Hard-line Indonesian police shave punkers' mohawks

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Police in Indonesia's most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert and detained 65 fans, buzzing off their spiky mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of the perceived threat to Islamic values.

Dog-collar necklaces and chains also were taken from the youths before they were thrown in pools of water for "spiritual" cleansing, local police chief Iskandar Hasan said Wednesday.

After replacing their "disgusting" clothes, he handed each a toothbrush and barked "use it."

The crackdown marked the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only province in this secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to have imposed Islamic laws.

Here, adultery is punishable by stoning to death. Homosexuals have been thrown in jail or lashed in public with rattan canes. Women are forced to wear headscarves and told, please, no tight pants.

It's not clear why police decided to hone in on punks.

Though pierced and tattooed teens have complained for months about harassment, Saturday's roundup at a concert attended by more than 100 people was by far the biggest and most dramatic bust yet.

Baton-wielding police scattered fans, many of whom had traveled from other parts of the sprawling archipelagic nation to attend the show.

Hasan said 59 young men and five women were loaded into vans and brought to a police detention center 30 miles (60 kilometers) from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

They would spend 10 days getting rehabilitation, training in military-style discipline and religious classes, including Quran recitation, he said. Afterward, they'll be sent home.

Twenty-year-old punker, Fauzan, was mortified.

"Why? Why my hair?!" he said, pointing to his cleanly shaven head. "We didn't hurt anyone. This is how we've chosen to express ourselves. Why are they treating us like criminals?"

The women, some in tears, were given short, blunt bobs.

Hasan insisted he'd done nothing wrong.

"We're not torturing anyone," the police chief said. "We're not violating human rights. We're just trying to put them back on the right moral path."

However, Nur Kholis, a national human commissioner, deplored the detentions, saying police have to explain what kinds of criminal laws have been broken.

"Otherwise, they violated people's right of gathering and expression," Kholis said, promising to investigate.
Aceh — where Islam first arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia centuries ago — enjoys semiautonomy from the central government.

That was part of a peace deal negotiated after the 2004 tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province convinced both separatist rebels and the army to lay down their arms. Neither side wanted to add to people's suffering.

Some local governments in other parts of the country — which has seen tremendous changes with lighting-speed economic growth and modernization since the ouster of longtime dictator Suharto one decade ago — also have tried to ban "immoral" behavior, like drinking alcohol, gambling and kissing in public.

They've met with limited success, however, largely because most of the country's 200 million Muslims practice moderate forms of the faith. [The Associated Press]

Sumber: http://news.yahoo.com/hard-line-indonesian-police-shave-punkers-mohawks-093221992.html

Read more »

Indonesian police detain 21 Vietnamese for illegal logging in Aceh province

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Indonesian police say they have detained 21 Vietnamese who illegally logged a rare type of wood in a protected forest.

Local police chief Lt. Col. Trisno Rianto says the Vietnamese were caught as they left the forest in Aceh province on Sunday with a vehicle filled with agarwood.

Rianto said Monday that six of the suspects will be arrested for illegal logging while the 15 others will be handed over to immigration officials for violating their tourist visas.

He says the Vietnamese had been collecting agarwood in the forest since early last month.
Agarwood is relatively rare and is highly valued for its dark aromatic resin, which is used in incense and perfumes. [Associated Press]

Read more:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/Indonesian+police+detain+Vietnamese+illegal+logging+Aceh+province/7150021/story.html#ixzz24l61eza2

Read more »

Strong quake rocks waters off Indonesia; 1 killed

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE, Associated Press – 6 hours ago 

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — A powerful earthquake jolted western Indonesia early Wednesday, killing a man and sending panicked residents fleeing from homes in towns and villages across Sumatra island's northern tip. No tsunami was generated.

The magnitude 6.4 quake hit about 7:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) and was centered 28 kilometers (17 miles) northwest of Aceh province's Sinabang town at a depth of 45 kilometers (28 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho from the National Disaster Management Agency said a 70-year-old man who was suffering from hypertension died as he fled in panic and fell down, but there were no other casualties reported.

Twenty buildings were damaged, including mosques, public health centers, schools and local government offices, the agency said.

Suharjono, from Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency, said the earthquake had no potential to generate a tsunami. He said a quake that close to the coast would have to be more powerful to generate a giant wave.

Residents of Sinabang on Simeulue island, off the west coast of Sumatra and close to the epicenter, said the quake struck as people were gathered for pre-dawn meals and prayers during the fasting month of Ramadan.

"A few seconds strong earthquake shook everything around us," said Ahmadi, a trader at the town's market. "Everybody ran out from homes ... many screaming in panic, but there was no damage around us."

The panic extended to several towns and villages in Aceh's neighboring province of North Sumatra. Fearing aftershocks, many refused to go back inside for hours.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

A giant quake on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Aceh.

