Aceh: A New Dawn

1. Civil War, Conflicts and Natural Disasters

7 1 Civil War, Conflicts and Natural Disasters Michael Vatikiotis The tsunami that hit Aceh on 26 December 2004 was a natural disaster of historic proportions. More than 170,000 people lost their lives. Great swathes of coastline were submerged and mauled by the earthquake and subsequent giant black waves that hit without warning that eerily bright and clear morning. Half a million people were left homeless; 600 villages were destroyed.The city of Banda Aceh resembled a nuclear bombsite, its buildings flattened. Only the great city mosque was left standing in the area washed over by the waves. Driving through the smaller town of Meulaboh just a few weeks later gave one the curious sense of being on the film set of a disaster movie. Yet the tsunami will be remembered as a historical turning point as well. For in the wake of the devastating black waves, there followed a peace agreement with the rebel movement that had waged war with Jakarta for thirty years. It took less than seven months for the government in Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement based in Sweden to reach a Facing page:Wreckage in Banda Aceh. Photo courtesy of Mercy Relief. 8 deal and sign a Memorandum of Understanding in Helsinki in August 2005. In the subsequent months, as sceptics predicted that Jakarta would have a hard time selling the agreement at home, or that the armed rebels would not surrender their weapons, it became clear that the tsunami had exhausted both sides and there was a willingness to work towards peace. From the ground, amid the wreckage of homes, schools, and hospitals, and the memories of so many vanished lives, it was very hard to imagine anyone arguing for more war. One thing was certain after the tsunami that killed so many tens of thousands of Acehnese: there’s nothing more pressing for ordinary people than the need to rebuild their shattered lives. It was never easy on the ground to elicit views about autonomy or independence; the security forces were everywhere, as was the fear of reprisal or extortion from the Free Aceh Movement.Yet after decades of civil war, a devastating natural disaster, and now with the promise of billions of dollars in aid for reconstruction, all the Acehnese really seemed to want was a normal life.The major disaster had changed the mindsets of local and national leaders alike to end the conflict. * * * The roots of conflict in Aceh stretch back into the Indonesian republic’s early history.The modern claim to Acehnese independence is based on the fact that the old Islamic sultanate with its trading links to Europe and the Middle East was never formally incorporated into the Dutch colonial empire.Yet the Acehnese agreed to join the fledgling republic in 1949 in return for special treatment. Jakarta gave Aceh “special territory” status, but then proceeded to carve up the area’s abundant natural resources between foreign and Jakarta-based interests. After an early rebellion was put down in the 1950s, a new separatist movement emerged in the mid-1970s. Initially, the “Gerakan Aceh Merdeka” (GAM), or Free Aceh Movement, could only draw on limited popular support. But as the Indonesian military reaction to the movement grew harsher, so too grew the alienation of ordinary Acehnese.The Indonesian military’s common practice of “sweeping” for rebels meant that ordinary Acehnese villagers were subjected to rough interrogation and random acts of violence. Although pushed underground, the GAM could draw on popular support in remote areas and by the late 1990s even in some urban areas.The Indonesian military invested heavily in special operations, but never managed to defeat the rebels. More than 15,000 people, mostly civilians, died in the protracted rebellion. During the brief cessation of hostilities in 2002–03, organized and implemented by the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, it is widely recognized that the level of 9 conflict was reduced and human rights abuses on both sides curtailed. But there was precious little goodwill on either side.The GAM was unwilling to give up its claim to independence, and the Government of Indonesia was under pressure from security quarters to crush rather than deal with the rebels. Even under the enlightened government of President Abdurrahman Wahid in 2001–02, there was almost no chance that a negotiated settlement would survive in Jakarta’s factionalized and nationalistic political environment. Then the tsunami...