Indonesia: Lawless Aceh
June 19 2002 - 2149
REPORTER: David O'Shea
Meet Major General Yusuf Mangaberani or, as his name translates into English, Joe Brave Mango. After only four months in Aceh, he's earned the right to have some fun. The General has been sent here to wipe out the Acehnese armed separatist movement, GAM. As commander of the whole military operation, Mangaberani has tens of thousands of soldiers and police at his beck and call. In Aceh, he really is 'the big mango'. Not long ago, there's no way he could have thrown a party like this. GAM were too strong. But with the combined might of the police and military behind him, the General now has the rebels on the run. He now feels so secure that even his wife has joined him.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Transltion): The latest results show how much it has improved. I find it very pleasing to see that the people approve of the operation. Our peacekeepers will be happy that people have started to smile and their concerns and fears have lessened.
Many of these people would strongly disagree. Just over two years ago, close to one million Acehnese gathered in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, to call for a referendum on independence. After decades of suffering under Indonesian rule, a clear majority of Acehnese want out. But after watching East Timor break away, Indonesia is determined not to lose Aceh. The result - at least 1,700 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the last year alone, and independence is now spoken of only in whispers. People here in the capital have grown accustomed to the nightly roadblocks. Local and paramilitary police are checking documents and looking for GAM members.
STATION RADIO CENTRE (Translation): At times it is difficult to monitor GAM. They speak for a brief moment and then stop.
(VOICE OVER 2-WAY): We've got someone - we've got someone.
STATION RADIO CENTRE: What do you mean?
(VOICE OVER 2-WAY) We've got someone. There's a vehicle, a car.
In the interrogation room at the station, police intelligence officers have a handy reference to their most wanted. It's the GAM wall of infamy.
FIRST OFFICER AT STATION (pointing to photo): Take him, for example. His name is Ismuhar. He used to be a policeman. After a year in the force, because he was involved with GAM, he defected and took nine AK-47's belonging to the police. So now those weapons are used against us.
SECOND OFFICER AT STATION (pointing to photo): This is Romadon Katulan. He killed a policeman.
REPORTER: Who was he?
SECOND OFFICER AT STAION: Gunshots - I thought I heard gunshots! This guy killed a policeman. I forget his name.
REPORTER: If you could only catch just one of these men, who would it be?
OFFICER AT STATION: According to me? I'd want this guy. This is his photo.
REPORTER: Why him?
FIRST OFFICER AT STATION: He is a very clever propagandist, twisting facts and saying inappropriate things. He's very clever at influencing the community.
REPORTER: Ishak Daud?
FIRST OFFICER AT STATION: Yes.
To find Ishak Daud, I have to travel 500km east of the capital. The ring around GAM is tightening. On the main road, I lost count of the number of army and police roadblocks. After a series of rendezvous with GAM escorts, I'm finally taken to meet their leader. Ishak Daud is the GAM spokesman in East Aceh, large parts of which are controlled by his guerrillas. Over the years people here have suffered some of the worst of the military's excesses, so it's not surprising that GAM receives such strong support. Without that support, GAM would get nowhere. They're fighting a traditional guerrilla war of hit-and-run attacks. They ambush soldiers, policemen and informers, then retreat to hide amongst the villagers.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): You've come here and you've seen GAM. We are amongst the people. Protected by the people, funded by the people. They say we are under increasing pressure, that GAM is cornered, that they're closing in on Ishak Daud. What about the people you've interviewed about GAM's status here, where we sleep, who funds us? It's very clear.
But the villagers pay a high price for that support. Ishak Daud says that after every GAM ambush, the security forces take their revenge. Houses are burned down, possessions are stolen, and people are attacked or killed.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): It's not unusual or out of the ordinary. In fact, it often occurs. Whenever GAM attacks the armed forces, then the community is targeted.
