Six arrested for election terror in Aceh

Six arrested for election terror in Aceh

Nani Afrida and Hotli Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Banda Aceh | Tue, 03/13/2012 9:37 AM

The police announced Monday that the six men arrested for illegal possession of explosive devices might be linked to a terror plot ahead of the upcoming gubernatorial election on April 9.

Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan said the suspects were all Acehnese, who probably wanted to execute the attack in the lead-up to the Aceh election.

“There’s a possibility that the planned attack was aimed at disturbing the election. But we don’t know if the explosives were to be detonated on the day of the poll,” said Iskandar, adding that the police were still seeking three other suspects, who were still at large.

The police confiscated five bombs, which were made from pipes and iron bars. “We managed to confiscate the bombs before they were transported to Meulaboh, West Aceh,” said Iskandar.

The police arrested the six men in different areas; three in Aceh Besar, which is the stronghold of independent gubernatorial candidate Irwandi Yusuf, and another three in Aceh Utara, the base of candidate Zaini Abdullah, who is supported by the Aceh Party — the political vehicle of former combatants of the now-defunct Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group.

“The men who were arrested in Aceh Utara were allegedly involved in the murder of Cagee [Saiful Husain], a former GAM member,” Iskandar said.

Cagee, a member of Irwandi’s campaign team, was killed in July 2011. It was reported that Cagee had criticized the Aceh Party for not supporting Irwandi, the former head of GAM’s intelligence unit who is seeking his second term as governor.

However, the police refused to provide details on whether the suspects had ties with parties involved in the election.

The Aceh Party declined allegations of having any links with the suspects. “It’s true that the suspects are former GAM combatants. We should wait for the court’s verdict,” said Aceh Party spokesperson Fachrul Razi.

“If they are really Aceh Party members and have committed the crimes, they will be dismissed from the party.”

Aceh is striving to recover, both economically and socially, from more than three decades of separatist conflict that claimed more than 17,000 lives. In August 2005, GAM agreed to drop its demand for independence and signed a peace accord with the Indonesian government, less than one year after the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that killed at least 220,000 people in the region.

However, infighting among former GAM combatants has been blamed for the escalation of election-related violence, which claimed 15 lives since October of last year.

Aceh gubernatorial candidate Muhammad Nazar acknowledged a trend of intimidation by certain candidates’ supporters. “If the violations cannot be resolved immediately, we are afraid people will take the law into their own hands. It’s going to be full-fledged violence among the candidates,” Nazar said.