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GAM
is very organised, it keeps extensive lists, has tax forms
and tax collectors.
'About
90 per cent of the camat (district head) offices in the GAM
areas have shut down,' said a source who maintains contacts
with both GAM and the Indonesian government.
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 HE
FREE ACEH MOVEMENT (GAM) has
expanded its control over civil administration in just about
every hamlet outside the provincial capital Banda Acheh,
including areas where the Indonesian troops reign, as
Jakarta's officials stay at home in fear.
The rebel group runs tax offices, issues marriage licences
and property certificates, arbitrates over land disputes,
and conducts separate courts with their own criminal codes.
Twenty-eight-year-old Mr Fauzi, who is getting married in
seven months, said it was important to get a GAM-issued
marriage licence in addition to the official one.
He lives and works in Banda Acheh, but at his village in
Bireun, eyes brighten at the mention of the word
independence, and children shout merdeka (freedom)
at passing motorists who do not wear military uniforms.
'It's safer to get two marriage certificates, and I don't
mind,' said Mr Fauzi.
Neither do most of the other villagers.
An academic in Banda Acheh said he had to pay an 8 per cent
tax to the GAM administration when he built a shophouse in
Pidie in addition to the land and building tax he had to pay
the government.
Every project must include an 8 per cent tax of its budget
to GAM, the academic said.
GAM is very organised, it keeps extensive lists, has tax
forms and tax collectors.
Poor villagers do not have to pay that much.
Many contribute 5,000 rupiah (S$1) a month, while others are
exempted from tax if their village leader recommends them
for the tax breaks.
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| iNTERNET:
WASHINGTON POST, MSNBC and BBC |
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A rebel representative in
the truce talks with Jakarta, Teungku Kamaruzaman, said the
money was used to support its struggle to break free from
Indonesia.
He told The Straits Times: 'GAM is the temporary government
of Acheh that is working to liberate its people from
Indonesia, tax is just one of our instruments.'
Theoretically, both Jakarta and the GAM administrations
co-exist at areas known as the rebel breeding grounds. But
in practice, most of the government offices in these areas
are no longer functioning.
'About 90 per cent of the camat (district head) offices in
the GAM areas have shut down,' said a source who maintains
contacts with both GAM and the Indonesian government.
Officials either quit going to the office, or flee the area.
The more pliant ones jump ship and make friends with GAM
leaders to survive.
When asked about what Jakarta was doing to contain the rebel
influence in the rural areas, an officer in charge of the
Police-led security operation in Acheh said dismissively:
'Show me one of these villages.'
But civilian support for GAM may derive from animosity
towards Indonesia, which is seen as having mistreated the
province economically and through military oppression.
'After all, the armed rebel group cannot rely on its weapons
to win their war against Indonesia,' said Teungku
Kamaruzaman.
'We are a guerilla movement. Without the support of the
people, we could never have existed this long,' he said
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