Bridges here are designed to be quickly dismantled, to slow the military's advance. This also makes life more difficult for GAM and the villagers. In fact, people say that life is harder than it's ever been, even worse than the brutal 10-year-long military operation known as DOM. Ishak Daud is taking me to a gravesite where nine civilians are buried. Victims, he says, of state-sponsored terror.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): DOM was bad, but they never killed 35 people in one day. Nine were innocent civilians. Small children were beheaded and buried alive. There were only isolated incidents during DOM.
At the beginning of this year, President Megawati Sukarnoputri put the hardline two-star General Yusuf Mangaberani in charge of a new, deadly offensive against GAM.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): They are uneducated. They are former common thugs, former criminals. They are schooled in terrorism. People don't like what they do. We hope that with the participation of the community and progress in our development, in the short term Aceh's problems can be eliminated. We will handle it properly.
REPORTER: How long will it take?
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): By elimination, I don't mean getting rid of them completely because we will need time to get rid of the guerrillas. We'll need time to take effective control of every region.
REPORTER: But how long?
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Possibly this year.
With so many terrified people fleeing their homes, Ishak Daud and his bodyguards have ample choice of places to sleep the night. He's in constant satellite phone contact with GAM leaders throughout Aceh and in Sweden, where the movement is led from exile. But this is a long way from Stockholm. The next morning, farmers are waiting for news that it's safe to tend their plots. They've not been able to go for four days now. The grapevine says there may still be troops around.
LOCAL FARMER (Translation): We would die if we crossed their path. It doesn't only happen in the farms. It also happens here. Us farmers don't dare go to our farms if we haven't received clear information.
It's like this all the time. They'll only go to work if they're absolutely certain that the troops have gone.
LOCAL FARMER (Translation): Even then we do so carefully, slowly. We can't just go. At times some will remain. There will be 40 men, 20 remain and 20 go. We think they have all left when in fact some of them are still there. Not all have left. Some stay and some go. Those who remain then get us.
When the security forces sweep through, everyone disappears, running for their lives to the forest. Last time they came, this man would have run away like everyone else, but stayed with his wife, who was about to give birth. His cousin is a GAM member, and this makes him and his young wife the enemy. After soldiers repeatedly stamped on her belly, her baby is lucky to be alive. Her husband went through several rounds of beatings, and then this.
VILLAGER: They trod on my lower abdomen. They stomped on it. Then my intestines came out. After that I was told to get up and run. I couldn't run anymore. I was told to jump in the drain and drink all the water I could. I said I couldn't drink any more. He said I had to until I vomited. So I drank until I vomited because I was afraid. Then I was told to jump out of the drain and start running. So I ran. If they said 'stop', I stopped. If they said 'walk', I walked.
The soldiers told him they would be back to burn his house down, so he and his wife have moved in with relatives.
The weekend has arrived. Time for the generals running the military operation to leave the pressures of work behind. Whenever he gets the chance, General Mangaberani goes fishing with his closest aides. He once studied psychological warfare in Germany and knows how important it is to look after your men's mental health. Like many of Indonesia's top brass, Major General Mangaberani earned his stars and his fortune in East Timor in the first few years after the invasion. Military legend now has it that, like those early days in East Timor, there are two ways to return home from duty in Aceh - rich, or in a coffin.
REPORTER: How many men have you lost during the problems in Aceh?
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): 100 personnel.
Out here, Mangaberani is more interested in catching fish than answering questions.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Independence is not synonymous with...ah, a big fish. Don't ask any more questions. Oh, another black fish. No more questions. I'm getting dizzy. Or we'll throw you in the water so you can't go home.
These are the foot soldiers in this conflict. They say they love it here.
SOLDIER (Translation): Well, it's fun.
REPORTER: What's fun?
SOLDIER (Translation): A soldier's job is war and here there is a real feeling of war.
They say their main problem is targeting the right people.
SOLDIR (Translation): It's hard to tell the difference between GAM and ordinary people. If we know the difference, it's very easy.
As part of the military's attempts to improve its image as professional army, each soldier sent to Aceh is given a pocketbook outlining the human rights code of conduct. Clause 4.b.1.b, for example, instructs soldiers to be nice to pregnant women. And clause 4.d.1.a teaches them not to burn down innocent people's houses. They're supposed to carry the book with them.
