Chapter Fourteen Azizi II

  Aceh is one of the richest provinces in Indonesia in terms of natural resources, producing oil, natural gas, rubber, gold mines, silver mines and timber.

  Aceh was the first region in Indonesia to be exposed to Islam and is considered to be one of the most devout Muslim regions in Indonesia.

  In the early 16th century, Aceh established an Islamic sultanate and by the early 17th century had become the most powerful, wealthiest and most cultivated state in the western Indonesian archipelago.

  Before the arrival of colonialists, the Kingdom of Aceh had entered a feudal society, forming a situation where secular forces represented by Uleebalang and Islamic forces represented by Ulama jointly managed the affairs of Aceh.

  After Western colonizers invaded Indonesia, they were never able to conquer Aceh.

  In 1871, the Netherlands signed the Sumatra Treaty with Britain, and the Dutch tightened their grip on Sumatra, starting a colonial war against Aceh.

  From 1873 to 1903, Dutch colonizers established colonial rule in the region after three Aceh Wars.

  In war, Urima led Muslims in a holy war against the heathens, causing great expense and difficulty for Dutch colonizers.

  The Dutch therefore sought to undermine the influence of Islam in Aceh by supporting the traditional secular power of the uleebalang and promoting secular education. This exacerbated tensions between the uleebalang and ulama, which would have a direct impact on changes in post-war Acehnese society.

  During World War II, as Dutch colonizers withdrew from Aceh, Uleebalang's position of power was weakened.

  In the 1940s, Uleebalang clashed sharply with Daud Beureueh, and in the end Daud Beureueh won, establishing a solid rule in Aceh, making Islam the sole ideology of the region.

  In terms of relations with other regions in Indonesia, Aceh actively participated and made significant contributions to the Indonesian national liberation movement in the first half of the 20th century.

  But since the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia, Aceh's relationship with the centre has been unstable for a long time.

  In the early 1950s, Aceh joined the Darul Islam movement and was one of the regions with more severe local rebellion activities at that time.

  Entering the Suharto era, the separatist movement in Aceh continued intermittently and later expanded further, becoming one of the important issues affecting Indonesia's domestic political stability and regional security in Southeast Asia, increasingly attracting international attention.

  After President Sukarno took power, based on military strength, he implemented centralized governance, taking strict control over the politics and economy of various regions outside Java. He implemented a biased economic policy, focusing on development in central and western parts of the country, resulting in slow economic growth in outer island regions such as Aceh, Riau, Irian Jaya, etc., which stagnated for a long time.

  In this context, Hasan di Tiro returned from the United States to Aceh and issued a declaration of independence, establishing the Free Aceh Movement organization and declaring struggle for the defense of Aceh's independence and freedom.

  In 1956, due to the exposure of the action plan, the Free Aceh Movement was forced to move into the jungle and begin armed struggle.

  This time the separatist movement had less than 200 people directly involved, with the main form of activity being the distribution of leaflets and sporadic violent incidents, to the point where local people equated them with armed bandits.

  Despite this, the Indonesian government quickly took military action and began to suppress the Free Aceh Movement, while Hasan di Tiro went into exile in Sweden.

  Although the Free Aceh Movement was temporarily suppressed, the social, political and economic conditions that led to the emergence of the Acehnese separatist movement have not disappeared. As Indonesia's economy grew, regional development disparities continued to widen, and the contradictions between Aceh and the central government became increasingly sharp.

  After the first failure, some members of the Free Aceh Movement remained active in the jungles of Aceh, while others received military training in countries such as Libya.

  In the first half of 1957, the Free Aceh Movement was revived and spread to Greater Aceh, Central Aceh, North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie, especially active in the last three regencies.

  According to Indonesian military sources, it is difficult to determine the number of guerrilla members of the Free Aceh Movement, which seems to be present in every corner of Aceh.

  Through analysis it can be seen that the Free Aceh Movement mainly focuses on military struggle, its organizational strength is relatively weak, the number of people directly participating in armed struggle is small, and the scale of the struggle is also small.

  Although some members received military training abroad, the armed forces were somewhat strengthened and occupied some remote villages in Aceh. However, overall, the Free Aceh Movement was vastly outmatched by the Indonesian government's military might.

  Secondly, the Free Aceh Movement has had a certain impact on Acehnese society, but overall, social support is insufficient.

  Hassan Dahir Aweys sought foreign assistance and ignored local social forces.

  It is said that Hassan di Tiro met with some local ulama, including Daud Bereueh, the leader of the Acehnese rebellion in the 1950s, upon his return to Indonesia and attempted to gain their support.

