Justpeace Blog

scmp - Saturday, October 15, 2005


REUTERS in Jakarta
Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province yesterday handed over their weapons to foreign monitors as the second stage of arms decommissioning began under a landmark truce aimed at ending one of Asia's longest conflicts.

Members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) plan to lay down more than 100 weapons, including grenade launchers and semi-automatic rifles, at several locations in North Aceh regency, where foreign monitors are ready to destroy them with heavy-duty automatic saws.

The first round of decommissioning of GAM weapons in September exceeded the target, yielding 240 arms, while Indonesia pulled out 1,500 policemen and about 6,500 soldiers.

Under the Finnish-mediated peace agreement, GAM needs to surrender 840 weapons to the peace observers by the year-end.

Indonesia, which had more than 30,000 soldiers and 15,000 policemen in Aceh before the truce, is required to trim its Aceh forces to no more than 14,700 soldiers and 9,100 police.

In the second stage of decommissioning, which may take four days, GAM must surrender about 210 weapons.

"According to the truce, we have to lay down 25 per cent ... 210 weapons. Around 120 weapons will be handed over in several spots in North Aceh today. We are preparing other locations for the coming days," GAM military spokesman Sofyan Dawood said.

Aceh Monitoring Mission chief Pieter Feith has said that in return, Indonesia plans to withdraw 1,300 policemen and 6,500 soldiers by October 24. Among those going would be units from the army's feared Kopassus special forces, he said.

The 226-strong unarmed monitoring mission comprising European and Southeast Asian monitors has the task of ensuring parties stick to today's peace agreement signed in Helsinki.

scmp - Saturday, October 1, 2005


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Lam Mai
The Phattana Islam Wittaya school, funded by the community and Harrods owner Mohammed al-Fayed, seems a far cry from the militant training base that critics in Bangkok accuse Islamic schools of being.

One staffer at the school in Yala province's Lam Mai village wears a Fulham Football Club shirt, while behind him looms a school building bearing the name of the club's owner, Mr Fayed. Inside, principal Mayudin Samae, who has been in charge for 20 years, wears blue trousers and checked shirt, sporting a neat grey goatee beard.

Mr Fayed has helped build offices and classrooms, as well as several single-sex dormitories, while the Thai government also provides money because it is registered with Bangkok, Mr Samae says.

Wichai Chaichitwanitchakul, an MP with the ruling Thai Rak Thai party, has called for boarding schools, known locally as pondoks, to be closed, claiming they breed militants and don't teach students Thai.

"The men who talk like that, they don't know the truth," Mr Samae says. "Pondoks are good for the community as they teach students to be good people."

Schools are on the front line of the conflict that has claimed more than 950 lives in the Muslim-majority provinces of Thailand's south since January last year.

Shadowy groups of militants often attack public schools, seen as a symbol of Bangkok's attempts to impose Thai culture on a region that was an independent sultanate until a century ago.

But politicians attack Islamic schools as terrorist training grounds and want them closed.

Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang says the government has no plans to cave in to such demands.

Students at Mr Samae's school learn four languages: Arabic during morning prayers and studying the Koran; the local Yawi dialect for history; Thai for mathematics, sciences and social studies; and English as a foreign language.

The school gives its 1,450 students internet access and Mr Samae says he wants to buy more computers for English instruction.

The students also have had to learn to face the violence.

Two teachers, both Muslims, have been shot dead on their way to work since May, Mr Samae says. Like many of the dead, police believe they were seemingly random victims of drive-by shootings by militants out to sow fear.

"We'll keep going ... it's our duty to teach the students," Mr Samae says.

Asked if any students were scared, the softly spoken principal replied: "They get used to it."