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Background—Martial Law and Armed Conflict in Aceh and Refugee Flows

The current military offensive in Aceh began on May 19, 2003, after a six-month ceasefire failed to resolve the longstanding conflict in the province. The Aceh offensive is Indonesia’s largest military campaign since the country’s invasion of East Timor in 1975. The operation involves an estimated 30,000 troops, who are opposed by approximately 5,000 armed members of the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM).

Reasons for Acehnese to flee

When will our villages be safe? That is what we need. We need to go home to our villages. We need to see our families again. We need to find work in our villages and find food. That is all. We want to go home.

—Twenty-nine-year-old Acehnese man, October, 2003 ⁵

Human Rights Watch has documented widespread human rights violations in Aceh province since the start of the military operations in the province in May 2003.⁶ Based on testimony from Acehnese refugees in Malaysia there is substantial evidence documenting the role of Indonesian security forces in extra-judicial executions, forced disappearances, beatings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and drastic limits on freedom of movement in Aceh. There is also a clear pattern of security forces singling out and persecuting young men, who the military claim to be members or supporters of GAM.

The renewed fighting has also caused massive internal displacement. Thousands of civilians have fled their homes and been forcibly relocated by the military for operational reasons. The military has used heavy artillery to attack rebel bases, causing more displacement of nearby villages as thousands flee their homes.⁷

The influx of troops has been accompanied by new and revived military tactics that are directly affecting civilians’ daily lives. The stepped-up operations include patrols and “sweepings”—a set of tactics to identify separatists or their supporters through vehicle searches and document checks, moving systematically from one village to the next.⁸ In many incidents described to Human Rights Watch, security forces beat and abusively interrogated local residents. Other tactics under martial law include forcing villagers into compulsory night guard duty, and establishing a military presence at the village level, primarily through temporary posts manned by troops from outside Aceh. In all of these tactics young men are being singled out for harassment and abuse.

As of September 4, 2003, a military spokesman reported that at least 319 civilians had been killed since the start of martial law. In December 2003 a police spokesman put this figure at nearer 500. These figures do not specify responsibility for the deaths. In addition the military has reported that over 1,100 GAM fighters have been killed since the start of the military campaign.⁹ Based on testimony collected from Acehnese refugees in Malaysia, it is clear that Indonesian security forces often do not distinguish between GAM combatants and civilians.¹⁰ The high incidence of extra-judicial executions and persecution of young men in Aceh is a significant factor causing the refugee flow to Malaysia from Aceh.

Many Acehnese in Malaysia described to Human Rights Watch how particular incidents prompted their decision to leave Indonesia, often within a few hours of the incident, and sometimes with other young men in the village. Such incidents include witnessing or experiencing a physical assault by Indonesian security forces, or the killing or abduction of someone else in the village.

Several people reported they decided to leave as soon as it was clear martial law was coming, such as after demonstrations protesting the presence of international ceasefire monitors outside the monitors’ office in March and April 2003.¹¹ One man from East Aceh explained: “I came [to Malaysia] in the HDC [Henry Dunant Centre, the mediator of the Cessation of Hostilities] period, after I saw the demonstration at the HDC office in Takengon. I knew it wasn’t real, that people had been ordered [to attend] by TNI [the Indonesian military]. But I knew then that martial law was coming.”¹²

A man from Central Aceh who arrived in Malaysia in early August told Human Rights Watch why he left Aceh:

Because there is daily fighting and gunfire between the TNI and GAM all over Aceh. It increases my trauma, I can hear it from my village. So many things have happened. My friends have been beaten by the military. Many have been threatened. I can not live in Aceh anymore. The trauma is too much, wondering if I am going to live or die.¹³

Testimony from individuals who have returned to Aceh from Malaysia and others demonstrates that those who leave Aceh are more likely to be suspected as members of GAM by the military upon their return. Refugees who are returned to Aceh face a high risk of abusive punishment on account of their initial flight to Malaysia, and some are very fearful that they would suffer persecution if forced to return. In addition, Acehnese who have been living in Malaysia since before martial law was declared face the possibility of serious reprisals upon return. Simply fleeing from Indonesia brings suspicion of being a GAM member or supporter and consequently some Acehnese in Malaysia could be considered to be refugees sur place¹⁴ within the meaning of the 1951 Refugee Convention.¹⁵ The UNHCR has a longstanding understanding that refugees sur place are entitled to the protections of the Refugee Convention and its Protocol.¹⁶

Acehnese refugees in Malaysia told Human Rights Watch that deported Acehnese are separated from other Indonesians on arrival in Indonesia. Human Rights Watch also collected testimony indicating that refugees’ family members who remained in Aceh suffered reprisals due to their relative’s flight to Malaysia. One man told Human Rights Watch:

When I arrived in Malaysia I called my parents [in Aceh]. They said all of those who fled are suspected of being GAM. My parents were called. My name was called out to find my parents. All the names of those who had left were called out. The TNI asked for a list of all the names of those not in the village, from the village head and from the TNI spies in the village.¹⁷

