More than two months into Indonesia's military assault to crush a separatist movement in Aceh, Jakarta is yet to face a battery of criticism from the international community, as a meeting of foreign ministers from Asia and Europe revealed last week.

During the gathering hosted by the Indonesian government in Bali, the ministers from Southeast Asia, East Asia and Europe zeroed in on the political and human rights crisis in Burma.

The final statement that came out of the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) on July 24 called on the Burmese military government to immediately release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her party who were arrested on May 30, and to resume the stalled talks on national

reconciliation.

But the controversy over Burma was matched by the silence over Indonesia's military operations against Acehnese rebels that began after Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri declared martial rule in the province on May 19.

'Domestic matter'

Jakarta's success in fending off criticism on the diplomatic front stems from a combination of factors that have shaped the current political mood of foreign governments.

These include the general international support and goodwill for this Southeast Asian archipelago's transition from authoritarianism to democracy, the leeway Jakarta is getting as part of the 'war on terrorism' to crush rebel movements without concern on human rights, and the

perception of Aceh's turmoil as a domestic problem.

''Governments are giving Indonesia a lot of discretion because it has changed from being under an authoritarian system to an emerging democracy. They are letting it handle the Aceh problem its own way," Vitit Muntarbhorn, co-chairperson of the working group for a Southeast Asian human rights mechanism.

There is also a perception that the 27-year-old separatist conflict in Aceh, which lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, can only be resolved by the Indonesia because it is a ''domestic matter'', he added.

''Southeast Asian governments, for one, think of it that way, and you will not see this issue on the agenda at regional meetings.''

Further working in Jakarta's favour is the ability of governments today to mount military operations like the one in Aceh and portray it as part of the US-led global 'war on terrorism', says Withaya Sucharithanarugse, an Indonesia specialist at the Institute of Asian Studies at Bangkok's

Chulalongkorn University.

''So the international community will ignore Aceh.''

Warning for Jakarta

The roots of Aceh's restiveness go back decades and are shaped by the province's resentment of the way the Indonesian central government has profited from its natural resources, such as gas, but given very little back to what today remains a poor area.

Human rights violations that peaked during the last decade of former President Suharto's rule, during which the military virtually ran Aceh, did not improve the stock of the central government. Suharto's 32-year rule ended in 1998.

Close to 10,000 people have been killed during the rebellion led by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). This number includes the 1,300 people, mostly Acehnese civilians, who were killed last year.

But although the operations in Aceh are not getting as much flak now, a report released this week by an independent body warns that Jakarta's offensive could backfire.

If and when this happens, it will be tougher for Megawati to be sure that countries both in and out of the region will continue to look away from what some have called Indonesia's 'dirty war', explains the International Crisis Group (ICG) in a report entitled 'Aceh: How Not to Win

Hearts and Minds'.

''The government appears to have no clear objectives in this war, no criteria for 'success' other than control of territory and body counts, and no exit strategy,'' states the Brussels-based ICG, a multinational organisation that aims to resolve conflicts.

''The military's stated objective is to crush GAM and restore security. The military's criteria for success in this endeavour appear(s) to be numbers of GAM (rebels) killed, arrested and surrendered.''

Pressure on civilians

But such tactics, combined with other humiliating and harsh measures on Acehnese civilians - ranging from compelling people to pledge loyalty to the Indonesian state, checking the background of civil servants and arrests ''not just of GAM fighters but of people branded 'GAM sympathisers' '' - are creating more supporters for the rebels, the report points out.

Civilians in Aceh are expected to participate in mass displays of allegiance to the Indonesian state at ceremonies that include reciting a special oath and raising of the national flag, the report states. At times, 10,000 to 15,000 people have participated in such events.

The military also expects Acehnese civilians to display Indonesia's red-and-white flag outside their homes as a further sign of loyalty to the Indonesian state - and their rejection of the GAM rebels' quest for a separate state.

In one sub-district, the ICG report notes that ''37 houses were reportedly burned to the ground for not displaying the Indonesian flag''.

According to the Commission for Involuntary Disappearances and Victims of Violence in Aceh or Kontras Aceh, the toll on the civilian population since Jakarta launched its offensive in May has consisted of death, torture, disappearances and arbitrary arrests.

In a report released this month, Kontras Aceh notes that by mid-June, it had documented 176 civilian deaths, 101 people tortured, 15 people disappeared and 50 arrests.

At the same time, the military was reporting that 206 GAM rebels had been killed and hundreds arrested, or had surrendered.

ICG said that, by the end of the second month of this conflict, some 40,000 people had been displaced due to the fighting.

Jakarta's declaration of martial rule and deployment of 50,000 troops to Aceh signalled the end of the latest efforts to reach a political settlement in the conflict.

In December, the Geneva-based Henri Dunant Centre mediated a ceasefire agreement between the Indonesian government and GAM.

But martial rule ended that temporary peace and hopes of reviving peace talks are now dim, the ICG report says, since ''the military is determined to finish off the rebels, once and for all, and any non-military solutions have been put on hold''. - IPS