  However, because he pinned more hopes on the assistance of Western countries and was worried that explicitly stating the establishment of an Islamic state would lead to prejudice from the West, he did not accept Daud Bereueh's suggestion to establish an Islamic state, causing the latter to refuse to mobilize the masses to participate in the Free Aceh Movement.

  The Free Aceh Movement then grew in size and influence, gaining varying degrees of support from different sections of society, including intellectuals, unemployed workers and impoverished peasants.

  This is partly because of its explicit advocacy for the establishment of an Islamic state, which conforms to the aspirations of the local ulama in Aceh and has greater appeal to the masses.

  On the other hand, due to the local economic and cultural backwardness, the Acehnese society is very dissatisfied with the central government. In order to develop this region, separatist ideas have begun to emerge among local bureaucrats, public leaders and the masses, so the Free Aceh Movement has a certain appeal.

  Despite this, the idea of independence at that time did not conform to the will of all levels of Acehnese society. The local masses did not have a unified desire for independence and were in a state of indecision. They sympathized with the Free Aceh Movement but did not think that independence was the ultimate solution to the problem.

  They pinned their hopes on the central government, trying to gain autonomy through struggle. Therefore, at this stage, the Free Aceh Movement gained some development in strength, but its independence claim was not recognized by most Acehnese and had limited influence locally.

  The Suharto regime's policy towards Aceh was always characterized by tight political and economic control, and military repression.

  Specifically manifested as:

  1. Take strict control measures against Aceh. Although the Sukarno government gave Aceh special autonomous region status, stipulating that Aceh had relatively independent management rights in political, economic, cultural and religious affairs, these provisions were rendered meaningless during the Suharto administration period.

  After President Suharto came to power, he emphasized stability and development. In politics, stability was reflected in the establishment of a complete military regime, relying on armed forces to control the country, and implementing a presidential - ruling professional group - military trinity governance system.

  In local administrative organs, a large number of military officers were appointed as heads of administration at all levels from provincial governors and county magistrates to township chiefs, depriving the locality of its autonomy.

  Economically, development manifests as placing large numbers of serving and retired military officers in key economic sectors, controlling the region's economic production.

  At the same time, the vast majority of local revenue is handed over to the central government, and the central government implements severe policy biases against a few regions in the allocation process.

  Later on, large amounts of natural gas were discovered in North Aceh and production began the following year. However, this did not bring any benefits to the local economy and social development of Aceh.

  The revenue from natural gas goes directly to the central government, while the local people of Aceh had expected that with industrial development there would be more job opportunities, but these positions are mostly occupied by migrants from Java.

  The thriving industrial area and the backward agricultural areas of Aceh, the high income of the Javanese and the poverty of the local people formed a sharp contrast. The dissatisfaction of the region towards the central government and between ethnic groups increased, with various social strata proposing different suggestions to promote local economic and social development.

  The Free Aceh Movement's demand for independence is an extreme manifestation of this discontent.

  The Indonesian central government took a firm military crackdown on the Free Aceh Movement, separatist movement in Aceh region. The Suharto regime based on the military adopted a two-handed policy.

  On one hand, building roads in Aceh politically pacifies most of the people of Aceh but does not take truly effective measures to develop the local economy of Aceh.

  On the other hand, a firm military crackdown was taken against the Free Aceh Movement.

  Policy mistakes in the political and economic fields are the root cause of the emergence of the Aceh separatist movement, while the military's high-handed policy has not eliminated the separatist tendency in Aceh, but instead made the problem more complicated.

  Especially Indonesian military established a military occupation zone in Aceh, preparing for long-term military rule over Aceh.

  It was reported that during this period, the military abused their authority, from intimidation to kidnapping, from rape to massacre, seriously trampling human rights. Approximately 2,000 civilians were killed because they were suspected of having connections with the Free Aceh Movement, and many people were arrested and interrogated.

  Military operations did not completely eliminate the Free Aceh Movement, but instead affected innocent civilians, putting the entire Aceh in a deep national disaster and hatred, central-local contradictions, especially ethnic contradictions were greatly exacerbated.

  This gave a far greater impetus to separatist tendencies among the Acehnese than did the call of the Free Aceh Movement, and can be seen as an important turning point in the popularization of the separatist movement.

  In this case, local media in Aceh continued to expose reports of military atrocities, and the demand for troop withdrawal, trial of military atrocities, and compensation for victims grew louder.

  As Indonesia was in the midst of an attack by the South Moluccan Republic, the central government of Indonesia could not respond quickly, causing the situation in Aceh to become increasingly turbulent.