Aceh mungkin menjadi Vietnam yang kedua tetapi kali ini umat Islamlah yang akan menjadi mangsa akibat mereka yang sudah mabuk kuasa. Apa yang menarik Malaysia mungkin terlibat dengan kemusnahannya kerana penjualan senjata itu tentu lumayan pendapatannya kepada pengekspotnya. Kehadiran jurucakap GAM di Malaysia serta butiran terperinci berita ini dari Kuala Lumpur membayangkan Malaysia sudah lama menjadi tempat bersarangnya projek memusnahkan Aceh seteruk-teruknya. Mungkin kerana itulah kedutaan Malaysia di Indonesia kerap menjadi mangsa bom dan serangan tetapi puncanya digelapkan dari mengetahuinya. Sikap kerajaan ini akan membahayakan nyawa diplomat dan kakitangan kedutaan yang tidak tahu hujung pangkal cerita.

Banyak peristiwa ngeri di Indonesia seperti pergaduhan suku kaum Dayak dan Madura tercetus akibat provokasi pihak luar. Pihak luar inilah yang tidak mahu kerajaan yang kuat pegangan Islam mereka muncul di mana-mana pulau di Indonesia. Aceh adalah satu-satunya tempat yang sukar ditembusi penjajah kerana pegangan Islamnya yang agak kuat. Hari ini ia cuba dimusnahkan kerana kebimbangan ia akan menjalar ke sebelah sini. Ancaman yang diterima oleh kedutaan Malaysia di Indonesia menunjukkan Malaysia dipercayai terlibat dalam kancah yang ngeri ini.

Dengan tersiarnya berita dari Kuala Lumpur ini kepercayaan itu nampaknya semakin mencecah hakiki. Malaysia mencampuri urusan negara luar dan membunuh umat Islam sendiri.... Apakah kerajaan mahu menunggu beratus-ratus keranda tiba baru mahu mengaku permainan yang kotor ini?

Rencana Rujukkan:

Pengirim: -MT-

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/ 2001-04/25/article4.shtml#t

Aceh, The New Vietnam?

by Kazi Mahmood

KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 (IslamOnline) - While Indonesia is stepping up efforts to launch the light military operation in the restive province of Aceh, members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Tuesday promised a new Vietnam in Asia.

In the 1960s, the United States met their most humiliating defeat in war in Vietnam, a war that also devastated that Southeast Asian country.

The GAM has said that Indonesian troops, now beefing up already existing ground forces in the province, will face their own Vietnam in the province and has warned Javanese immigrants of harsh actions from its part.

An elite 500-member unit of the Indonesian army flew to Aceh on Monday to serve as logistics support in an anti-guerilla war that observers speculate is bound to take place soon. This, however, has not deterred the Acehnese, even though sources said thousands more troops will be deployed in the region in hopes of crushing the separatists.

Two weeks ago, Indonesian military reinforcements entering Aceh were met with grenade launched attacks and bazookas from the GAM. Five military trucks from Medan in Sumatra were attacked and destroyed in what observers said could be part of the GAM's announced all out war.

Observers believe that the GAM is not only a powerful guerilla force, but that it could also lead a lengthy conventional war against the powerful and feared Armed Forces of Indonesia (TNI).

The GAM, observers told IslamOnline, have more than 50,000 war ready troops, most of whom were trained in the early 1980s and late 1990s in Tripoli, Libya.

"Most of the 50,000 are fully armed to the teeth and ready to take on the TNI. However, I know they have more than 50,000 armed troops all over Aceh." Sodik Solleh, who now lives in Malaysia, told IslamOnline.

He said GAM claims that it can lead an all out war in the province was not a "joke, as the GAM was a rich organization that has beefed up its arms arsenal during the past few years of reformasi [reform] in Jakarta."

Arms were channeled via neighboring countries that may have included Malaysia and the Philippines. The GAM has strong relationships with both the Moro Islamic Liberation Movement (MILF) and separatists in southern Thailand.

"The GAM has the advantage of knowing the province by heart. It is already controlling several areas of Aceh where the military dare not step its foot.

"Its army is composed of men and women, experienced in guerilla war against the TNI," Solleh said.

He added that in the past, under the Suharto regime, the Acehnese were not ready since they had little access to armaments.

"In the past three years, the arms movement towards Sumatra has more than quadrupled. The GAM invested a lot in arms of the latest designs and quality. The number of dead soldiers recovered from Aceh recently is proof," Solleh added.

Indonesian troops sent to Aceh have also been specifically trained in guerrilla and anti-guerrilla warfare techniques. Their aim is to deal with the insurgents for at least two months.

The reinforcements were trained by the Army's elite Kopassus force, which has a great deal of experience with GAM fighters, having been posted in Aceh during a bloody and unsuccessful military operation between 1988 to 1998, in which between 3,000 and 5,000 people were killed.

Indonesian commanders hope that the reinforcements will be able to tip the military balance in their favor after a series of embarrassing defeats in recent months.

Sources said the number of TNI armed men and paramilitary police in Aceh now stands at around 30,000 garrisoned in the province.

The GAM has already deployed hardened veteran troops to Pidie, North Aceh and South Aceh to "welcome" the TNI.

"In the past, the Javanese troops could enter Aceh and rape the women. Now they cannot do that. There is a strong sense of hatred and anger against them to the extent that they [the Javanese] cannot even run the state apparatus," IslamOnline was told.

Aceh had been a nightmare for both the Japanese and Dutch invasion forces in the past. The Dutch failed to capture Aceh and submit its rule even after decades of war and destruction.

Aceh used to be the most successful Muslim state in the region before the coming of the European conquistadors.

At the time of Indonesian independence, the Acehnese agreed to join the federation of the Republic of Indonesia. "The Javanese took advantage of that and invaded the territory," Solleh said.