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

Read more »

Prime Indonesian jungle to be cleared for palm oil

By Fakhrurradzie Gade, Associated Press Writer

ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — The man known as Indonesia’s “green governor” chases the roar of illegal chainsaws through plush jungles in his own Jeep. He goes door-to-door to tell families it’s in their interest to keep trees standing.

That’s why 5,000 villagers living the edge of a rich, biodiverse peat swamp in his tsunami-ravaged Aceh province feel so betrayed.

Read more »

Founder of Aceh's separatist rebel movement dies

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE
Associated Press

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – The founder of Aceh's separatist movement, Teungku Hasan Muhammad di Tiro, died Thursday at a hospital where he was being treated for a failing heart, leukemia, and a lung infection. He was 84.

Di Tiro died from multiple organ failure after 11 days at the Zainoel Abidin hospital in Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh, said Andalas, one of his doctors who goes by a single name. The former leader of the now-dissolved Free Aceh Movement passed away just one day after the government restored his Indonesian citizenship, which had been revoked because of his independence struggle in exile.

In Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono offered his "deepest condolence" and pray to the family.

"Thank God, he is be buried in Indonesia as an Indonesian citizen," Yudhoyono told a news conference. "This marks the peaceful and dignified end of Aceh conflict."

Aceh, an oil-and-gas-rich province of 4 million people on the northern tip of Sumatra island, experienced almost constant warfare for more than 140 years, with at least 15,000 people killed in the last round of fighting.

Di Tiro left Aceh soon after civil war began in 1976. He returned in 2008, after leading the rebel movement from Sweden for three decades and becoming a Swedish national.

A memorial service was led by Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf in Mireue village, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) outside Banda Aceh.

About 1,000 supporters and former rebels prayed over his body, which was wrapped in white sheets. They chanted "Allah Akbar," or "God is great," as many cried.

Yusuf, a former rebel spokesman and military strategist of the group's armed wing, said di Tiro was proud of the peace Aceh now enjoys.

"He once told me that such peaceful condition was the ultimate goal of his struggle," he said.

Yusuf announced a week of mourning in the province, during which the national red-and-white flags will be flown at half-staff.

"He was a great fighter ... We are very proud of him," said former rebel Khairuddin, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Efforts to end the civil war gained momentum after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004, which left at least 167,000 people dead or missing and a half million others homeless in the province.

As part of a 2005 peace deal, the rebels gave up their long-held demand for independence and handed over all of their weapons, while the government allowed them to participate in local politics.

Di Tiro is the grandson of resistance leader Cik di Tiro, a national hero killed in combat against occupying Dutch troops in 1891. He is survived by a son from his American wife.

Read more »

Ailing rebel leader obtains Indonesian citizenship

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE
Associated Press Writer

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Indonesia restored the citizenship of an ailing founder of Aceh's separatist rebel movement on Wednesday after three decades of exile and a civil war in which thousands died.

Hasan di Tiro, 84, who returned home in 2008, has been hospitalized since last month in Aceh's provincial capital, Banda Aceh, with a failing heart and a lung infection.Security Minister Djoko Suyanto visited the hospital Wednesday to announce the restoration and present a letter of citizenship to di Tiro's relatives.

"This is initiated by the government and the local figures of Aceh," Suyanto said, "We want to do the best for a well-loved figure of the Acehnese."

Supporters, local leaders and former rebels who had gathered at the hospital cheered the announcement.

Di Tiro's condition has deteriorated in recent days, hospital doctor Fachrul Jamal said.

The former rebel leader left Aceh soon after the 1976 civil war began and led the now-dissolved separatist group known as GAM from exile in Sweden. Indonesia revoked his citizenship and he became a Swedish national.

Aceh, an oil- and gas-rich province of 4 million people on Sumatra island's northern tip, had experienced almost constant warfare for more than 140 years, with at least 15,000 people killed in the last round of fighting.

Efforts to end the civil war gained momentum after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004, leaving at least 156,000 of the province's people dead or missing and a half million others homeless.

As part of a 2005 peace deal, the rebels gave up their long-held demand for independence and handed over all of their weapons. In exchange, the government allowed them to participate in local politics.

Di Tiro is the grandson of resistance leader Cik di Tiro, a national hero who was killed in combat against occupying Dutch troops in 1891.

Read more »

Tight pants ban takes effect in Indonesia's Aceh

FAKHRURRADZIE GADE, Associated Press Writer

MEULABOH, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities in a devoutly Islamic district of Indonesia's Aceh province have distributed 20,000 long skirts and prohibited shops from selling tight dresses as a regulation banning Muslim women from wearing revealing clothing took effect Thursday. The long skirts are to be given to Muslim women caught violating the dress code during a two-month campaign to enforce the regulation, said Ramli Mansur, head of West Aceh district.

Islamic police will determine whether a woman's clothing violates the dress code, he said.

