Aceh Case Study

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Empirics
*does post-conflict transformation happen only to the homeland or it can happen to diaspora communities too??

Aceh

Background to the conflict

Aceh is located in the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia. Its population is estimated around 4 million and the great majority of the population are Muslims. The province of Aceh has many ethnic groups; of them, the main four are the Acehnese, which represent 90% of the population, Gayonese, Alas and Tamiang (McCulloch 2005). The territorial status of Aceh consists the main incompatability beween the Indonesian government and GAM that led to the outbreak of the armed conflict in 1976 (UCDP 2013). That year Hasan di Tiro established the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and declared the independence of the region from the state of Indonesia (ASNLF Declaration of Independence 1976). GAM is driven by an ideology of national liberation and its main aim is to free Aceh “from all political control of the foreign regime of Jakarta and the alien people of the island of Java” (Ibid.)1.
The conflict is divided into three periods. The first began with the formation and declaration of independence by GAM. Due to the weakness of the insurgency and the attraction of only a few supporters, mainly “idealistic intellectuals”, GAM was defeated by the Indonesian Government thanks to the military repression and the economic programs it used. Thus, the end of this first rebellion found many GAM supporters being imprisoned or executed and the leadership was forced to exile (Schulze 2004; UCDP 2013). The renewal of the conflict began at the end of 1980s. To confront the reinvention of GAM, the Indonesian security forces launched “harsh counterinsurgency operations” characterized by repression ...

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...rests, detention, torture, deaths in custody, disappearances and extrajudicial executions”. Holding the position of Minister for Security and Political Affairs with the governments that endorsed the martial law and the “state of emergency” law in 2003 and in 2004 respectively, KRAMD urges that this person “must be held fully accountable for the systematic war crimes by his security forces post-tsunami and during the peace process” (Preparatory Committee of the Free Acheh Democratic 2006b, Press release, 6 March).

The peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and GAM solved the conflict in Aceh. The region has entered a new period, meaning the post-conflict transformation process. However, this conflict trnasformation period does not affect only the Acehnese living in Aceh but it has a trnasformation impact on Acehnese diaspora groups as well.

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