That was the day police and army units arrived in trucks to shoot six villagers, apparently randomly, and burn down most of the village. "There was no reason for any of this," — YUSMAN, a grizzled shopkeeper

Rusli has no doubt which side he's on in the conflict. "Around here everyone supports GAM," he says. "We are ready for war."

"The Indonesian government is hardly working in the villages anymore,"... "Here in town, we're still drawing salaries but we hardly go to work anymore. GAM is now far more active." — WARMAN, an Achenese civil servant in Lhokseumawe

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The parallel between East Timor and Acheh isn't exact. East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, enjoyed a brief period of self-determination before it was invaded and absorbed by Indonesia in 1975. It never really cohered to the country under former President Suharto, who ordered the invasion. Acheh, in contrast "like the rest of post-independence Indonesia" had been part of the former Dutch East Indies, and has since been a major contributor to the national wealth by producing billions of dollars worth of liquefied natural gas.

East Timor's tragedy was touched off when Suharto successor B.J. Habibie off-ered its people a referendum on whether they wanted to split from Indonesia. They voted yes, but Habibie wasn't in control of his own military. The men in uniform had spent two decades trying to get East Timorese to accept their place within Indonesia, and many felt betrayed. The carnage was their retaliation.

Children at a refugee camp. Thousands of refugees are still afraid to go home due to military sweepings and shootings civilians.

Today the people of Acheh are in a similar situation. They haven't been offered a chance to vote on their fate, but Wahid has an even weaker grip on the nation than Habibie did. Last year Wahid promised a political autonomy and economic package for Acheh. But under pressure from the military, nationalists and Vice President Megawati, Wahid last week issued a Presidential Instruction calling for local officials to reinstate public services and destroy separatist movements using any means necessary.

The reaction is both fear and defiance. Last month in Lhokseumawe, the bustling capital of north Acheh, GAM attacked a military base on a beach near the town center. The following morning the military cordoned off an adjacent beach and set fire to scores of fishermen's houses. "They told us we were forbidden to take any possessions out of our houses and then set fire to the area," says Rusli, a 25-year-old fisherman. Rusli has no doubt which side he's on in the conflict. "Around here everyone supports GAM," he says. "We are ready for war."

As East Timor proved, the Indonesian military isn't good at winning hearts and minds. Over the past two years GAM has fast expanded its support base among a population jaded by decades of military repression and Jakarta's exploitation of the province's natural resources. Talks in Geneva last June
between GAM's leadership-in-exile in Sweden and the government brought about a cease-fire arrangement known as a "humanitarian pause," which has been extended more than once. But the military believe that the frequently breached cease-fires have only given GAM room to strengthen its position.

They could be right. Founded in 1976 by Hasan di Tiro, last scion of the precolonial sultanate, GAM was the target of a protracted military campaign between 1989 and 1998. Jakarta called them "regional military operations," but in Acheh they were marked by assassinations and "disappearances" of the
South American sort. Some 6,000-7,000 GAM suspected activists were killed, and the group was severely depleted.

Since Suharto's fall, however, the movement has deepened its roots across the predominantly ethnic Acheh-nese province of 4.2 million. In many areas the central government's civil administration has all but ceased to function. "The Indonesian government is hardly working in the villages anymore," says
Warman, an Achenese civil servant in Lhokseumawe, who makes no secret of his GAM sympathies. Sitting in a coffee shop with a group of friends, he glances swiftly around before adding: "Here in town, we're still drawing salaries but we hardly go to work anymore. GAM is now far more active."

GAM flags flying from electricity poles and crude roadblocks of felled trees outside the town constructed to block military access suggest that's no exaggeration. In such villages GAM is trying to set up the rudiments of a parallel administration. It is also stepping up military training in makeshift camps where GAM senior cadres some trained in Libya, others former Indonesian soldiers put village youths through their paces.

The cease-fire between the two sides is close to collapse. Two weeks ago two so-called "peace zones" in Bireuen and north Acheh were formally scrapped. Both the Indonesian army and Brimob have been reinforced, pushing up the security forces' overall strength in Acheh to 37,000. The military is gearing up for what it has termed "limited operations," which Achenese fear will be an all-out assault on GAM's military and political infrastructure, aimed at driving it back into the province's spine of jungled hills. The French aid organization MEdecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), not known for faintheartedness, pulled out of Acheh earlier this month. Says the local head of another foreign aid agency: "I doubt we'd be targeted by either side. Our biggest fear is being caught in the cross fire."

