Please read this book. Very insightful, also very alarming. It
is another "Vietnam" coming to a country near you.
The situation is actually quite serious and though there is a
general news blackout, Singapore is already somehow involved.
Some of the rebels were exiled to SIngapore and later moved to
Sweden.
These people have been fighting before the birth of modern
Indonesia. They fought the Dutch, the Japs, the Dutch again. When
Indonesia became independent, the Acehnese were betrayed and they
began fighting the Indonesians.
Besides independence for Aceh, the bigger cause they are fighting
for is to make Indonesia an Islamic Republic - as opposed to a
democratic republic. They have big ambitions.
This Islamisation is gaining momemtum all over Indonesia.
Why Aceh is important for us to understand is that although there
is a news blackout, this place looks like the most potentially
troublesome place eventually for SE Asia.
It is not difficult to imagine JI finding lots of willing converts
in Aceh.
Ever wondered why Singapore responded so generously to the
Acehnese?
Could it be because we want to be buy some goodwill from a
potentially explosive population?
The Indonesian military had been killing indiscrimately and all
kinds of abuses heaped upon the Acehnese. Not difficult to predict
that the war will increase beyond Aceh's borders as the Acehnese
start bring the war to the Indonesians.
Now there is only one or two organisations like GAM that's fighting
the Indos. It's a matter of time before more extremist factions
emerge.
The loss of E Timor in the extreme east of their empire surely puts
the Indos in no mood to lose yet another chunk in their western
most.