REPORTER: Have you been given the book?
SOLDIER (Translation): Yes.
REPORTER: Is it with you?
SOLDIER (Translation): I left it behind. I haven't brought it. But I have read it. So I know about what can be done and can't be done. Even if we don't know it all, we need to know a bit.
The Dutch Government, through the UN, is funding a series of human rights training programs, for both the military and police.
TRAINING OFFICER (Translation): You must know how to act, whether to retreat, confront, ignore or approach. Only you can know.
These officers are taking the community policing course. The first test - to gauge how brutal they are.
TRAINING OFFICER (Translation): We know our problem, don't we? I was the same when I did the psych test. I was too harsh. I knew that was my weakness and I had to change it.
Little by little, they say they are changing their ways. And in the controlled environment of the classroom, I saw a policeman successfully intervene to stop a fight.
FIRST OFFICER (Translation): I don't have the money to repay my debt to him.
SEOND OFFICER: Calm down. What seems to be the problem here?
FIRST OFFICER: Explain to him I can't pay the debt.
SECOND OFFICER: I think you should settle this like family and not in a public place. That's better.
By trying to convince the world they're reforming, the armed forces hope to overturn the funding freeze imposed by the West after they destroyed East Timor. But even the army spokesman, Lt. Col. Firdaus, admits that problems remain.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL FIRDAUS (Translation): We are very confident because they are well trained over a long period and we watch them constantly. We give them some leeway. But these soldiers are still human beings. Some may not be disciplined, but that isn't representative of all TNI soldiers.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): I always land the big ones. It's the boss dealing with the boss.
With the red groper starting to bite, Mangaberani now believes peace is not far away.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Now, this is peace. This is peace. Oh, a black fish.
For the top brass in Aceh, whether army or police, life is pretty sweet. When you get to this level, you don't have to put up with any nonsense.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): I want to drink coffee and David keeps asking me questions.
Aceh is now Mangaberani's personal fiefdom, and he's brought his oldest and most trusted friends onboard to help run it. This man is the head of internal security.
REPORTER: So why have you been sent here?
HEAD OF INTERNAL SECURITY (Translation): To help out. To help the chief. To solve the situation in Aceh.
REPORTER: Do you come here often?
HEAD OF INTERNAL SECURITY (Translation): This is my first time. Yeah. But I'm happy. There's no problem.
This man runs Indonesia's national traffic police, who make a fortune from bribery and extortion.
REPORTER: Which section are you in?
HEAD OF NATIONAL TRAFFIC POLICE (Translation): I'm in the happy-happy department.
At the other end of the boat, these young officers hope they too may end up promoted to the happy-happy department. They say that life has improved since the fishing general arrived.
YOUNG OFFICER (Translation): The water police are being encouraged to do as much as we can to repair our ships and speedboats, not only those used for fishing or recreation, but also other vessels.
With their idealism still intact, these young recruits see policing as a noble mission.
SECOND YOUNG OFFICER (Translation): Since I was a kid, I've seen TV shows where the police get along well with the community. They are very close to the people. As human beings, we must live in a community and help one another. So inside my heart I knew I wanted to become a policeman.
The Indonesian police force is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country.
Back on the beat in the capital, local police are checking motorists' papers against a list of GAM members. We didn't catch any, but the night wasn't entirely wasted.
OFFICER: A good car, Stop it.
The owner of this car is now walking home. He didn't have his registration papers, so we confiscate his car.
OFFICER: Come here, how do you start it? It is good to drive? It's tough being rich. I don't know.
The owner will have to come and collect his car from the station tomorrow and pay a bribe to get it back. But for tonight, it's ours and we're going to have some fun.
OFFICER: Keep on tripping. Do you like the music, David? Let's go there later and catch some people.
REPORTER: Catch who?
OFFICER: People at the discoteque.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has just launched a major drug offensive, but it's common knowledge that the armed forces control or profit from much of the trade. We're off to the local disco to catch some users. But the only users I saw that night were with me in the car.