GAM, which has several hundred full-time soldiers and perhaps 2,000-3,000 firearms, is small and vulnerable. "Obviously we can't face TNI (the army) in a situation of total war," says Tengku Darwesh, one of GAM's 17 local commanders. "As in any guerrilla conflict, we have to choose our time and place to fight." The overwhelming bulk of the movement in Acheh is led by Abdullah Syafi, a 45-year-old graduate of a Banda Acheh school of Islamic jurisprudence. Syafi recognizes the leadership-in-exile of aged GAM-founder di Tiro and his deputies. But there is also a splinter group known as the Government Council of the Free Acheh Movement, or MP-GAM in its Indonesian acronym. Led from Europe by Husaini Hasan, the MP-GAM has declared itself opposed to armed struggle and favors some form of autonomy within Indonesia.

	Please view letter from MP-GAM to the Asia Times in response to this accusation.

Jakarta has raised a force of several hundred Achenese under the MP-GAM banner, paying them to operate alongside the security forces a setup very reminiscent of the militias that wreaked such havoc in East Timor.

The one thing that isn't being given a chance in Acheh is peace. In 1999 and 2000, a group called the Information Center for a Referendum in Acheh (SIRA) organized giant rallies calling on Jakarta to hold an East Timor-type referendum on independence for the province. sira was led by former student Muhammad Nazar, who was tried for sedition because of the rallies and given a 10-month jail sentence last month. "The violence in Acheh is increasing as part of a military and police effort to undermine the negotiating process," says Nazar, whose current residence is the Banda Acheh central jail. "This is
not going to solve the conflict." Obviously, Jakarta didn't want to hold the kind of referendum that lost it East Timor. Instead, it seems to have chosen Plan B: war.

A Letter to the Editor of 'ASIA TIMES'

Stockholm, 27 April, 2001

Dear Sir,

Your article on Acheh "Losing More Hearts and Minds" (April 23, 2001) contains several grave inaccuracies that we request your correspondent, Anthony Davis, to immediately correct them, because it was very harmful to our people's just struggle for self-determination and independence. Your readership deserves better information than his fabrication.

His remark that the Government Council of the Free Acheh Movement or MP GAM, led by Dr Husaini Hasan from Europe, has "declared itself opposed to armed struggle and favor some form of autonomy within Indonesia" is muddleheaded and misleading. MP GAM, since its establishment, has never mentioned, let alone "declared", its opposition to armed struggle but has clearly elaborated its preference to non-violent and peaceful methods to achieve its goal - an independent Acheh - through a UN supervised plebiscite or referendum.

With regard to "autonomy", MP GAM along with MB GAM Eropa (the Free Acheh Movement in Europe) has published dozens of press releases, which transparently reflect its stance on the issue. In one of our many statements on the subject heads: "Autonomy for Acheh Is Just A Shot in the Air". Your correspondent should have visited our official website or contacted our headquarters in Stockholm before jumping into such a devastating conclusion. Our position is this: we had been an independent nation throughout our history: Like in the past, we are determined to be independent in the present and in the future - come what may! In his speech at a conference arranged by IFA (International Forum for Acheh) in Wahington DC, April 1999, Dr Husaini stated that "independence for Acheh is a fixed price. This is the truth that your correspondent has failed to report.

Davis' other rash assertion that: "Jakarta has raised a force of several hundred Achenese under the MP GAM banner, paying them to operate alongside the security forces" is a brazen falsehood beyond comparison. This distorted and malicious accusation by your correspondent to discredit our organisation has neither basis nor the slightest evidence to support his claims. It is obvious that Davis' piece was absolutely nothing but a mere regime's propaganda to instigate Achenese to fight each other - the only possible way left for the Indonesian regime to perpetuate its colonialism in Acheh and to continue killing Achenese civilians.

About "GAM's internal conflict", may I refer you to Jane's
Intelligence Review on 'The Structure and Nature of GAM' (April 1, 2001) that reads: "While the dispute over leadership has split the political movement campaigning for Achenese independence, the GAM guerrilla forces remains united and ready to take on the Indonesian security forces should the current cease-fire break down." Still on the same subject, TAPOL from London, in its extensive report on 'A Reign of Terror - Human Rights Violations in Acheh 1998-2000' states: "The MP GAM have throughout appeared more willing to engage in talks with the Indonesian government and to favor more diplomatic approaches to resolving the problem. However, this group is also considered to be the most uncompromising in its views." Taking these basic facts, it is obvious that Davis' assertions about MP-GAM are ridiculous, that his article should have never been published at all in your otherwise prestigious magazine.

Therefore, once again, we kindly request you to correct the above-mentioned inaccuracies as to lessen the damaging effect on our straggle caused by your correspondent.

Yours Sincerely

M.Yusuf.Daud
Secretary-general of the Free Acheh Movement In Europe
E-mail: mbgam_eropa@swipnet.se
Tel: 0739756532: Fax: 00+46-53188460
Homepage: http://hem.passagen.se/freeacheh