|
XI. EPILOGUE
At the outset of this report, we used the cycle of violence in Samalanga to illustrate the nature of the conflict in Aceh. When Human Rights Watch interviewed two women from the village where the killings had occurred, they mentioned the fact that the seemingly endless cycle of killings would have been much worse, save for one man in the village named Mukhlis. Mukhlis, they said, was the only person who could talk to both sides. When the military entered a village and the men fled, Mukhlis was able to persuade the soldiers that they were only going to the sea to catch fish, they were not GAM. When someone was arrested at a Brimob post, it was Mukhlis who went to negotiate his release. The women told us, "Every village needs a Mukhlis." On May 30, 2001, Human Rights Watch received an e-mail from Aceh that Mukhlis had been found dead. The circumstances were typically murky. According to the e-mail, compiled from information from family members, on May 21, two GAM members had been conducting "sweepings," or identity checks, of buses passing along the road near the village of Tambu, Samalanga. A passenger bus with several Brimob men on board, en route from the subdistrict of Jeunib where a Brimob post was located, approached Tambu. The driver flashed his headlights to the GAM members, warning them of danger, and they fled. The bus stopped, and the Brimob men got down and fired in the direction of the fleeing GAM members but apparently did not hit them. They saw two motorcycles-for-hire, a common form of transport in villages, parked nearby. When the drivers, one of whom was named Mukhtar, saw the Brimob men, they fled, and they, too, were fired on but were not hit. The Brimob soldiers took the motorcycles back to their post in Glee Geuleungku, Jeunib, setting fire to a nearby furniture store as they left. The next day, Mukhlis went to the Brimob post to see if he could get the two motorcycles returned to their owners, telling the Brimob soldiers that they really did belong to Mukhtar and his friend and had not been used by the GAM members conducting the sweeping. Mukhlis was detained overnight, tied up but not beaten, according to his wife. She and his mother went to get him the next day, and were relieved to see that he was in good shape. The Brimob officer told his mother, "You can see for yourself, your son has not been beaten, when we ate rice, he also ate, when we drank tea, so did he." He said Mukhlis should apologize to his wife for staying out all night, so Mukhlis apologized and the Brimob men laughed and applauded. Then they told Mukhlis that he could go home. The next day, Mukhlis went back to work as usual, selling fish. On May 24, he went with two friends on a motorcycle to Bireun. Mukhlis was riding on the back of the bike. As they were coming home, they were stopped by a group of men in civilian clothes, and Mukhlis was ordered to get off. The two friends kept going. That Saturday, two bodies were found by the side of the road in Blang Birah, Bireun. They were brought to the Bireun hospital, and someone called Mukhlis's family. They came and identified one of the bodies as his. He had been shot in the chest and his throat had been slit. The killers, like so many of those responsible for perpetrating abuses in Aceh, are "unknown." Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protection the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to bring offenders to justice, to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom and to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those holding power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and international community to support the cause of human rights for all. The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Michele Alexander, development director; Reed Brody, advocacy director; Carroll Bogert, communications director; Malcolm Smart, program director; Barbara Guglielmo, finance director; Jeri Laber, special advisor; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Jemera Rone, counsel; Wilder Taylor, general counsel; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Jonathan Fanton is the chair of the board. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair. Its Asia division was established in 1985 to monitor and promote the observance of internationally recognized human rights in Asia. Sidney Jones is the executive director; Mike Jendrzejczyk is the Washington director; Joe Saunders is the deputy director; Jeannine Guthrie is NGO liason; Smita Narula is senior researcher; Sara Colm, Vikram Parekh, Gary Risser, and Jan van der Made are researchers; Mickey Spiegel is a research consultant; Liz Weiss and Wen-Hua Yang are associates. Andrew J. Nathan is chair of the advisory committee and Orville Schell is vice chair. Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org
|