OFFICER: I had three hits already. It hasn't come on. Do you want - You don't know what frying means? I can tell from the way you are saying it. What is it? A flame underneath a bit of foil. We burn a little bit. That's frying.
Methamphetamine, or ice, is becoming a major problem in Indonesia. In Aceh, the war zone, it's no different. The only discoteque in town is a seedy place, full of prostitutes, army and police officers and drugs are readily available. None of this would be possible without their direct involvement. But it gets far worse than this.
MARZUKI, YOUNG GAM HOSTAGE (Translation): I was given pills. How was I to know?
REPORTER: They gave you what?
MARZUKI: Pills. A drug - it was like a sweet. I didn't understand.
In East Timor, the military gave their militia proxies 'mad dog' pills to make them crazy. Here in Aceh, young boys like 10-year-old Marzuki are given money and drugs by soldiers who get them to spy on GAM.
MARZUKI: It was like a sweet. I didn't understand. I couldn't think. I said I didn't want any pills. They said they were sweets.
REPORTER: What were the effects? How did you feel?
MARZUKI: I couldn't think straight. I couldn't think and couldn't understand anything.
Marzuki passed the soldiers information that led to the deaths of three of Ishak Daud's men. He is now GAM's hostage and is being held for re-education.
MARZUKI: They gave me lots of pills, not just one. I have these bags around my eyes now, look.
Whatever they get up to at night-time, by day the police have to at least appear to be good Muslims if they have any hope at all of winning the hearts and minds of the deeply religious Acehnese people. So the boys have been sent down to the mosque to pray alongside the people.
POLICE OFFICER OUTSIDE MOSQUE (Translation): People here have been saying the police never pray. They don't realise, we're not wearing uniform. My officers pray in civilian dress. The people don't know. We are showing the police do pray. We are religious. We are not here to arrest people who don't pray. We are not here for that reason.
Back on dry land, after the fishing trip, it's time to divide the spoils. The fish will be distributed amongst the different police chiefs. Keeping them happy will shore up Mangaberani's power base.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Don't say there is no theory to fishing.
But Yusuf Mangaberani has his eyes firmly set on even bigger fish. While the military's offensive is going well, GAM's civilian leaders are still out of reach. Yet they are sitting right under his nose - holed up here, in this hotel in Banda Aceh.
MAN IN HOTEL ROOM (Translation): We feel this is the safest place for us at the moment.
These are the GAM representatives waiting to return to Switzerland for the next round of peace talks with the Indonesian Government.
MAN IN HOTEL ROOM: There have been five or six meetings in Geneva, but the results of those negotiations on paper have never been implemented out in the field.
SECOND MAN IN HOTEL ROOM: They are just spreading propaganda overseas that they have held a dialogue in Aceh. But the dialogue is just a smokescreen.
Even though they are officially recognised as delegates by the Government in Jakarta, Yusuf Mangaberani can't wait to pounce.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): We are discussing it at the moment. When are they part of the dialogue process and when are they not? We are looking intensively at that. If they are outside protection of dialogue process, then we will arrest them.
And an international conference called to discuss the Swiss peace talks has been cancelled on the General's orders.
LIEM SIOE LIONG, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: So, it's very regretful. We have come here from all over the world just to attend this very important conference. This is probably the very first seminar for many years...international seminar on this very important topic of peace talks, and then suddenly the authorities decide to ban this.
REPORTER: There is already a dialogue going on in Switzerland, and yet to talk about it here in Aceh is not on.
KING OEY, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Exactly. It is completely illogical.
Back in East Aceh, Ishak Daud is going through the daily incident reports. He says there is news of more houses burned down. Revenge attacks after GAM carried out an ambush. From here it's difficult to see where all of this can end.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): We are still waiting, but...if justice doesn't come to Aceh, and people are killed every day, the best example we can give is the patience of the Palestinian people. Young people carrying bombs around their waists to Israel. This could happen one day in Aceh.
