Beware of GAM!

Posted on September 1, 2007
Filed Under Indonesia, Politics

01.00 pm November 23, 2005: Question & Answer with Indonesian expats (3) An ethnic cleansing attempt by GAM in Takengon

Photo: Aligarh Muslim University Campus
The third and last question or, to be precise in this case, the info and request were provided by Jusman Masga, a Ph.D student of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India. Aligarh is a small town around 200 km from New Delhi.

He’s from Takengon, NAD (Nangroe Aceh Darussalam). And that’s why he’s got an opportunity to come forward, as the ever-worried ambassador actually only gave two persons to ask question. The third one got special nod from the president himself.

Jusman is Indonesian senior-most student in India. He’s doing all his undergraduate (S1), post-graduate (S2) and now his doctorate (S3) at the same university. He’s been in India more than ten years during which he never goes home until three months ago. And his three-month stay in his home town made him surprised and shocked by his relatives stories about the attrocities done by GAM (separatist movement of Aceh) in his area.

He told the president a terrible attrocities occurred between 1998-2004 (before MoU deal) carried out by GAM against Takengon people which never been reported by media as follows:

(a) That GAM had blocked his area and never let anyone goes in or out. No outsiders knew what’s going on there. This also means that his area was under the full control of GAM.

(b) GAM had killed one by one any man who supposed to be a loyalist of Indonesia. (As stated by the President himself, Takengon is mostly Republican or loyalist to NKRI). The numbers killed were more than 1000 people; in other words GAM just wanted to slaughter all Takengon males so as to not make any further problems for them in the future.

(c) GAM also “bought” most strategic lands belong to Takengon people with only 5% of its actual price. No body dare to confront them as it’d be meant death.

(d) Anyone in his area whose seventh-grand-parents were from Java or north sumatra must go out of the area within short time or face the deadly consequences.

(e) The attrocities and the numbers of victims will certainly increase had it been there’s no heroic attempt by a Takengon person who pretended to be a farmer intended to sell his goods to outside market. Once he’s got out of the village, he’s directly went to a closer military headquarters. And the supposed-to-be a big massacres came to an end after the Brimob (militar moblie brigade) stormed the village and “clearing up” the GAM.

So, during those terrible years Takengon become so backward and so poor as GAM killed the economic movement of that region.

In his last statement, Jusman called for the President that Indonesian government should be on alert all the time especially towards the newly found groups like AMM, etc. And finally he praised the peace agreement and the role of military in Aceh who made his area can enjoy peaceful and normal life again after so many years lived with fear and desperation.

Nothing important from president SBY response except acknowledging that the attrocities did happen but after agreement been achieved he urges all Acehnese to forget the past and build a new future which Jusman gracefully agreed.

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