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Aceh's year of martial law achieved little

Indonesia's decision this week to lift martial law in war-torn Aceh has arguably pleased no one.

Those hoping to see the withdrawal of the 40,000 troops stationed in the province since May 19 last year, when martial law was first imposed, will be disappointed.

The troops will remain, since the government acknowledges that its military offensive to crush the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has failed to secure the province.

In Indonesia's biggest military offensive since 1975, when it inva-ded East Timor, Indonesia's armed forces claims to have killed 1,963 GAM rebels, arrested another 2,100 and forced 1,276 to surrender.

But GAM, a provincial insurgency born in 1976 out of a deep sense of historical and economic injustice committed on the Acehnese by Indonesia's Jakarta-centric governments, is far from vanquished.

"GAM is certainly not dead," said Sidney Jones, Indonesia project director for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank.

Indonesia's acting coordinating minister for security affairs, Hari Sabarno, has acknowledged that GAM remains a threat

"The remaining GAM personnel are now in hiding but they can pose an acute threat to security if we lower our guard," the minister claimed after announcing the lifting of martial law on Thursday.

As of May 19, Aceh will be downgraded to "civilian emergency" status, which entails a return of some form of civilian rule.

For many Acehnese, this is not deemed a great leap forward.

Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh has a reputation for running a spectacularly corrupt administration even by Indonesian standards.

Therefore, recent efforts by the military-run Regional Martial Law Administration to crack down on civilian corruption were widely welcomed by most Acehnese.

On April 10, the head of Aceh's regional finance bureau, Teuku Lizam, was arrested by the administration on corruption charges. Puteh on the same day reportedly fled to Jakarta, where he has remained.

Although many feel that the military's corruption crackdown was an effort on their part to highlight the benefits of martial law, no one is denying that the crackdown was needed.

"I strongly support the investigation made by the martial law administration into corruption allegedly committed by the government officials including the governor, because most of the funds allocated to development projects to improve the conditions of the Acehnese people had gone into the pockets of government officials," said Nasir Djamil, a recently elected member of parliament from the Prosperous Justice Party.

The corruption investigations will be handed over to the attorney general's office once martial law ends next Wednesday.
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