June 19 2002 - 2149
REPORTER: David O'Shea
Meet Major General Yusuf Mangaberani or, as his name translates into English, Joe Brave Mango. After only four months in Aceh, he's earned the right to have some fun. The General has been sent here to wipe out the Acehnese armed separatist movement, GAM. As commander of the whole military operation, Mangaberani has tens of thousands of soldiers and police at his beck and call. In Aceh, he really is 'the big mango'. Not long ago, there's no way he could have thrown a party like this. GAM were too strong. But with the combined might of the police and military behind him, the General now has the rebels on the run. He now feels so secure that even his wife has joined him.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Transltion): The latest results show how much it has improved. I find it very pleasing to see that the people approve of the operation. Our peacekeepers will be happy that people have started to smile and their concerns and fears have lessened.
Many of these people would strongly disagree. Just over two years ago, close to one million Acehnese gathered in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, to call for a referendum on independence. After decades of suffering under Indonesian rule, a clear majority of Acehnese want out. But after watching East Timor break away, Indonesia is determined not to lose Aceh. The result - at least 1,700 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the last year alone, and independence is now spoken of only in whispers. People here in the capital have grown accustomed to the nightly roadblocks. Local and paramilitary police are checking documents and looking for GAM members.
STATION RADIO CENTRE (Translation): At times it is difficult to monitor GAM. They speak for a brief moment and then stop.
(VOICE OVER 2-WAY): We've got someone - we've got someone.
STATION RADIO CENTRE: What do you mean?
(VOICE OVER 2-WAY) We've got someone. There's a vehicle, a car.
In the interrogation room at the station, police intelligence officers have a handy reference to their most wanted. It's the GAM wall of infamy.
FIRST OFFICER AT STATION (pointing to photo): Take him, for example. His name is Ismuhar. He used to be a policeman. After a year in the force, because he was involved with GAM, he defected and took nine AK-47's belonging to the police. So now those weapons are used against us.
SECOND OFFICER AT STATION (pointing to photo): This is Romadon Katulan. He killed a policeman.
REPORTER: Who was he?
SECOND OFFICER AT STAION: Gunshots - I thought I heard gunshots! This guy killed a policeman. I forget his name.
REPORTER: If you could only catch just one of these men, who would it be?
OFFICER AT STATION: According to me? I'd want this guy. This is his photo.
REPORTER: Why him?
FIRST OFFICER AT STATION: He is a very clever propagandist, twisting facts and saying inappropriate things. He's very clever at influencing the community.
REPORTER: Ishak Daud?
FIRST OFFICER AT STATION: Yes.
To find Ishak Daud, I have to travel 500km east of the capital. The ring around GAM is tightening. On the main road, I lost count of the number of army and police roadblocks. After a series of rendezvous with GAM escorts, I'm finally taken to meet their leader. Ishak Daud is the GAM spokesman in East Aceh, large parts of which are controlled by his guerrillas. Over the years people here have suffered some of the worst of the military's excesses, so it's not surprising that GAM receives such strong support. Without that support, GAM would get nowhere. They're fighting a traditional guerrilla war of hit-and-run attacks. They ambush soldiers, policemen and informers, then retreat to hide amongst the villagers.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): You've come here and you've seen GAM. We are amongst the people. Protected by the people, funded by the people. They say we are under increasing pressure, that GAM is cornered, that they're closing in on Ishak Daud. What about the people you've interviewed about GAM's status here, where we sleep, who funds us? It's very clear.
But the villagers pay a high price for that support. Ishak Daud says that after every GAM ambush, the security forces take their revenge. Houses are burned down, possessions are stolen, and people are attacked or killed.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): It's not unusual or out of the ordinary. In fact, it often occurs. Whenever GAM attacks the armed forces, then the community is targeted.
Bridges here are designed to be quickly dismantled, to slow the military's advance. This also makes life more difficult for GAM and the villagers. In fact, people say that life is harder than it's ever been, even worse than the brutal 10-year-long military operation known as DOM. Ishak Daud is taking me to a gravesite where nine civilians are buried. Victims, he says, of state-sponsored terror.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): DOM was bad, but they never killed 35 people in one day. Nine were innocent civilians. Small children were beheaded and buried alive. There were only isolated incidents during DOM.