During raids Thursday, Islamic police caught 18 women traveling on motorbikes who were wearing traditional headscarves but were also dressed in jeans. Each woman was given a long skirt and her pants were confiscated. They were released from police custody after giving their identities and receiving advice from Islamic preachers.

"I am not wearing sexy outfits, but they caught me like a terrorist only because of my jeans," said Imma, a 40-year-old housewife who uses only one name. She argued that wearing jeans is more comfortable when she travels by motorbike.

Motorbikes are commonly used by both men and women in Indonesia.

"The rule applies only to Muslim residents in West Aceh," Mansur told The Associated Press. "We don't enforce it for non-Muslims, but are asking them to respect us."

He said any shopkeepers caught violating restrictions on selling short skirts and jeans would face a revocation of their business licenses.

No merchants have been seen displaying jeans or tight clothing in stores in West Aceh district in recent weeks.

The regulation is the latest effort to promote strict moral values in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, where most of the roughly 200 million Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith.

It does not set out a specific punishment for violators, but says "moral sanctions" will be imposed by local leaders.

Mansur said women caught violating the ban more than three times could face two weeks in detention.

Rights groups say the regulation violates international treaties and the Indonesian constitution.

Aceh, a semiautonomous region, made news last year when its provincial parliament passed an Islamic, or Shariah, law making adultery punishable by stoning to death. It also has imposed prison sentences and public lashings for homosexuals and pedophiles.

Islamic law is not enforced across the vast island nation. But bans on drinking alcohol, gambling and kissing in public, among other activities, have been enforced by some more conservative local governments in recent years.

Opinion polls show that a majority of Indonesians oppose the restrictions on dress and behavior, which are being pushed by hard-liners in the secular democracy.

Read more »

Indian Ocean nations test tsunami warning system

By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK – Sirens blared, parents grabbed their children and hundreds ran to emergency shelters in Indonesia as countries bordering the Indian Ocean conducted a test Wednesday of a warning system set up after the devastating 2004 tsunami.

But at least one survivor was too paralyzed by memories of the killer wave to take part in mock evacuations off Aceh, Indonesia.

"What is this all for? My chest has gone tight and I am shaking," said Hamiyah, a 58-year-old woman who lost her in-laws, four children and five grandchildren in 2004.Planned for 18 countries, the drill was intended to simulate a tsunami similar to the one sparked by the 9.2 magnitude quake off Indonesia five years ago, the United Nations said in a statement.

That quake generated waves that eradicated entire coastal communities, killing some 230,000 people in one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.

"When the siren sounded, I immediately thought of my child, grabbed her and ran," said Bakhtiar, 50, who lives in the village of Gampong Pie, along the Indonesian coastline in Aceh province.

In Aceh's Ulee Lheue village, which was all but wiped out by the tsunami, about 200 residents gathered at a mosque after an explosion was sounded from loudspeakers that was meant to signal an earthquake.

Around ten minutes later a siren blared out, starting the drill.

But Hamiyah refused to take part, breaking down and staying at home, rebuilt after the disaster, with her two surviving children.

"It reminds me of the past and makes me really sad. Please stop reminding us," she said, sobbing, as people ran for quake-proof emergency shelters, some carrying the "wounded," as a voice over mosque loudspeakers urged people not to panic.

"We want to send the message to the world that we continue to improve our disaster mitigation skills," said Aceh Vice Governor Muhammad Nazar.

Dubbed "Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 09," the drill was the first comprehensive test and evaluation of the warning system put in place after the 2004 disaster, said the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.

It comes two weeks after a tsunami smashed into the Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, killing at least 183 people.

In Thailand, where more than 5,000 Thais and foreign tourists perished, no evacuation drill was planned but its National Disaster Warning Center was responding to the dummy telegrams, faxes and e-mails being sent out by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said Capt. Saran Thappasook.

In Myanmar, officials were to relay the warnings to tsunami-prone areas, said Thein Tun, director general of the Meteorological Department, while in Malayia 1,200 villagers on the northern resort island of Langkawi were directed to higher ground as firefighting trucks and ambulances ferried the elderly and pregnant women.

But in Sri Lanka's southern coastal village of Godawaya, a tsunami warning tower failed to emit a siren. Local fishermen who had stayed home to take part waited for a few hours and decided to go to work.

Later, officials manning the tower went around the village announcing a "tsunami threat" through loudspeakers and calling on residents to quickly move to a Buddhist temple on higher ground. Women who were at home gathered at the temple.

Air Force SGT M.G.A. Nandana declared the drill was still a success since they an alternative warning method was found in case the warning tower failed.

Ray Canterford, an official at Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, said ahead of the exercise that the Hawaii-based center would issue an earthquake alert to trigger the drill.

In Australia, the bureau would use the earthquake data from the tsunami warning center to calculate the size of any tsunami wave and estimate the time it will take to hit the Australian coast.

None of the warnings would go public, and no evacuations were planned in Australia, Canterford said.

