THE STATE OF ACHEH
ACHEH NATIONAL ARMED FORCES(TNA)
MILITARY INFORMATION CENTER

PRESS RELEASE 20 APRIL 2004

1. On 18 April, thousands of people in Bireuen were forced by the Indonesian military, TNI, to participate in an action organized by the military backed militia group led Sofyan Ali to demand the extension of the Martial Law rule in Acheh. During the last few days, such forced public gatherings have been held in several other districts in Acheh. This action is a repetition of the dirty practice the TNI organized towards the end of the first Martial Law six months ago. The current Martial Law 2 will expire in exactly a month from now on May 19, denoting the reality that the TNI has been allowed for the whole year to act outside the law with impunity. TNI is the largest state terrorist institution in Asia. It has massacred one third of the Timor Leste people, provoked and maintains the civil strifes in Maluku, Sulawesi and Kalimantan. Murders, rapes and all sorts of crimes against humanity and genocide are being carried out by the TNI in Acheh and Papua. In its lengthly 2003 annual human rights report on Indonesia, the Government of the United States, stated without any ambiguity, among other things, that Rape and other brutalities against women have been made a weapon of war by the Indonesian military. The report says: “The [Indonesian] law requires penile penetration to constitute rape. On several occasions in 2002 in Aceh, soldiers were not held accountable for violating women with bottles and other foreign objects. Rapes committed by members of the security forces were most numerous in Aceh, the scene of a major military operation against GAM rebels. Human rights activists expressed concern that rapes were being underreported in the province, partly because of press restrictions. The NGO consortium Sahabat Aceh reported that up to 100 rapes were committed in Aceh from May to September, but that only 21 cases of rape or sexual harassment had been reported to the authorities. The TNI prosecuted a few rape suspects. On July 19, a military court in Banda Aceh convicted three low-ranking soldiers and sentenced them to between 2½ and 3½ years in prison. The three soldiers, who were also discharged from the army, raped four women in the village of Alue Lhok between June 20 and 22. In each case, the soldier allegedly threatened to kill the victim if she spoke out.”.

 2. The Indonesian military and police of the Colonial Government of Indonesia (TNI/Polri) have also carried out extra-ordinary intimidation actions to force the Achehnese people to participate in the recent general elections in a very cowardice way. They used militia groups to brutalize and intimidate the people to vote. TNI troops have kidnapped GAM family members including the wife and two infant children of TNA Commander Muzakir Manaf and the wife and two infant children of Ishak Daud, the East Acheh TNA Commander. TNI agents distributed faked GAM pamphlets threatening to cut the fingers of those who would participate in the election. Such dirty tactics have been reported by the field monitors of the Acheh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) in its Open Letter No. 12/2003.

 3. The TNI has also launched its dirty intelligence operations to discredit freedom movements in other Indonesian colonial territories all over the archipelago. West Papua News Online dated 22 March reported that: "Athanasius Koknak, SE, Head of the DPD PSI party for for Papua (Handphone No. 08158169447) is establishing a link between a Kopassus intelligence officer who presented himself as a GAM intelligence agent purportedly tasked by the Tengku Hasan Tiro in Stockholm, Sweden, to work in Papua. The relationship between the politician and the Kopassus agent has been developed since 2001". The intention of this link-up is to create disunity among the Papuan people , as they have done to their homeland. Resorting to the devide and rule policy, the TNI is demonstrating its panic and inability to think rationally in facing the independence struggles of the peoples of Acheh and Papua.

 4. During the implementation of the Martial Law in Acheh, corruption has become the rule of the game. High ranking TNI officers, aided by high civilian officials of the Indonesian Colonial Administration in Acheh have really turned Acheh into a very lucrative business area. A Germany based NGO monitoring corruption practices worldwide has upgraded Indonesia to the no. 1 place for 2003 in the field of corruption. With the reality and facts that we have presented above, we urge the Achehnese people to be always aware of the Indonesian dirty tricks. We call on all friendly peoples in the Nusantara archipelago, especially the Moluccans and the Papuans who, as the people of Acheh, are struggling for independence, to increase their state of alert, and to join us in calling on the international community to condemn the uncivilized behaviour of the Indonesian Government in treating its colonial subjects.

Tgk. Sofjan Dawood
TNA Military Spokesman