4 while interviewing a local resident. The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists called the incident "the latest in an outrageous catalogue of violations of journalists' rights" and pointed out that "under the Geneva Conventions, journalists and other media workers should be treated as civilians and should not be military targets." One Japanese photographer has been deported, and U.S. freelancer William Nessen, who reported from within GAM territory, is being held for questioning by the armed forces as we go to press.

Military, police and militias have also attacked NGOs in Aceh and Jakarta critical of the TNI’s latest scorched-earth offensive. Some 100 members of the paramilitary police unit BRIMOB broke into dorms at Ar-Raniry University in Banda Aceh and arrested fourteen student activists. On May 26 and 27 a militia group called Pemuda Panca Marga beat workers with the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), which reports on human rights abuses committed by the TNI in Aceh and elsewhere, and ransacked the NGO’s offices. The uniformed group accused Kontras of being against the unitary state of Indonesia. Despite repeated calls for help, police didn’t respond to the May 27 attack until 30 minutes after the mob left. After Komnas HAM, the National Human Rights Commission, reported the discovery of mass graves in early June and drew attention to TNI training of Achenese militias, Army officers challenged the Commission’s findings and threatened the safety of its workers if they visited Aceh again.

The TNI has vested interests in prolonging conflict in contested regions. After being put in check in the post-Suharto period, it is to their benefit to assert their importance as an institution needed to prevent the breakup of Indonesia. Aceh also provides the armed services with ample opportunities to enrich themselves: the police and military profit from their involvement in illegal businesses including illegal logging (contributing to massive devastation of rainforests), prostitution, drug trafficking, the trade in endangered species, and extortion.

Reformasi Rollback in Jakarta

The military may be giving up People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) seats in 2004, but that doesn’t mean its role in Indonesian politics is diminishing. A Defense Department "White Paper" released in March reaffirms the TNI commitment to territorial command structure, which places an officer at every level of the civilian government authority. The pro-democracy movement has long campaigned for the removal of this system, the TNI’s primary mechanism to maintain political control and conduct much of its racketeering.

A bill introduced in the Indonesian parliament in February would have allowed the TNI 24 hours to declare any national emergency and deploy troops without notifying the government. Army Chief of Staff General Ryamizard Ryacudu responded to the resultant outcry by saying that if the armed forces wanted to launch a coup they didn’t need new legislation to do so.

Megawati is already on the campaign trail and attempting to further strengthen her ties to the TNI. Her government has been shopping for military hardware in Eastern Europe and has signed deals with Russia and Poland, with an immediate purchase of six SU-27 fighter jets for a total of US$197 million, and plans to buy 48 combat aircraft from Russia over the next four years. This weapons shopping spree comes at a time when the Indonesian government is cutting subsidies on fuel for its already impoverished citizens.

Ignatius Wardana, 23, and Yoyok Widodok, 20, were given three years for burning photos of Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz while protesting the raising of fuel and electricity prices (the same sentence handed soldiers, whom the TNI Chief of Staff called "heroes," convicted of killing Papuan leader Theys Eluay). Though he repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to the Aceh conflict, activist Muhammad Nazar was subsequently sentenced to five years for spreading hatred toward the government, "on the basis of a law that clearly challenges the principle of freedom of speech and of expression," in the words of the human rights organization TAPOL.

As the TNI dug in its heels politically, the U.S. Congress voted to reinstate the IMET program. Although concerns about killings of U.S. nationals in Papua (see article by Ed McWilliams, p--) forced the State Department to promise further consultation with Congress before resuming IMET, the Administration is eager to spend what monies are available regardless of whether an FBI report on the killings is finished or not. But reports of brutal house to house military "sweepings" and other ongoing atrocities in Papua compound the need for strong human rights campaigning in the U.S. and elsewhere on behalf of those suffering under Indonesian military brutality.

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