At the beginning of this year, President Megawati Sukarnoputri put the hardline two-star General Yusuf Mangaberani in charge of a new, deadly offensive against GAM.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): They are uneducated. They are former common thugs, former criminals. They are schooled in terrorism. People don't like what they do. We hope that with the participation of the community and progress in our development, in the short term Aceh's problems can be eliminated. We will handle it properly.
REPORTER: How long will it take?
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): By elimination, I don't mean getting rid of them completely because we will need time to get rid of the guerrillas. We'll need time to take effective control of every region.
REPORTER: But how long?
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Possibly this year.
With so many terrified people fleeing their homes, Ishak Daud and his bodyguards have ample choice of places to sleep the night. He's in constant satellite phone contact with GAM leaders throughout Aceh and in Sweden, where the movement is led from exile. But this is a long way from Stockholm. The next morning, farmers are waiting for news that it's safe to tend their plots. They've not been able to go for four days now. The grapevine says there may still be troops around.
LOCAL FARMER (Translation): We would die if we crossed their path. It doesn't only happen in the farms. It also happens here. Us farmers don't dare go to our farms if we haven't received clear information.
It's like this all the time. They'll only go to work if they're absolutely certain that the troops have gone.
LOCAL FARMER (Translation): Even then we do so carefully, slowly. We can't just go. At times some will remain. There will be 40 men, 20 remain and 20 go. We think they have all left when in fact some of them are still there. Not all have left. Some stay and some go. Those who remain then get us.
When the security forces sweep through, everyone disappears, running for their lives to the forest. Last time they came, this man would have run away like everyone else, but stayed with his wife, who was about to give birth. His cousin is a GAM member, and this makes him and his young wife the enemy. After soldiers repeatedly stamped on her belly, her baby is lucky to be alive. Her husband went through several rounds of beatings, and then this.
VILLAGER: They trod on my lower abdomen. They stomped on it. Then my intestines came out. After that I was told to get up and run. I couldn't run anymore. I was told to jump in the drain and drink all the water I could. I said I couldn't drink any more. He said I had to until I vomited. So I drank until I vomited because I was afraid. Then I was told to jump out of the drain and start running. So I ran. If they said 'stop', I stopped. If they said 'walk', I walked.
The soldiers told him they would be back to burn his house down, so he and his wife have moved in with relatives.
The weekend has arrived. Time for the generals running the military operation to leave the pressures of work behind. Whenever he gets the chance, General Mangaberani goes fishing with his closest aides. He once studied psychological warfare in Germany and knows how important it is to look after your men's mental health. Like many of Indonesia's top brass, Major General Mangaberani earned his stars and his fortune in East Timor in the first few years after the invasion. Military legend now has it that, like those early days in East Timor, there are two ways to return home from duty in Aceh - rich, or in a coffin.
REPORTER: How many men have you lost during the problems in Aceh?
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): 100 personnel.
Out here, Mangaberani is more interested in catching fish than answering questions.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Independence is not synonymous with...ah, a big fish. Don't ask any more questions. Oh, another black fish. No more questions. I'm getting dizzy. Or we'll throw you in the water so you can't go home.
These are the foot soldiers in this conflict. They say they love it here.
SOLDIER (Translation): Well, it's fun.
REPORTER: What's fun?
SOLDIER (Translation): A soldier's job is war and here there is a real feeling of war.
They say their main problem is targeting the right people.
SOLDIR (Translation): It's hard to tell the difference between GAM and ordinary people. If we know the difference, it's very easy.
As part of the military's attempts to improve its image as professional army, each soldier sent to Aceh is given a pocketbook outlining the human rights code of conduct. Clause 4.b.1.b, for example, instructs soldiers to be nice to pregnant women. And clause 4.d.1.a teaches them not to burn down innocent people's houses. They're supposed to carry the book with them.
