briefing Aceh Geography and history became an umbrella group for anti- brought under the control of the state establishment forces in Aceh in the peri- and lost their traditional role as political Aceh is located on the northern tip of od before the Second World War. When and religious leaders. Sumatra, bordered on the north by the the Japanese invaded in 1942 they were The economic development under Malacca Strait and on the south by the welcomed for ridding the Acehnese of the New Order favoured particular Indian Ocean. About 4 million people the Dutch, even though the Japanese elites, which resulted in the decline of live in the province, which covers an carried on with the same colonial prac- other social groups. All regional develop- area of nearly 250,000 square km. The tices. After the war the Dutch did not ment – as we have seen in previous sec- capital is Banda Aceh and the main lan- attempt to reoccupy Aceh, but this did tions – was centrally planned and paid guage spoken (next to Bahasa Indonesia) not stop the Acehnese from joining the for with central government funds, and is Acehnese. independence struggle to free themselves staffed by people from the centre. The Since 1988, the conflict in Aceh is of the traditional local gentry who had local government was often not even said to have claimed 30,000 lives.1 Many been collaborating with the Dutch and aware of these development plans and thousands more have been traumatized the Japanese. In the process, the PUSA had no control over them. Although by the random brutalities, murder, rape ulamas took over the leadership role Aceh’s ‘special region’ status was never and torture committed by the armed from the traditional aristocracy.2 revoked, it only existed on paper. In forces under the pretext of suppressing As long as the war for independence practice, the deep penetration of the an armed separatist movement and pro- kept the ‘central government’ busy, the New Order into traditional structures, tecting the unity of the nation. The PUSA leadership operated with full and the many social changes this injustices suffered by the Acehnese have autonomy over Aceh. Once independ- brought, made the Acehnese very hostile led to a strong call for independence as ence was won, Aceh was incorporated towards the regime and its imposed the first, if not only solution to the into the province of North Sumatra and symbols of ‘unity’ and ‘nationalism’. problems. PUSA’s political control was eroded. Violence committed by security person- The Acehnese, like people in most of In 1953 a rebellion broke out, led by nel, mainly by the military, in their role the outer regions, unanimously voice a PUSA leader Daud Beureueh. The ‘as agents of Indonesian unity’, led to common grievance: that the tremendous movement had widespread popular sup- the belief that the idea of ‘a united profits from the exploitation of natural port and the central government was Indonesia was terrifying in itself’.3 resources have returned no real benefit unable to quell the movement by force. to their community. Yet the roots of the Aceh was granted provincial status in Oil and gas conflict date back to the end of the 1957 and the insurgency ended. Two nineteenth century when the Dutch years later Aceh obtained ‘special region’ The discovery of massive reserves of nat- colonial powers decided to expand their status with autonomy over religion, cus- ural gas in northern Aceh in 1971 and colonial rule to the sultanate of Aceh, tomary law and education. the development of the Lhokseumawe starting a war which lasted for 40 years. Industrial Zone (ZILS) five years later In the end the Dutch were able to estab- Aceh and the New Order represented a turning point in contem- lish control because the Acehnese lacked porary Acehnese history. There is a unity: the Acehnese nobility were only Problems started in 1969 when direct link between the discovery of interested in protecting their own Suharto’s New Order regime began to huge natural gas reserves and the respective territories. The last sultan of centralize power further, leaving no increase in military activity, eventually Aceh was exiled in 1907 and by 1913 room for regional autonomy or forces leading to all-out repression and human the Dutch had established administra- like Islam. All independent institutions rights abuses on a massive scale.4 tive control over Aceh. Since Aceh was and alternative sources of power were Paradoxically the richness of its resources staunchly Islamic and very distinct from brought under the control of the regime, turned Aceh – one of the most fiercely the rest of Sumatra and what is now creating new institutions when neces- independent regions – unwillingly into called Indonesia, the Dutch tried to sary. What was left of the traditional vil- the main financial backer of the central depoliticize the ulamas (religious teach- lage structures after the independence government. There were now huge sums ers). Still, a reformist religious revival led war was either destroyed or co-opted by of money to be earned. For the local to the formation in 1939 of the All- the New Order government. The ulamas population, the impact of the new Aceh Ulama Association (PUSA) which in general, and PUSA in particular, were industries was mainly negative. Livelihoods were destroyed by the appro- exploitation but it did not have an tortured and children were left priation of land. The industries provided Islamic agenda. It also lacked arms, seri- orphaned. employment only for skilled labour from ous preparation and foreign assistance, outside Aceh. Transmigrants were and, as a resistance force, it was no After the New Order brought to Aceh to set up food-crop match for the military. In the 1980s, the sites, and to work on plantations and military actions against GAM increased During reformasi (reformation era), after timber estates for the pulp and wood- people’s fear of the army. While the pow- the fall of the New Order regime, a for- processing industries. The sites were ers of the lowest level of government mal ending of military operations and a opened in forest areas, depriving local were eroded, GAM regrouped, re-armed partial troop withdrawal was announced. communities of forest resources and and developed an ideology to win the The resulting power vacuum provided increasing the rate of forest destruction. support of the masses. GAM re-emerged GAM with the opportunity to re-estab- The improved infrastructure and utilities in the beginning of 1989, taking the lish itself. As the political climate were not immediately available to the central and even the local government by changed, civil society in Aceh revived local population. Instead local prices surprise. and blossomed. The people of Aceh were driven up by the demand of the The counter-insurgency operation by found the courage to come forward and residents of the industrial complexes, and the army (Dareah Operasi Militer, bring the years of terror and brutality to pollution reduced the quality of life of DOM) started in 1989 and was designed the attention of the national and interna- the local population. Meanwhile, the as a campaign that would terrorize the tional communities.10 There are now local economy stagnated and landowner- population and make them withdraw close to 100 NGO groups working in ship diminished. their support for GAM. The army was at the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. The For the national government and its the height of its power and thought itself student movement became a new chan- close ally the army, the industrial zone essential to the survival of the New nel to air the continuing frustration of was an important ‘national’ asset. The Order. In the first two years of the the population. The fast-growing non- Jakarta authorities desperately needed the DOM, 2,000 unarmed civilians were violent movement for a referendum income generated in Aceh to pay for eco- killed by the military.5 Many more were served as a focus for the common will of nomic development. The slightest distur- harassed, tortured or made to disappear. the Acehnese and as a measure of their bance would have a national impact. Thousands of women were widowed, political activism after years of suppres- Thus the national ideology of ‘economic their husbands murdered or kidnapped. sion under DOM. The student and development and political stability’ need- Children were orphaned. Some women NGO activists have built up wide net- ed to be enforced strictly at the expense faced sexual violence from soldiers, in works, penetrating the villages and coop- of the development of the province of part as a deliberate instrument of terror erating with local people to strengthen Aceh and its people. against their communities. These women their communities’ local defence. This became pariahs in their own communi- resulted in a decline in influence as well The Free Aceh Movement ties, as some people did not want to as in popular support for GAM. associate with those singled out for such Inspired by the events in East Timor, and the counter-insurgency attention by the military. These single where the referendum in September operation women, with children to support, could 1999 resulted in Indonesia being forced no longer go out safely to work in the to give up its claim on the territory, the The repression by the army, the social fields. Some of these women now work people of Aceh demanded to be given a transformations and the profound eco- for other people in return for a few kilos similar choice. In November 1999, just nomic injustices reinforced both the of rice.