TC 10:00:00Jungle-covered mountains. SunglintTC 10:00:11Aceh Merdeka guerrilla fighters walking through bush Indonesia’s national credo is ‘unity in diversity’ – but what’s happening here, in the jungles of Aceh threatens to break the nation apart.Out-gunned and out-numbered, these guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement, have fought for twenty-three years – now Jakarta’s determined to defeat them once and for all.
TC 10:00:23Walkie-talkie sequence Translation from “Ask how big the enemy reinforcements are.”“Do we have informers among the soldiers?” “There are three. Their names are ***, *** and ***.” “Pass the word to Khamal Batee that we will strike together.”
TC 10:00:52Guerilla Commander This senior guerrilla Commander realises that his struggle could undermine the whole nation.
TC. 10:00:57Sync CommanderTranslationASTON: ABDULLAH SYAFI Free Aceh Commander“Indonesia will disappear - because in every colonial situation, once they let go of one region they have to let other regions go too.”
TC 10:01:06Sitting on jungle floor, talking.
The Acehnese separatists plan their tactics in the full knowledge that dialogue with the government is not even an option. Both sides are determined to fight on. Indonesian army reinforcements have just taken up positions on a nearby hilltop. .
TC 10:01:25Abdullah SyafiTalking on Walkie-Talkie (translation)“If they are really ignorant and hard-headed we may have to take out one of their sub-district military commanders.”
TC 10:01:35Madrasa Aceh GV’s
Their case for independence rests on Aceh’s centuries’-long history as an Islamic sultanate and their bloody resistance to Dutch colonial rule. They are a proud people who see themselves as distinct. They deeply resent what they call “Javanese occupation”.Today, though, 150,000 Acehnese have had to flee their homes because of the fighting and are living as refugees in their own land.These camps are hotbeds of Acehnese nationalism. The Free Aceh flag is defiantly displayed.The camps have grown up around mosques where refugee children are taught Islamic values and a sense of their rich Achenese heritage.
TC 10:02:25Beach and PT Arun Plant
Theirs is a rich natural heritage with extensive tracts of forest, untapped tourist potential and a strategic location at the head of the straits of Malacca. But most Achenese live in poverty – many in the shadow of the huge natural gas and oil plants – the region’s greatest asset. One gasfield alone earns the government seven million dollars every day.
TC 10:02:50ASTON: NASRULLAH DAHLAWY United Peoples of Aceh“The problem since 54 years of Indonesian exploitation is 99 per cent of that richness has gone to Jakarta and only one percent, even less than one percent is left in Aceh.”“The central government has done something worse than the colonialists done in the past.” “The only solution for the Aceh right now is to have a free sovereign state back.”
TC 10:03:14Man on side of truck
In the village of Simpang Jaya we saw how the struggle for that soverign state can cost lives.
TC 10:03:23Woman wailingTranslation:“Those are the feet of my son. The feet of my son.”
TC 10:03:35Bodies in back of truck
Ranmah’s son Khairul was one of a number of villagers cutting timber in a remote logging camp high in the mountains. It was a dangerous area. Khairul and three of his friends died in the latest alleged massacre by Indonesian forces. Seven are still unaccounted for. Khairul was Ramnah’s eldest son – the family’s breadwinner. The security forces warned the villagers here to keep quiet about the incident and they’re frightened. We were the only outsiders to witness its aftermath.
TC 10:04:14Survivors
But the search party found some survivors. Some were too badly wounded to talk, but another was keen to tell us his story.
TC 10:04:24Sync. survivor (no ASTON)“Those who shot us were soldiers why they shot at us I don’t know.” “My friend lay dead. I was lying on the ground, as if mortally wounded. I made groaning noises: ‘Uh… uh’. Then silence, no more gunshots.”
TC 10:04:49Police HQ, then interview with Captain Para Eko
In Aceh, it’s the police force that’s in charge of counter-insurgency… so we went to their regional headquarters to find out their version of what happened to Khairul and his friends. We had an appointment to see the police chief but were fobbed off with a captain. We asked him about alleged human rights abuses and to explain police tactics.
TC 10:05:04CaptainASTON: Captain Para Eko“Ask another question.”
So we asked him a general question about how the police work in this region.
TC 10:05:19Sync Police captain in Indonesian(voice underlay at TC 10:05:30)ASTON: Captain PARA EKO North Aceh Police“Our target is to relate to the people living in the villages by giving guidance and assistance and to maintain a safe community in villages and sub-districts in North Aceh.”