REPORTER: Have you been given the book?
SOLDIER (Translation): Yes.
REPORTER: Is it with you?
SOLDIER (Translation): I left it behind. I haven't brought it. But I have read it. So I know about what can be done and can't be done. Even if we don't know it all, we need to know a bit.
The Dutch Government, through the UN, is funding a series of human rights training programs, for both the military and police.
TRAINING OFFICER (Translation): You must know how to act, whether to retreat, confront, ignore or approach. Only you can know.
These officers are taking the community policing course. The first test - to gauge how brutal they are.
TRAINING OFFICER (Translation): We know our problem, don't we? I was the same when I did the psych test. I was too harsh. I knew that was my weakness and I had to change it.
Little by little, they say they are changing their ways. And in the controlled environment of the classroom, I saw a policeman successfully intervene to stop a fight.
FIRST OFFICER (Translation): I don't have the money to repay my debt to him.
SEOND OFFICER: Calm down. What seems to be the problem here?
FIRST OFFICER: Explain to him I can't pay the debt.
SECOND OFFICER: I think you should settle this like family and not in a public place. That's better.
By trying to convince the world they're reforming, the armed forces hope to overturn the funding freeze imposed by the West after they destroyed East Timor. But even the army spokesman, Lt. Col. Firdaus, admits that problems remain.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL FIRDAUS (Translation): We are very confident because they are well trained over a long period and we watch them constantly. We give them some leeway. But these soldiers are still human beings. Some may not be disciplined, but that isn't representative of all TNI soldiers.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): I always land the big ones. It's the boss dealing with the boss.
With the red groper starting to bite, Mangaberani now believes peace is not far away.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Now, this is peace. This is peace. Oh, a black fish.
For the top brass in Aceh, whether army or police, life is pretty sweet. When you get to this level, you don't have to put up with any nonsense.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): I want to drink coffee and David keeps asking me questions.
Aceh is now Mangaberani's personal fiefdom, and he's brought his oldest and most trusted friends onboard to help run it. This man is the head of internal security.
REPORTER: So why have you been sent here?
HEAD OF INTERNAL SECURITY (Translation): To help out. To help the chief. To solve the situation in Aceh.
REPORTER: Do you come here often?
HEAD OF INTERNAL SECURITY (Translation): This is my first time. Yeah. But I'm happy. There's no problem.
This man runs Indonesia's national traffic police, who make a fortune from bribery and extortion.
REPORTER: Which section are you in?
HEAD OF NATIONAL TRAFFIC POLICE (Translation): I'm in the happy-happy department.
At the other end of the boat, these young officers hope they too may end up promoted to the happy-happy department. They say that life has improved since the fishing general arrived.
YOUNG OFFICER (Translation): The water police are being encouraged to do as much as we can to repair our ships and speedboats, not only those used for fishing or recreation, but also other vessels.
With their idealism still intact, these young recruits see policing as a noble mission.
SECOND YOUNG OFFICER (Translation): Since I was a kid, I've seen TV shows where the police get along well with the community. They are very close to the people. As human beings, we must live in a community and help one another. So inside my heart I knew I wanted to become a policeman.
The Indonesian police force is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country.
Back on the beat in the capital, local police are checking motorists' papers against a list of GAM members. We didn't catch any, but the night wasn't entirely wasted.
OFFICER: A good car, Stop it.
The owner of this car is now walking home. He didn't have his registration papers, so we confiscate his car.
OFFICER: Come here, how do you start it? It is good to drive? It's tough being rich. I don't know.
The owner will have to come and collect his car from the station tomorrow and pay a bribe to get it back. But for tonight, it's ours and we're going to have some fun.
OFFICER: Keep on tripping. Do you like the music, David? Let's go there later and catch some people.
REPORTER: Catch who?
OFFICER: People at the discoteque.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has just launched a major drug offensive, but it's common knowledge that the armed forces control or profit from much of the trade. We're off to the local disco to catch some users. But the only users I saw that night were with me in the car.