Australia was not affected by the 2004 disaster, but is playing a role in the regional system to improve response times and international coordination. Australia has a network of wave height sensors along its coastline, and two deep sea sensors in waters between Australia's northwest and Indonesia, where some 130,000 were killed.

Under the system, Australia, Indonesia and India swap data on a tsunami threat, and Wednesday's drill will test how efficiently messages are sent among those countries, Canterford said.

"It's a real time event," Canterford said. "We believe that all or most of the countries in the Indian Ocean are a lot better prepared now than they were in 2004."

UNESCO said Wednesday's exercise would allow Indian Ocean countries to test their communications, review their emergency procedures and identify any weaknesses.

___

Associated Press writers Fakhrurradzie Gade in Ulee Lheue, Indonesia, and Ambika Ahuja in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Read more »

Indonesia's Aceh to allow stoning for adulterers

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE
The Associated Press
Monday, September 14, 2009; 1:20 PM

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Lawmakers in a devoutly Muslim Indonesian province voted unanimously Monday that adulterers could be sentenced to death by stoning, just months after voters overwhelmingly chose to throw conservative Islamic parties out of power.Only weeks before the new government, led by the moderate Aceh Party, is set to take over, the regional parliament still controlled by hard-liners pushed through steep punishments for adultery and homosexuality.

The chairman of the 69-seat house asked if the bill could be passed into law and members answered in unison: "Yes, it can." Some members of the moderate Democrat Party voiced reservations, but none of them voted against the bill.

Human rights groups said the law violates international treaties signed by Indonesia. The province's deputy governor also opposed the legislation, saying it needed more careful consideration because it imposes a new form of capital punishment.

The Aceh Party is also believed to have a less strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah, and some activists expressed hope that once in power, they would amend or tone down the law. Others were considering contesting the bill in court in the capital, Jakarta.

Aceh, where Islam first arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia centuries ago, enjoys semiautonomy from the central government. A long-running Islamic insurgency in the province ended in 2005 in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 130,000 there.

A version of Shariah that was introduced in Aceh in 2001 already bans gambling and drinking alcohol, and makes it compulsory for women to wear headscarves. Dozens of public canings have been carried out by the local Shariah police against violators of that law.

The majority of Indonesia's roughly 200 Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith, and surveys suggest they do not support such hardline interpretations of the Quran, the Muslim holy book.

Stoning is legally sanctioned in varying forms in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and parts of Nigeria. Illegal stonings have also been reported in recent years in Iraq and Somalia. But its use is a point of contention among Islamic scholars.

The most notable example in modern Islam was that of Amina Lawal, a young woman who was sentenced to death in a Nigerian state in 2002 for having sex outside marriage, but was later released.

The new Indonesian law also imposes tough sentences and fines, to be paid in kilograms of gold, for rape and pedophilia, but the most hotly disputed article was on adultery and states that offenders can be punished by a minimum of 100 lashings and a maximum of stoning to death.

"The stoning to death is the toughest punishment included in the (new) Shariah law," Bahrom Rasjid, one of the drafters and a member of the United Development Party, said after its passage.

It also imposes severe prison terms for other behavior considered morally unacceptable, including homosexuality, which will be punishable by public lashings and more than eight years in prison.

The bill violates national and international treaties signed by Indonesia protecting the rights of minorities and women, said a gay rights activist in Aceh who requested anonymity because he feared for his safety.

"It's discriminatory, and it's saddening, but we are quite sure members of civil society who are concerned with human rights will not sit by silently," the activist said, adding that he hopes the new moderate leadership in the province will overturn the law after taking power next month.

Aceh Vice Governor Muhamad Nazar said that even though his office opposed the clause on stoning to death it has no legal power to block it. "Whatever law is passed we have to enforce it," he said.

---

Associated Press writers Irwan Firdaus and Anthony Deutsch contributed to this article from Jakarta.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091400814.html

Read more »

New Islamic law in Indonesia's Aceh province

A brief overview of some key articles in the expanded Islamic law passed Monday by the regional parliament in Indonesia Aceh's province:

• ADULTERY: "Any person who deliberately commits adultery is threatened with 100 cane lashes for the unmarried and stoning to death for those who are married."

• HOMOSEXUALITY: "Any person deliberately performing homosexuality or lesbianism is threatened with up to 100 cane lashes and a maximum fine of 1,000 grams of fine gold, or imprisonment of up to 100 months."

• PEDOPHILIA: "Any person who deliberately commits a sexual crime against children is threatened with a variable sentence of up to 200 cane lashes and a fine of up to 2,000 grams of fine gold, or maximum imprisonment of 200 months."

• RAPE: "Any person who deliberately commits rape is threatened with at least 100 cane lashes and maximum 300 cane lashes or imprisonment of at least 100 months and a maximum of 200 months."

