ACEH: a history of repression and resistance

May 24, 2000
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ACEH: a history of repression and resistance

Aceh has a long and proud history of struggle and has a special place in Indonesian history. Resource rich and devoutly Muslim, it is located 700 kilometres north west of Jakarta at the northern end of the Malacca Straits.

Its 3.5 million inhabitants, who are descended from Arab and Indian migrants and indigenous people, stubbornly resisted Dutch colonisation in the 19th century — long after the rest of the archipelago had been colonised.

One of the first regions in the archipelago to come into contact with Islam, around the eighth century, Aceh has remained strongly linked to Islam.

A succession of kingdoms flourished there, peaking under the rule of Sultan Iskandar Thani in the mid-17th century. After Thani's demise in 1640, the fiercely independent sultanate of Aceh become a battle ground for influence between the British and the Dutch, until the 1824 London Treaty left the area to the Dutch in return for a British free hand in India.

Recalcitrant Acehnese rulers and Muslim leaders led a resistance against the Dutch in the Great Aceh War from 1873, which ended with Japan's occupation in 1942. The Dutch colonial authorities, who dominated most of the archipelago by the turn of the 20th century, had managed to secure a only small area around Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh.

The people of Aceh were among the staunchest supporters of the Indonesian republic when it was proclaimed in 1945 and during the years of freedom fighting which culminated in official recognition of Indonesia's independence in 1949.

But the Acehnese quickly became disillusioned with the republic's leadership, which they generally perceived as corrupt, neglectful and "un-Islamic". Resentment grew when President Sukarno merged Aceh with North Sumatra to form a single province.

A rebellion erupted in September 1953 and the Aceh resistance formally joined the broader Darul Islam movement for an Islamic Indonesia. Conciliatory policies from Jakarta and the Acehnese's willingness to compromise ended the revolt in the late 1950s.

In 1959, Aceh was granted the status of a special territory with considerable autonomy in religious and educational affairs. But, once again, it turned out to be so only on paper.

Resentment against Jakarta has been fuelled by religious, economic and political grievances: the region is more orthodox Muslim than the rest of the country and has sought to protect its strong religious character, and many Acehnese resent what they perceive as Javanese economic and political control over Aceh's natural resources — huge reserves of fossil fuels and extensive forests.

In December 1976, the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement, led by businessman and local nobleman Hasan di Tiro, proclaimed independence for Aceh. The Indonesian government responded by killing some of the movement's leaders and driving others, including Tiro, into exile in Sweden.

OArmed opposition to the central government arose again in 1989, prompting violent anti-rebel military operations that lasted until August 1998. At least 2000 people were killed and gross human rights violations were committed by soldiers during that decade.

President Suharto's demise in May 1998 allowed greater political freedom throughout Indonesia and spawned more open demands for independence for Aceh and a redressing of past human right violations by the authorities.

The Indonesian government's response to the growing demand for a referendum on self-determination for Aceh has been to reject it outright. Instead, President Abdurrahman Wahid has offered broader autonomy.

BY JAMES BALOWSKI

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