OFFICER: I had three hits already. It hasn't come on. Do you want - You don't know what frying means? I can tell from the way you are saying it. What is it? A flame underneath a bit of foil. We burn a little bit. That's frying.
Methamphetamine, or ice, is becoming a major problem in Indonesia. In Aceh, the war zone, it's no different. The only discoteque in town is a seedy place, full of prostitutes, army and police officers and drugs are readily available. None of this would be possible without their direct involvement. But it gets far worse than this.
MARZUKI, YOUNG GAM HOSTAGE (Translation): I was given pills. How was I to know?
REPORTER: They gave you what?
MARZUKI: Pills. A drug - it was like a sweet. I didn't understand.
In East Timor, the military gave their militia proxies 'mad dog' pills to make them crazy. Here in Aceh, young boys like 10-year-old Marzuki are given money and drugs by soldiers who get them to spy on GAM.
MARZUKI: It was like a sweet. I didn't understand. I couldn't think. I said I didn't want any pills. They said they were sweets.
REPORTER: What were the effects? How did you feel?
MARZUKI: I couldn't think straight. I couldn't think and couldn't understand anything.
Marzuki passed the soldiers information that led to the deaths of three of Ishak Daud's men. He is now GAM's hostage and is being held for re-education.
MARZUKI: They gave me lots of pills, not just one. I have these bags around my eyes now, look.
Whatever they get up to at night-time, by day the police have to at least appear to be good Muslims if they have any hope at all of winning the hearts and minds of the deeply religious Acehnese people. So the boys have been sent down to the mosque to pray alongside the people.
POLICE OFFICER OUTSIDE MOSQUE (Translation): People here have been saying the police never pray. They don't realise, we're not wearing uniform. My officers pray in civilian dress. The people don't know. We are showing the police do pray. We are religious. We are not here to arrest people who don't pray. We are not here for that reason.
Back on dry land, after the fishing trip, it's time to divide the spoils. The fish will be distributed amongst the different police chiefs. Keeping them happy will shore up Mangaberani's power base.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): Don't say there is no theory to fishing.
But Yusuf Mangaberani has his eyes firmly set on even bigger fish. While the military's offensive is going well, GAM's civilian leaders are still out of reach. Yet they are sitting right under his nose - holed up here, in this hotel in Banda Aceh.
MAN IN HOTEL ROOM (Translation): We feel this is the safest place for us at the moment.
These are the GAM representatives waiting to return to Switzerland for the next round of peace talks with the Indonesian Government.
MAN IN HOTEL ROOM: There have been five or six meetings in Geneva, but the results of those negotiations on paper have never been implemented out in the field.
SECOND MAN IN HOTEL ROOM: They are just spreading propaganda overseas that they have held a dialogue in Aceh. But the dialogue is just a smokescreen.
Even though they are officially recognised as delegates by the Government in Jakarta, Yusuf Mangaberani can't wait to pounce.
GENERAL YUSUF MANGABERANI (Translation): We are discussing it at the moment. When are they part of the dialogue process and when are they not? We are looking intensively at that. If they are outside protection of dialogue process, then we will arrest them.
And an international conference called to discuss the Swiss peace talks has been cancelled on the General's orders.
LIEM SIOE LIONG, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: So, it's very regretful. We have come here from all over the world just to attend this very important conference. This is probably the very first seminar for many years...international seminar on this very important topic of peace talks, and then suddenly the authorities decide to ban this.
REPORTER: There is already a dialogue going on in Switzerland, and yet to talk about it here in Aceh is not on.
KING OEY, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Exactly. It is completely illogical.
Back in East Aceh, Ishak Daud is going through the daily incident reports. He says there is news of more houses burned down. Revenge attacks after GAM carried out an ambush. From here it's difficult to see where all of this can end.
ISHAK DAUD (Translation): We are still waiting, but...if justice doesn't come to Aceh, and people are killed every day, the best example we can give is the patience of the Palestinian people. Young people carrying bombs around their waists to Israel. This could happen one day in Aceh.