Read more »

Indonesia's Aceh passes law on stoning to death

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE, Associated Press Writer

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – Adulterers can be stoned to death and homosexuality is punishable by steep prison terms under a new law passed unanimously by lawmakers in Indonesia's devoutly Muslim Aceh province Monday.
Aceh's regional parliament adopted the bill despite strong objections from human rights groups and the province's deputy governor, who said the legislation needed more careful consideration because it imposes a new form of capital punishment.

The chairman of the 69-seat house asked if the bill could be passed into law and members answered in unison: "Yes, it can." Some members of the moderate Democrat Party had voiced reservations, but none of them voted against the bill.

The law, which reinforces the province's already strict Islamic laws, is to go into effect within 30 days. Its passage comes two weeks before a new assembly led by the moderate Aceh Party will be sworn in following a heavy defeat of conservative Muslim parties in local elections.

Aceh, where Islam first arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia centuries ago, enjoys semiautonomy from the central government. A long-running Islamic insurgency in the province ended in 2005 in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 130,000 there.

A version of Islamic law, or Shariah, that had been introduced in Aceh in 2001 already bans gambling and drinking alcohol, and makes it compulsory for women to wear headscarves. Dozens of public canings have been carried out by the local Shariah police against violators of that law.

The majority of Indonesia's roughly 200 Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith and surveys suggest they do not support such hardline interpretations of the Quran, the Muslim holy book.

Several countries have laws on stoning, but the punishment remains a point of disagreement between Islamic scholars. Out of fifty-two Muslim-majority countries worldwide, stoning is legally sanctioned in varying forms in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and parts of Nigeria.

Illegal stonings have also been reported in recent years in Iraq and Somalia.

The most notable example in modern Islam was that of Amina Lawal, a young woman who was sentenced to death in a Nigerian state in 2002 for having sex outside marriage, but was later released.

The new Indonesian law also imposes tough sentences and fines, to be paid in kilograms of gold, for rape and pedophilia, but the most hotly disputed article was on adultery and states that offending married couples can be punished by a minimum of 100 lashings and a maximum of stoning to death.

"The stoning to death is the toughest punishment included in the (new) Shariah law Bahrom Rasjid, one of the drafters and a member of the United Development Party, said after its passage.

It also imposes severe prison terms for other behavior considered morally unacceptable, including homosexuality, which will be punishable by public lashings and more than eight years in prison.

Aceh Vice Governor Muhamad Nazar said that even though his office opposed the clause on stoning to death it has no legal power to block it. "Whatever law is passed we have to enforce it," he said.

Read more »

Indonesia opens tsunami museum

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE,Associated Press Writer AP - 2 hours 5 minutes ago

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Indonesia opened a $5.6 million museum Monday to commemorate the 230,000 people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami. The four-level building in hardest-hit Aceh province exhibits photographs of victims, stories of survivors and an electronic simulation of the massive undersea earthquake that triggered the 30-foot-high (10-meter-high) waves.

It also describes the tremendous outpouring of support from governments, companies and individuals in the aftermath of the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster, which caused death and destruction in a dozen nations.

More than $13 billion was pledged to house and feed survivors and to rebuild devastated coasts.

The government says the museum, designed by local architect Ridwan Kamil, is an important part of the recovery process, paying tribute to those who died and explaining to future generations what happened and why.

The opening was not without controversy.

More than 700 families are still living in barracks in Aceh, which was home to two-thirds of the victims, and some were disappointed to see millions of dollars being spent on a monument.

"They should be taking care of us first," said Anisah Tahir, 50, who has been living with her husband and two children in a tiny room in a squalid camp in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

"We need a decent place to live and sleep," she said.

Indonesia is located in the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin, and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions.

Read more »

Muslim group flees Myanmar but faces more woe

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE and ROBIN McDOWELL - Associated Press Writers

SABANG, Indonesia -- The bearded farmer wept in his hospital bed as he recounted a harrowing six-month journey that brought him from the isolated country of Myanmar to this remote island in the Indian Ocean.

Nur Mohammad, a member of the Rohingya Muslim minority group, said he was forced to work for the Myanmar army, after being detained and tortured without charge. When he fled that country, he said he was exploited by Bangladeshi human traffickers, beaten by Thai officials, and then forced out to sea in an overcrowded boat that nearly sank off Indonesia's coast.

And his ordeal is not over.


- Binsar Bakkara /AP Photo

The 37-year-old Muslim, who is being treated for internal bleeding and trauma, faces possible deportation by the very people who plucked him from the water.

"I would rather die here," Mohammad told The Associated Press, describing the abuse in Myanmar against the Rohingya, who for generations have been denied citizenship and reportedly face torture, religious persecution and forced labor under the ruling junta.

"If I'm sent back, I am sure authorities will kill me."

