Dian Intannia, Jakarta – Army chief (KSAD) General Ryamizard Ryacudu says that reducing the status of Aceh from martial law to a state of civil emergency will not change the way security operations are conducted. The TNI (armed forces) will also not be withdrawing its troops from Aceh.

“I don’t think so. What is important for us is improving security. If it’s working, we will [continue] as before. If not, we will look at it again. Because in principle security in Aceh must be restored as soon as possible”, said Ryacudu in answer to a question about whether security operations in Aceh would be changed and troops withdrawn.

Ryacudu who was met my journalists after giving a talk at a discussion titled “TNI as glue of the nation’s diversity and unity” at the Sudirman Building in Tebet, South Jakarta, on Wednesday May 19, said that the Acehnese people would not know the difference between a state of civil emergency or martial law.

“Because what they want is a sense of safety and protection when troops are around. So for the moment troops will not be withdrawn from Aceh”, he said.

With regard to the status of the TNI’s operational commander (Pangkoops) in Aceh under a state of civil emergency, Ryacudu said “Yeah, Pangkoops will revert to the way it was before. I can double as the territorial military commander. Maybe, yeah? I don’t know yet. The [change of] status is just a change in who is in charge. But with regard to other issues we’ll wait and see. If the system is still working we’ll stay with it”.

Ryacudu also took the opportunity to express his hope that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will be supportive and release the authentic hostages that it is still holding. “Because [we can see] from the hostages which were released last Sunday that there were only three genuine hostages, the others were just ordinary members of the public who just went long with it”1, he said. (gtp)

Notes:

1. According to a report by Agence France Presse on May 19, the TNI claims that most of the 138 people freed by GAM on May 16 were not hostages but ordinary people who rounded up from around the release site.

[Translated by James Balowski.]