BY JOHN GAUCI
SYDNEY — The large turnout of 230 people for a March 17 dinner and public meeting here on issue "Free Aceh, Referendum now!" is an indication of growing interest in the struggle in Aceh among the Australian public.
The event was organised jointly by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and the Sydney-based Aceh Australia Association (AAA).
National secretary of ASIET Pip Hinman drew attention to the Australian government's continuing military ties with the Indonesian military. She said "It is concerning that the Defence 2000 white paper indicates that the government plans to step up its military ties with [Indonesian president Abdurrahman] Wahid's administration.
"Past Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal, have a long and shameful history of backing the Indonesian regime. The reason is that they consistently allow big business interests, rather than human rights, to determine foreign policy."
She called on Australians to "step up the pressure" on the Australian government. Canberra must push Jakarta to "agree to referendums in Aceh and West Papua and to cut ties with a military which is still committing human rights atrocities not just in Aceh, but across the whole of Indonesia", she argued.
A representative of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre (SIRA), Syadiah Marhaban, has been in Australia for two weeks to speak to groups about the situation in Aceh.
She told the meeting that the Acehnese overwhelming supported the idea of a referendum, pointing out that a poll conducted by SIRA just before a massive November 8 pro-referendum rally — during which 48 people were killed, hundreds were injured and thousands of public and private vehicles damaged by the security forces — 92.6% of respondents said they favoured independence rather than autonomy.
"Despite the overwhelming sentiment for independence, the Wahid government is only prepared to allow greater autonomy, a position the [Acehnese provincial assembly] has adopted," Marhaban said. "Wahid's government is pushing the Acehnese house of representatives to prioritise deliberation on the autonomy law which ensures the central government maintains control over financial and security affairs."
Marhaban noted that, while the new autonomy laws, scheduled to take effect from May, are supposed to decentralise decision-making and allow Aceh to retain a greater percentage of earnings from the exploitation of its natural resources, "they say nothing about reducing the number of TNI troops in Aceh".
In an attempt to shift the balance of forces and provide some legitimacy to the autonomy demand, the Wahid government is seeking to include anti-independence groups in the negotiations.
These attempts are "unlikely to be successful" according to Marhaban, "given [main independence group] GAM's strong base of mass support, and the activities of pro-referendum groups like SIRA and the radical Student Solidarity with the People (SMUR)."
Ed Aspinall, a lecturer in Indonesian studies at the University of New South Wales, has recently returned from Aceh. He told the meeting that Wahid is "pursuing a dual policy of negotiations with GAM while the Indonesian military is allowed a virtual free hand to wage war. While the political situation in Indonesia remains unstable, the military is playing up their role as harbingers of peace and security."
"The military's attempts to hunt down GAM members and terrorise its rural support base reflect the Indonesian government's unwillingness to engage in genuine negotiations over Aceh's future", Aspinall argued, who also noted that the military have significant commercial operations in the gold, oil, gas timber and marijuana-rich state of Aceh.
Actively Radical Television's new short film Aceh, the peoples struggle was also launched on the night. The film's director is Jill Hickson, who has already produced two films on the radical student and workers' movements in Indonesia.
Those interested in organising a screening of the film can contact the ASIET national office on (02) 9690 1230.