The stateless Muslim ethnic group, which is not recognized by the military regime, numbers about 800,000 in Myanmar. Their plight gained international attention after several boats carrying around 1,000 migrants were intercepted last month by the Thai navy. Human rights groups allege Thai officers detained and beat them before forcing them back to sea in vessels with no engines and little food or water.

Survivors recounted how four migrants were tossed overboard before the rest were forced at gunpoint onto a makeshift barge in the middle of the ocean, said Chris Lewa, coordinator of the Bangkok-based advocacy group Arakan Project.

Hundreds are missing and feared drowned, according to human rights groups; others have landed on remote corners of Indonesia and India, where they are being kept well away from the media, making it difficult to corroborate their stories.

Authorities in both Thailand and Myanmar have denied wrongdoing.

In the meantime, the harrowing accounts of victims like Mohammad continue to trickle in from hospital beds and jail cells.

Mohammad said by the time his boat reached Thailand's southern coast on Dec. 26 - after working for months on fishing vessels in Bangladesh - he and other fellow Rohingya had been at sea for four days and nights.

They were dehydrated and hungry, he said, but given almost no food or water when they reached land.

Authorities took the men to a hillside prison overseeing the Thai city of Ranong, he said, where they were lined up and stripped down to the waist. One by one, they were pummeled and taunted, with some officers scoffing at them for being Muslim and threatening to burn their traditional beards, he said.

"They tied me and beat me with sticks and kicked me with their boots until I was vomiting blood. They only stopped because I was about to die," said Mohammad. A doctor who treated him at an Indonesian navy base on Sabang island told the AP the wounds appeared to have been caused by a blunt object.

Soon after, he said, the migrants were crammed back into their boats and sent adrift in stormy seas.

Brad Adams of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the story of the Rohingya has been made all the more tragic by the consistent lack of compassion shown by some regional governments, which appear to have ignored the suffering of the ethnic minorities or played a direct part in it.

Thai authorities insist repeatedly that they do not forcibly evict migrants but only detain and repatriate people entering the country illegally.

On Wednesday, a Thai court convicted more than 60 migrants on the same charge, raising the prospect that they could be kicked out. The men alleged they were abused by Myanmar navy officials

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, facing growing criticism from rights groups, said last week the government would investigate claims of abuse. The Foreign Ministry also said it would convene a meeting with its neighbors to find a solution to the growing illegal migrant problem.

A spokesman for Myanmar's military government was not available for comment.

The ruling junta does not officially recognize the existence of a separate Rohingya group in the country's western areas and sometimes refers to them as "Bangladeshis."

Restrictive citizenship laws enacted in 1982 make many Muslims living in the area stateless; "'Rohingyas' do not exist in the Union of Myanmar and are not one of Myanmar's indigenous national races," the government told the U.N. Human Rights Council last year.

At the same time, it rejected as untrue "allegations of discrimination and harassment" toward Muslim refugees returned from Bangladesh - meaning the Rohingya.

In addition to the Rohingya, the military regime has brutally repressed a number of groups and millions have risked their lives fleeing the country.

The Rohingya, who are believed to descend from 7th century Arab settlers whose state was conquered by the Burmese in 1784, face religious persecution because they are Muslims in a Buddhist-majority country. Human Rights Watch said in its latest annual report they faced forced relocation, land seizures, and denial of citizenship and identity papers, among other things.

The State Department agreed, saying they "experienced severe legal, economic, and social discrimination."

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have ended up in neighboring Bangladesh - some getting illegal jobs and others living in crowded, squalid refugee camps - after borrowing huge sums of money from family and friends to pay smugglers.

Others have settled in impoverished communities in Malaysia and Thailand, which depend on migrant labor; even more have braved the sea to go as far as the Middle East.

"It is a horrible humanitarian crisis unfolding, the fairly large numbers of people leaving in these boats, either drowning at sea or finding themselves in exploitative, abuse situations on arrival," said Chris Lom, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration.

Like other stateless people, the Rohingya are especially vulnerable to human trafficking because they provide cheap labor and are not protected by the law, he said.

"The issue of people in poor countries trying to reach richer ones it not going to stop," he said. "It's going to become more serious and it needs to be addressed, not just regionally, but globally."

In describing his persecution in Myanmar, Mohammad said his village placed under a curfew and the Rohingya were unable to marry and often had their land confiscated.

He said he was forced to work as a laborer for the army after being detained and tortured without charge.

He decided to cross the border illegally into Bangladesh, where he worked as a fisherman until he was able to earn enough money to pay for a boat to Malaysia - around $430. He and others set off in their rickety wooden boats on Dec. 16 with a captain who seemed not to know the way.

The men were picked up and beaten by the Myanmar navy who held them for two days, he said.

When they reached Thailand, they were again taken into custody and pummeled before being cast adrift in a boat that had been stripped of its engine and emptied of fuel, Mohammad said.

"The boat was leaking badly," he said. "The water started rising inside. Finally, it was a foot deep and we started to sink. We prayed to Allah, we asked him to save us."

