[Kabar-indonesia] 'Systematic attempts' to shatter Aceh peace

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also: Banda Aceh gets digital libraries

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 8, 2006

'Systematic attempts' to shatter Aceh peace

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A human rights group suspects there have been "systematic attempts" to 
shatter the peace in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

The Jakarta-based Aceh Working Group (AWG) said a multipronged intelligence 
campaign had been underway to disrupt peace in Aceh, following the peace 
agreement signed last August by the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in 
Helsinki, Finland.

The most striking example of the campaign was the recent spate of shootings 
in which four people were killed, including a former GAM member, and several 
others injured, the rights group said in a statement Friday.

Unidentified gunmen killed three farmers in a forest in North Aceh on 
Thursday.

Earlier on Monday, a former GAM member was killed in a shootout that involved 
Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers.

The fresh violence took place only days before the House of Representatives 
passed the bill on Aceh governance into law.

The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) has dismissed speculations the shootings 
were linked to separatist conflicts in Aceh. The AWG, however, believes 
otherwise.

"The shootings were the peak of systematic attempts to disturb the peace in 
Aceh," AWG's Otto Syamsuddin Ishak said.

He said the high incidence of armed robbery in Aceh in recent months was 
another indication of an intelligence campaign.

"The armed robberies happened in a period when the AMM had completed its task 
of disarming GAM; when the rebels should no longer have been armed," he said.

Another worrying trend is the rising illicit trade of small arms and light 
weapons.

"Most illegal small arms went to the members of pro-Jakarta militia groups," 
Otto said.

The most visible trait in the systematic campaign was the sudden presence of 
roving vendors in Aceh, even in remote regions.

"They peddle goods that are actually not needed by poor Acehnese such as 
paintings, ice creams and electrical appliances and it is strange to see them 
being sold in remote villages," Otto said, adding that the peddlers were all 
well-built men and had the freedom to get into government offices.

In some locations, the vendors were found to be distributing stickers and 
leaflets that campaigned against peace in Aceh.

He said increased numbers of peddlers had also been observed in other 
conflict zones such as Poso in Central Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.

Fellow activist Choirul Anam said the peace monitoring team might encounter 
problems in dealing with the intelligence campaign given its covert nature.

"The Helsinki peace accord has no provision to deal with such an intelligent 
operation," Choirul said.

The AWG, however, suggested that the AMM enhance cooperation with local 
police and human rights groups in the investigation into the recent string of 
violent incidents.

"The military should be excluded from the investigating team as it would only 
compromise its impartiality," Choirul said.

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The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 8, 2006

Banda Aceh gets digital libraries

ACEH: The Banda Aceh Public Library has gone digital as have libraries in two 
local high schools, SMU 3 and SMU Methodist.

The establishment of the digital libraries was supported by international 
relief and development agency World Vision.

The agency has donated more than 50 computers plus a network and tower 
installation, and is cooperating with a local government information technology 
agency to provide free Internet access.

"After the 2004 tsunami, many children lost their access to information, as 
they lost their books, and it has ... become more difficult for them to access 
information," Tiurma Pohan, a World Vision's branch manager, said in a 
statement Thursday.

"Everyone is welcomed to join (the library) and access the facility for 
free," Tiurma said.

Present at Thursday's launch was National Library head Kamarudin Hussein and 
World Vision program director Paul Peterse

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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