BBC, 21 May, 2003

Reporter: Michael Vincent

ELEANOR HALL: Now to the conflict to our north, and it's already clear that the offensive in Aceh, which has been underway for a little more than 48 hours, is severely affecting civilians.

Overnight came the news that almost 200 schools in the province have been destroyed by fire, with some Acehnese saying it's a deliberate effort to target the community's future.

But while the Indonesian military has issued instructions for the extermination of the separatist rebels, are Indonesian soldiers responsible for the torching of the schools? Or is it, as the Indonesian military claims, the Acehnese rebels themselves who are lighting the fires?

Well strategic analysts in Australia say both sides can gain from this tactic, which is part of the psychological warfare which has gone on in the province for years, as Michael Vincent reports.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Across Aceh dozens of school buildings are burning and children's books are being turned into ashes. It's yet another low mark in what's often been referred to as
Indonesia's dirty war.

Aceh's Military Commander, Major General Endang Suwarya, has blamed GAM rebels for carrying out the school burnings to make Acehnese think martial law, declared on Monday, would only bring disaster.

GAM has denied being behind the school torchings.

Dr Harold Crouch, who set up the International Crisis Group's Jakarta office, and who now works for the ANU, says both sides can gain from the tactic.

HAROLD CROUCH: This sort of thing's been happening right through the battle in Aceh since way back. It's common for there to be reports of schools being burnt. The military says it's the GAM that burns them down. GAM says it's the military burning them down in order to blame GAM. So, from the distance, even people in Jakarta or Banda Aceh don't know who's actually doing it.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Why would each side try to blame the other one for burning down the buildings? What do either side hope to gain?

HAROLD CROUCH: Well they're discrediting the other side by saying these people are not interested in the welfare of the Acehnese people, they're depriving school children of education and so on, so they've started a propaganda campaign I would say.

MICHAEL VINCENT: On both sides?

HAROLD CROUCH: Well whoever's doing it, we don't know who's actually doing it. Maybe both, for all we know.

MICHAEL VINCENT: But others are less convinced that the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, would burn down the schools, even if they were trying to blame it on the military.

Dr Damien Kingsbury, from Deakin University, has been receiving reports from non-government organisations as well as GAM from Aceh, and while it's impossible to verify who is doing the torchings, he says the Indonesian military has form when attacking civilian buildings.

DAMIEN KINGSBURY: They're not trying to win the hearts and minds of the Acehnese people, they're trying to crush them, and they've used the military has been using the language of crush, exterminate and so on, and they want to cow them, they want to beat them into submission.

Of course, in terms of winning the hearts and minds, this is going to be, and has in the past been an abject failure, but the TNI has historically worked on the basis of you repress, you don't encourage or bring people around through negotiation or political resolution.

MICHAEL VINCENT: There are reports from the field as well that it could be GAM that is responsible for the burning of schools and the like, in the hope of turning the people against the military and blaming the burnings on the military. Do you believe that?

DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Well, there's the reports I'm getting is a lot more than schools being burnt. Like I said, villages, houses and so on, and that's certainly not going to help GAM's position if they're doing it. And the history of GAM in Aceh has been they haven't done this.

If you look at the history, the form of the TNI in places like in East Timor, and indeed in Aceh in the past, they have a track record of burning schools and doing things like this. There's suddenly a huge influx of TNI, of the Indonesian military into Aceh and we see this pattern being repeated. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to work out what's going on here.

MICHAEL VINCENT: But wouldn't it also play into GAM's hands, though, if they could burn down a few buildings and blame it on the TNI?

DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Look, it's possible, but it is just so unlikely and so out of keeping both with GAM and, like I said, with the track record of the TNI. The TNI has a track record in burning schools, but the GAM doesn't.

Now, maybe, maybe the Free Aceh Movement is using this as a means of turning public opinion against the TNI, but I think if one was to work out the odds, I would suggest that that wouldn't be the way it would fall.