A fishing boat spotted them off Indonesia's westernmost coast and alerted the navy, which brought 193 men, all but 17 of them Rohingya, to shore on Jan. 7 as it was on the verge of sinking.

Many were too weak to stand and were hospitalized.

Now the Indonesian government is threatening to send them back to where they came from.
Gade reported from Sabang; McDowell from Jakarta. Associated Press writers Michael Casey, Grant Peck and Ambika Ahuja in Thailand; Parveen Ahmed in Teknaf, Bangladesh; and Anthony Deutsch in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Read more »

Former rebel leader returns to Indonesia's Aceh

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE, Associated Press Writer AP - Saturday, October 11

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Thousands of people greeted the founder of Aceh's separatist rebel movement Saturday upon his return to the Indonesian province following three decades in exile and a civil war that left thousands dead.

Hasan di Tiro's homecoming came a day after former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari won the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize in part for helping negotiate an end to fighting between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement rebels.

Supporters cheered and waved as the 83-year-old di Tiro arrived from Sweden and was taken by motorcade to the heart of the provincial capital, where he was to meet the governor and former rebels before traveling to his home village.

"Di Tiro's visit will add to our commitment to building peace and developing our province," said Aceh Vice Governor Muhamad Nazar.

The former rebel leader left Aceh soon after the 1976 war began and led the now-dissolved separatist group, known as GAM, from exile in Sweden, where he now holds citizenship. He is to return to Sweden next week.

Aceh, an oil- and gas-rich province of 4 million people on Sumatra island's northern tip, had experienced almost constant warfare for more than 140 years, with at least 15,000 people killed in the last round of fighting.

Many of those who died were civilians caught up in army sweeps of remote villages.

Efforts to end the fighting gained momentum after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004, leaving at least 156,000 of the province's people dead or missing and a half million others homeless.

As part of the 2005 peace deal, the rebels gave up their long-held demand for independence and handed over all of their weapons. In exchange, the government allowed them to participate in local politics.

Neither side wanted to add to the suffering of the tsunami.

Di Tiro is the grandson of resistance leader Cik di Tiro, a national hero who was killed in combat against occupying Dutch troops in 1891.

Read more »

Grenade Hits Office Of Former Indonesian Rebels

BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA: Unidentified assailants threw a grenade at the office of a political party set up by former rebels in Aceh province, shattering windows and destroying computers but causing no injuries, police said Wednesday (17 Sept).The pre-dawn blast in Bireun, a remote town 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) from the capital Jakarta, was the latest in a string of politically charged attacks ahead of next year's parliamentary and provincial elections.

Aceh has been relatively quiet since the government signed a peace deal with separatists in 2005, ending a 29-year rebellion that left more than 15,000 people dead.

But tensions are building between the military, which is worried ex-rebels will win control of local legislatures and challenge Jakarta's authority, and the former separatists who are afraid the government will try to intervene in the election process.

Police spokesman Lt. Colonel Ahmad Saleh said a witness told authorities two motorcycles stopped outside the Aceh Party office shortly before Wednesday's explosion, but that the investigation was still ongoing.

Another of the party's offices was torched Tuesday (16 Sept) and the residence of a party official was struck by a grenade last month, said Adnan Beuransah, a spokesman for the party, calling it "part of efforts to sabotage the upcoming polls." (AP/Fakhrurradzie Gade, The Associated Press stringer in Banda Aceh contributed to this report.)

Read more »

Police investigate deadly attack on ex-rebels in Aceh

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE, The Associated Press Writer

Banda Aceh, Aceh | Mon, 03/03/2008 8:04 PM | National

Former rebels in Aceh warned of fresh conflict Monday after a 100-strong mob torched one of their offices, killing six people and underscoring tensions in the region since a 2005 peace deal.

It was unclear whether the attackers burned the victims alive or hacked them to death before setting the building alight, officials said.

The attack happened early Sunday in Aceh's central highlands.

Ibrahim Syamsuddin, a spokesman for the former rebels, said the incident was related to a dispute between the ex-fighters and a local union over control of revenues from a local bus station.

Syamsuddin also alleged some of the attackers were former members of a pro-Jakarta militia blamed for attacks on separatists and civilian sympathizers during the conflict. Their relationship with the union members was not immediately clear.

Many ex-rebels and militia members turned to gang warfare since the war ended. Bus stations and other transport hubs in Indonesia are often targeted by criminal gangs seeking illegal levies.

Syamsuddin demanded police "uncover the truth" behind the incident.

"If they do not, a new conflict will erupt in Aceh," he said, giving no more details.

Local police chief Agus Budi Kawedar declined to speculate on a motive for the attack, but pledged to "get to the bottom of this."

The Free Aceh Movement signed a peace agreement with the Indonesian government in August 2005 to end 29 years of fighting that killed more than 15,000 people. A former rebel leader is now governor of the province, which under the deal was granted greater autonomy.