Several refugees told Human Rights Watch that relatives had told them by phone that the military was looking for them. One man who voluntarily returned to Aceh experienced so much suspicion and compulsory daily reporting to local authorities that he decided to leave again immediately. A twenty-four-year-old man interviewed soon after returning to Malaysia from North Aceh in early October explained:

When martial law started I was here [Malaysia], but I was returned. I was arrested at the [Malaysian] night market in July. It was 2:00 a.m. and I was working, selling fish. One hundred police came in trucks and arrested fifty migrants, four of them Acehnese and the rest Javanese. At the police station they said, “You are GAM. Why are you here?” We said there was no work there so we came here. After ten days, during which we were split up, we were put on a ferry to Dumai [in Riau province, Indonesia]. There were 500 people on the ferry, most of them being returned, including 300 Acehnese. In Dumai we were questioned one by one. They looked at our ID cards and asked where we were from. If you said Banda Aceh you were let go. If you said North Aceh or East Aceh, it was serious, especially for men. I’m from North Aceh. I called my father when I was arrested, and he called a relative in the police force, so I was let go.

Back in Aceh, between July and October it was a very difficult atmosphere. I couldn’t go out–I was considered guilty, a GAM member. I couldn’t go into town. I was afraid of checkpoints–they don’t just question you, they hit first then ask questions. Whenever I was questioned I was hit. I didn’t have an ID card—I was kicked by a Kostrad soldier at a post in Alue Bili Rayeuk, an Irianese corporal. I was slapped and pounded. He asked “Where have you been, out of sight?” “Looking for work.” If you say Malaysia, that’s it, they think you’re GAM. My second day back in Aceh I was called by the police in Alue Putih subdistrict. Again I said I was looking for work in Medan. The third day I had to report to the village head. Every day I had to report–I couldn’t stand it. With no ID card I was seen as GAM.¹⁸ But if you don’t report you’ll be taken at night. I was afraid of the soldiers, afraid of being shot or disappeared at night.¹⁹

The family members of those who leave are also harassed. One woman who arrived in Malaysia from Pidie in late October told Human Rights Watch:

The first reason I came to Malaysia is that my husband is here. The second is that security forces kept coming to the house looking for him. “Where did he go?” they’d ask. These were TNI Operasi [military] from South Sulawesi. I’d tell them, “He’s looking for work.” I’d try not to answer too clearly where he was.²⁰

Another man who fled Aceh in April after seeing his friend shot by soldiers in East Aceh told Human Rights Watch:

In August, I was here [Malaysia]. My mother phoned me. She told me not to go back to the village because the Indonesian army was looking for me. About two or three nights TNI went to the house with dogs, looking through the windows, looking for me, and circling the house. I don’t know how many people. What is clear is that the TNI were looking for me, my mother saw it through the windows. It was one time like this. Another time, maybe five days after I left for Malaysia they came into my house, without taking their shoes off, without saying “Assalam Alaikum” [proper Muslim greeting] or anything, asking my mother where I was. My mother said that I had already left, so they left. I am not GAM, but I am Acehnese, and that is it.²¹

History of Indonesian migration to Malaysia

The Indonesian province of Aceh lies on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, just west of Malaysia across the Straits of Malacca. Building on a history of trade and travel across the straits, many Acehnese fled to Malaysia during the height of counterinsurgency operations in Aceh in 1990-93. While many were civilians, members of GAM also traveled back and forth between Aceh and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, where GAM maintained an operational headquarters for a number of years beginning in the 1980s.

Malaysia also has a long history of serving as a prime destination for hundreds of thousands of Indonesians who migrate with and without proper documentation to the peninsula seeking work. These migrant workers form the backbone of Malaysia’s construction industry, while others work as domestic workers and agricultural laborers.

Indonesian migrants have long been a source of controversy in Malaysia and the government periodically tries to control its borders through mass deportations of undocumented workers. For example, in August 2002 Malaysia expelled hundreds of thousands of undocumented Indonesian workers after announcing an amended, stricter immigration law, which included provisions allowing for the fining, whipping, and imprisonment of illegal immigrants and their employers. In 2003, 42,935 foreigners were arrested under these laws, and almost half were Indonesian.²² Nine thousand of those sentenced were whipped.²³ The expulsions initially decreased after they threatened to harm relations between Indonesia and Malaysia. However, Malaysia’s immigration authorities continue to routinely detain and deport large numbers of undocumented Indonesian migrant workers and their families, including Acehnese who may face persecution upon return.

Acehnese have been singled out in the past for deportation from Malaysia. On March 26, 1998, Malaysia deported 545 Acehnese from Malaysia on an Indonesian warship. The deportees included more than a dozen people recognized as refugees by UNHCR, others who had a potential claim to refugee status but had not been interviewed by UNHCR, and a small number of GAM activists.²⁴ Some of those repatriated were suffering from untreated injuries after riots broke out in detention centers prior to the deportations. On their return to Aceh, Indonesian military authorities detained and interrogated the group.²⁵