TC 10:05:31BRIMOB troops in jungle
The patrol from the elite mobile police brigade which we followed was reacting to a tip-off. Most of these men aren’t even from here. They are fighting an invisible enemy in hostile territory and seemed terrified… and justifiably so: many police have been killed this year. The stakes are very high. And, a senior Indonesian military commander told us, if the security forces fail to defeat the Free Aceh Movement, the repercussions could be dire.
TC 10:06:37Sync Indonesian colonel in Indonesian(voice underlaid at TC 10:06:57)ASTON: Colonel SYAFUDIN TIPPE Army Commander“Potentially, we could end up just like Yugoslavia. We too consist of a variety of races and it’s entirely possible that we could end up like them. We have to be very wary of disintegration or break-up.”(Underlay) “So we have to keep Indonesia united so that it doesn’t end up like Yugoslavia.”
TC 10:06:56Driving along behind police unit; ambush
Over the past few months, the conflict here has intensified. The security forces are finding it harder and harder to keep the separatists at bay. Rarely a day goes by without more shootings and killings. On the trans-Sumatran highway, just outside Aceh’s main industrial city, Lhoksemawe, we came across a police road block. The police on the scene were in an agitated state. The police said men on motorbikes had ambushed this vehicle, killing a local police chief and his assistant and leaving four others injured.
TC 10:07:42Sync. guerrilla commander in AcehneseASTON: AHMAD KANDANG Separatist Commander“We will fight with our weapons, with our knives -- with our hands if we have to. We will fight until the very last drop of blood, even if we have to die for freedom. We will die like martyrs.”
TC 10:08:03Ahmad Kandang training men.
Ahmad Kandang is one of the core group of guerrilla hardliners, trained in Libya during the 1980s. Held in awe by local villagers, he’s at the top of the government’s wanted list. It’s the first time he’s ever been interviewed.
10:08:23Guerrilla leader in Acehnese “When we take control in our country we will sweep out all Indonesian military and chase out all civil servants.”“As to people who worked and collaborated with the government, we will chase all of them out as well -- not just the Javanese and Indonesian troops.”
10:08:39Going to village Amidst the worsening conflict a small group of lawyers is investigating human rights abuses committed in Aceh. Muhammad Saleh works with the government-funded Legal Aid Foundation. It is dangerous work; these lawyers are constantly being threatened. It was a week before they would risk going to the village of Simpang Jaya to investigate the deaths of Khairul Umuri and the other loggers.
TC 10:09:03Mohammad in carVoice underlay (translation)“Up until now not one of these cases has been solved – and with all the countless human rights abuses that have been committed, a lot of the people died meaninglessly.”
TC 10:09:07Mohammad Saleh continues his journey
Despite his fears – and the Legal Aid Foundation’s uphill struggle – Muhammad Saleh wants to find out whether Khairul’s mother, Ranmah, is prepared to press charges.
TC 10:09:28Greeting and interviewing mother.
Up in their home, a few kilometers beyond Simpang Jaya, villagers have gathered for the wake. It doesn’t take long to emerge, during his interview with Ranmah, that although she is very bitter, she does not want to press charges. She has lost all faith in the government.
TC 10:09:57Sync lawyer in IndonesianASTON: MUHAMMAD SALEH Legal Aid Foundation “If human rights abuses in Aceh continue, leading to more killings, then the families who have been bereaved will certainly be driven to support the Free Aceh Movement. It has been very painful for the families who have suffered these abuses.”
TC 10:10:21Commander hectors crowdsTranslation from Acehnese“We the young generation of today will heal our nation which has been martyred under the axe of imperialist colonialist Java.” “Our struggle for independence means we will no longer be part of a colonial state. So are we now ready to fight faithfully like martyrs for an Islamic Acehnese Nation?“Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”
TC 10:10:51New women recruits
Barely-trained female recruits are paraded in front of the villagers by Commander Syafii. He makes capital of the way the Indonesian security forces are handling this conflict.
TC 10:11:03Female recruit
This eighteen year-old girl told us she’d joined the movement because her mother and brother had been beaten and tortured by the army. She said she feared for her own life
TC 10:11:16Mosque sunset; minaret; paddyfield
The separatists say they’ll accept nothing less than full independence. The government has firmly stated that it will never let go of Aceh. Unlike East Timor, it just can’t afford to – economically, or politically.
TC 10:11:34Mosque interior, bodies, mourning
TC 10:12:15ENDS In another village not far from Simpang Jaya, in what’s becoming known as Aceh’s ‘Triangle of Death’… the results of another massacre. They’re mourning six young men. The army says they were “caught in crossfire” during a shoot-out. The villagers think the army took revenge for the loss of their own men. The government in Jakarta now admits that freedom for Aceh could lead to the break-up of Indonesia. For the people of Aceh it would be the culmination of a long and bloody struggle. But until then there will be a lot more blood spilt, a lot more people mourned.