Violence between the two sides has ended, though analysts have warned political tensions and financial disagreements between former rebels risk undermining the deal unless they are resolved.

There have been sporadic clashes among ex-combatants since the deal, but Sunday's attack was the deadliest.

The agreement was forged in the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed more than 160,000 people in Aceh. (Published in The Jakarta Post, International Herald Tribune)

Read more »

Police investigate deadly attack on ex-rebels in Aceh

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE, The Associated Press Writer

Banda Aceh, Aceh | Mon, 03/03/2008 8:04 PM | National

Former rebels in Aceh warned of fresh conflict Monday after a 100-strong mob torched one of their offices, killing six people and underscoring tensions in the region since a 2005 peace deal.

It was unclear whether the attackers burned the victims alive or hacked them to death before setting the building alight, officials said.

The attack happened early Sunday in Aceh's central highlands.

Ibrahim Syamsuddin, a spokesman for the former rebels, said the incident was related to a dispute between the ex-fighters and a local union over control of revenues from a local bus station.

Syamsuddin also alleged some of the attackers were former members of a pro-Jakarta militia blamed for attacks on separatists and civilian sympathizers during the conflict. Their relationship with the union members was not immediately clear.

Many ex-rebels and militia members turned to gang warfare since the war ended. Bus stations and other transport hubs in Indonesia are often targeted by criminal gangs seeking illegal levies.

Syamsuddin demanded police "uncover the truth" behind the incident.

"If they do not, a new conflict will erupt in Aceh," he said, giving no more details.

Local police chief Agus Budi Kawedar declined to speculate on a motive for the attack, but pledged to "get to the bottom of this."

The Free Aceh Movement signed a peace agreement with the Indonesian government in August 2005 to end 29 years of fighting that killed more than 15,000 people. A former rebel leader is now governor of the province, which under the deal was granted greater autonomy.

Violence between the two sides has ended, though analysts have warned political tensions and financial disagreements between former rebels risk undermining the deal unless they are resolved.

There have been sporadic clashes among ex-combatants since the deal, but Sunday's attack was the deadliest.

The agreement was forged in the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed more than 160,000 people in Aceh. (Published in The Jakarta Post, International Herald Tribune)

Read more »

Indonesia Marks Anniversary of Deadly Tsunami

Dec 26, 10:10 AM EST

By FAKHRURRADZIE GADE
Associated Press Writer

CALANG, Indonesia (AP) -- Survivors prayed at mosques and mass graves Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of the devastating Asian tsunami, while hundreds fled beaches as part of a drill to test an alert network established since the disaster.

The waves on Dec. 26, 2004, spawned by the mightiest earthquake in 40 years, killed around 230,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean nations, just under half of them in the Indonesian province of Aceh on Sumatra island.

Coastal communities in Sri Lanka and India lost some 45,000 people between them. The waves also crashed into tourist resorts in southern Thailand, killing more than 5,000, half of them foreign vacationers.

The disaster overwhelmed authorities in Aceh, where bodies littered devastated neighborhoods for weeks. Most victims were never formally identified and tens of thousands were buried in mass graves.

Nur Aini lost her husband and one of her two children to the waves.

"We are praying for them today even though I don't know where they are buried," she said. "My remaining child still calls out for his father."

The disaster, one of the deadliest of the modern age, promoted a global outpouring of sympathy, with governments, individuals and corporations pledging more than $13 billion in aid.

In Aceh, more than 100,000 houses, scores of schools and hospitals and miles of roads have been rebuilt. Whilst there have been complaints of corruption and waste, most people involved in the reconstruction process say it has gone well.

"I hope we can turn a new page now and leave sadness, cries and tears behind us," Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf told hundreds gathered at a prayer ceremony in the hard-hit town of Calang. "I hope one day we can pay our debt to the world by becoming a donor to other countries hit by disasters."

Thailand held ceremonies throughout the day along its white-sand southern beaches.

Survivors and families of victims were invited to Phuket's Patong beach, a popular strip of hotels and restaurants, to lay flowers in the sand. Chanting Buddhist monks were to light incense and lead an ecumenical prayer service.

The tsunami drill in Indonesia took place on the western tip of Java island close to the capital, Jakarta. It was attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other top government officials.

Those taking part ran or walked around a mile inland after the siren sounded.

Foreign governments are helping Indonesia establish a nationwide network of buoys and high-tech communications equipment that would give coastal communities warning if there is a tsunami. The network is up and running in several regions of the country, but 20 more buoys are due to be launched in 2008.

Indonesia is frequently rocked by powerful earthquakes because of its position on the "Pacific Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and tectonic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

The observances came amid widespread flooding in parts of Indonesia. Heavy rains triggered landslides that killed dozens of people on Java island, though far from the scene of the tsunami and Wednesday's drill.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Read more »