TC 10:00:23Walkie-talkie sequence Translation from “Ask how big the enemy reinforcements are.”“Do we have informers among the soldiers?” “There are three. Their names are ***, *** and ***.” “Pass the word to Khamal Batee that we will strike together.”
TC 10:00:52Guerilla Commander This senior guerrilla Commander realises that his struggle could undermine the whole nation.
TC. 10:00:57Sync CommanderTranslationASTON: ABDULLAH SYAFI Free Aceh Commander“Indonesia will disappear - because in every colonial situation, once they let go of one region they have to let other regions go too.”
TC 10:01:06Sitting on jungle floor, talking.
The Acehnese separatists plan their tactics in the full knowledge that dialogue with the government is not even an option. Both sides are determined to fight on. Indonesian army reinforcements have just taken up positions on a nearby hilltop. .
TC 10:01:25Abdullah SyafiTalking on Walkie-Talkie (translation)“If they are really ignorant and hard-headed we may have to take out one of their sub-district military commanders.”
TC 10:01:35Madrasa Aceh GV’s
Their case for independence rests on Aceh’s centuries’-long history as an Islamic sultanate and their bloody resistance to Dutch colonial rule. They are a proud people who see themselves as distinct. They deeply resent what they call “Javanese occupation”.Today, though, 150,000 Acehnese have had to flee their homes because of the fighting and are living as refugees in their own land.These camps are hotbeds of Acehnese nationalism. The Free Aceh flag is defiantly displayed.The camps have grown up around mosques where refugee children are taught Islamic values and a sense of their rich Achenese heritage.
TC 10:02:25Beach and PT Arun Plant
Theirs is a rich natural heritage with extensive tracts of forest, untapped tourist potential and a strategic location at the head of the straits of Malacca. But most Achenese live in poverty – many in the shadow of the huge natural gas and oil plants – the region’s greatest asset. One gasfield alone earns the government seven million dollars every day.
TC 10:02:50ASTON: NASRULLAH DAHLAWY United Peoples of Aceh“The problem since 54 years of Indonesian exploitation is 99 per cent of that richness has gone to Jakarta and only one percent, even less than one percent is left in Aceh.”“The central government has done something worse than the colonialists done in the past.” “The only solution for the Aceh right now is to have a free sovereign state back.”
TC 10:03:14Man on side of truck
In the village of Simpang Jaya we saw how the struggle for that soverign state can cost lives.
TC 10:03:23Woman wailingTranslation:“Those are the feet of my son. The feet of my son.”
TC 10:03:35Bodies in back of truck
Ranmah’s son Khairul was one of a number of villagers cutting timber in a remote logging camp high in the mountains. It was a dangerous area. Khairul and three of his friends died in the latest alleged massacre by Indonesian forces. Seven are still unaccounted for. Khairul was Ramnah’s eldest son – the family’s breadwinner. The security forces warned the villagers here to keep quiet about the incident and they’re frightened. We were the only outsiders to witness its aftermath.
TC 10:04:14Survivors
But the search party found some survivors. Some were too badly wounded to talk, but another was keen to tell us his story.
TC 10:04:24Sync. survivor (no ASTON)“Those who shot us were soldiers why they shot at us I don’t know.” “My friend lay dead. I was lying on the ground, as if mortally wounded. I made groaning noises: ‘Uh… uh’. Then silence, no more gunshots.”
TC 10:04:49Police HQ, then interview with Captain Para Eko
In Aceh, it’s the police force that’s in charge of counter-insurgency… so we went to their regional headquarters to find out their version of what happened to Khairul and his friends. We had an appointment to see the police chief but were fobbed off with a captain. We asked him about alleged human rights abuses and to explain police tactics.
TC 10:05:04CaptainASTON: Captain Para Eko“Ask another question.”
So we asked him a general question about how the police work in this region.
TC 10:05:19Sync Police captain in Indonesian(voice underlay at TC 10:05:30)ASTON: Captain PARA EKO North Aceh Police“Our target is to relate to the people living in the villages by giving guidance and assistance and to maintain a safe community in villages and sub-districts in North Aceh.”
TC 10:05:31BRIMOB troops in jungle
The patrol from the elite mobile police brigade which we followed was reacting to a tip-off. Most of these men aren’t even from here. They are fighting an invisible enemy in hostile territory and seemed terrified… and justifiably so: many police have been killed this year. The stakes are very high. And, a senior Indonesian military commander told us, if the security forces fail to defeat the Free Aceh Movement, the repercussions could be dire.
TC 10:06:37Sync Indonesian colonel in Indonesian(voice underlaid at TC 10:06:57)ASTON: Colonel SYAFUDIN TIPPE Army Commander“Potentially, we could end up just like Yugoslavia. We too consist of a variety of races and it’s entirely possible that we could end up like them. We have to be very wary of disintegration or break-up.”(Underlay) “So we have to keep Indonesia united so that it doesn’t end up like Yugoslavia.”
TC 10:06:56Driving along behind police unit; ambush
Over the past few months, the conflict here has intensified. The security forces are finding it harder and harder to keep the separatists at bay. Rarely a day goes by without more shootings and killings. On the trans-Sumatran highway, just outside Aceh’s main industrial city, Lhoksemawe, we came across a police road block. The police on the scene were in an agitated state. The police said men on motorbikes had ambushed this vehicle, killing a local police chief and his assistant and leaving four others injured.
TC 10:07:42Sync. guerrilla commander in AcehneseASTON: AHMAD KANDANG Separatist Commander“We will fight with our weapons, with our knives -- with our hands if we have to. We will fight until the very last drop of blood, even if we have to die for freedom. We will die like martyrs.”
TC 10:08:03Ahmad Kandang training men.
Ahmad Kandang is one of the core group of guerrilla hardliners, trained in Libya during the 1980s. Held in awe by local villagers, he’s at the top of the government’s wanted list. It’s the first time he’s ever been interviewed.
10:08:23Guerrilla leader in Acehnese “When we take control in our country we will sweep out all Indonesian military and chase out all civil servants.”“As to people who worked and collaborated with the government, we will chase all of them out as well -- not just the Javanese and Indonesian troops.”
10:08:39Going to village Amidst the worsening conflict a small group of lawyers is investigating human rights abuses committed in Aceh. Muhammad Saleh works with the government-funded Legal Aid Foundation. It is dangerous work; these lawyers are constantly being threatened. It was a week before they would risk going to the village of Simpang Jaya to investigate the deaths of Khairul Umuri and the other loggers.
TC 10:09:03Mohammad in carVoice underlay (translation)“Up until now not one of these cases has been solved – and with all the countless human rights abuses that have been committed, a lot of the people died meaninglessly.”
TC 10:09:07Mohammad Saleh continues his journey
Despite his fears – and the Legal Aid Foundation’s uphill struggle – Muhammad Saleh wants to find out whether Khairul’s mother, Ranmah, is prepared to press charges.
TC 10:09:28Greeting and interviewing mother.
Up in their home, a few kilometers beyond Simpang Jaya, villagers have gathered for the wake. It doesn’t take long to emerge, during his interview with Ranmah, that although she is very bitter, she does not want to press charges. She has lost all faith in the government.
TC 10:09:57Sync lawyer in IndonesianASTON: MUHAMMAD SALEH Legal Aid Foundation “If human rights abuses in Aceh continue, leading to more killings, then the families who have been bereaved will certainly be driven to support the Free Aceh Movement. It has been very painful for the families who have suffered these abuses.”
TC 10:10:21Commander hectors crowdsTranslation from Acehnese“We the young generation of today will heal our nation which has been martyred under the axe of imperialist colonialist Java.” “Our struggle for independence means we will no longer be part of a colonial state. So are we now ready to fight faithfully like martyrs for an Islamic Acehnese Nation?“Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”
TC 10:10:51New women recruits
Barely-trained female recruits are paraded in front of the villagers by Commander Syafii. He makes capital of the way the Indonesian security forces are handling this conflict.
TC 10:11:03Female recruit
This eighteen year-old girl told us she’d joined the movement because her mother and brother had been beaten and tortured by the army. She said she feared for her own life
TC 10:11:16Mosque sunset; minaret; paddyfield
The separatists say they’ll accept nothing less than full independence. The government has firmly stated that it will never let go of Aceh. Unlike East Timor, it just can’t afford to – economically, or politically.
TC 10:11:34Mosque interior, bodies, mourning
TC 10:12:15ENDS In another village not far from Simpang Jaya, in what’s becoming known as Aceh’s ‘Triangle of Death’… the results of another massacre. They’re mourning six young men. The army says they were “caught in crossfire” during a shoot-out. The villagers think the army took revenge for the loss of their own men. The government in Jakarta now admits that freedom for Aceh could lead to the break-up of Indonesia. For the people of Aceh it would be the culmination of a long and bloody struggle. But until then there will be a lot more blood spilt, a lot more people mourned.