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ACEH BACKGROUND Aceh (also known as Acheh, Atjeh or Achin) is located at the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Bordered on the North by the Malacca Strait, on the South by the Indian Ocean. Between 1960-2001 Aceh's official name is The Special Territory of Aceh Province. It currently bear the special status within Indonesia. On July, 2001 the government of Indonesia formally assigned a new name for the province as Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (The State of Peace of Aceh). Brief history: In 1292, Marco Polo visited Sumatra and reported that in Aceh that there were as many as six busy trading ports. A powerful state in the 16th and 17th centuries, Aceh contested control of the Malacca Straits with the Portuguese and the Dutch. Aceh controlled much of northern Malaysian peninsula coast for almost 500 years. At its height, Aceh also has strong influence in most of Sumatra. Holland (Netherlands) officially declared war on Aceh Sultanate in 1873. It was twice defeated before successfully captured capital city of Aceh (then called Kutaradja). It was a long drawn out struggle for the Dutch in attempts to annex Acehnese territory. The Aceh War, which lasted intermittently from 1873 to 1942, was the longest ever fought by the Dutch costing them over 10,000 lives and more than 100,000 Acehnese were killed. In 1942 Dutch colonial powers was rooted out of Aceh and the Dutch permanently withdrew its forces from mainland Aceh. Aceh was transferred from Holland in a 1949 treaty to Indonesia. In the post-independence of Indonesia, central government acknowledged many Acehnese contributions for its prominent role in the struggle for independence by granting the province Special Territory with great autonomy. However, the rights for autonomy was never permitted to be exercised. Hence, the Acehnese never benefit and become integrated into the new nation-state. Aceh is one of the richest provinces in Indonesia, providing to central government with substantial revenues from its oil, natural gas, and other natural resources but Aceh is one of the poorest with a very high number of villages living below poverty level. Aceh Crisis: Independence movement is active in Aceh. History of the conflict is based on political and economic issues. Majority of Acehnese supported a referendum for the right to self-determination there. Economic discrimination and inequality, system of government and legal issues of Aceh becoming a part of Indonesia is the root of the conflict. According to Free Aceh Movement, Aceh was illegally transferred to the newly created nation: Republic Indonesian Federation (RIS) in 1949. Governor General Teungku Daud Beureeh declared Aceh's independence in 1954, then Teungku Hasan di Tiro again declared Aceh's Independence in 1976. Instead of working to ameliorate socio-political and economic conflict through open dialogue, the central government mobilized the military to institutionalize state violence and counter-insurgency against suspected members of the independence movement. The military operation exceeded far beyond counter-insurgency. The brutality brought against the civilians there by Indonesian Military (TNI) is most chilling acts ever executed in Indonesian history. The arm conflict between Indonesian security forces and AGAM (Military wing of GAM) for decades (1954-1959, 1976-1980, 1984-Today) have taken thousands of civilians lives. Most have been killed in decades of often brutal Indonesian military operations. In addition, thousands have been tortured and arbitrary arrested and kidnapped; hundreds of woman have been raped and sexually abused; and thousands have became refugees in their homeland and abroad. Even though government-appointed Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) recommended that the military be disciplined and made accountable for its crimes, under current government, only a handful of lowly-ranked Indonesian soldiers (TNI/ABRI) who committed atrocities were punished. Angered by years of continuous human rights abused and fueled by political, economic, socio-cultural domination and neglect by Jakarta's government, on November 8, 1999, organized by SIRA (Central Information for Referendum Aceh), around two million Acehnese marched to Aceh's capital (Banda Aceh) and demanded a political solution to the conflict: a referendum for the right to self-determination. The referendum movement has majority backing from the locals. The state violence is still continuing in most of the territory today. The killings and forced disappearances is being reported daily. Acehnese villagers through-out the regions brunt the daily terror implemented by the government police/soldiers and counter-insurgency special forces. International community in the past have ignored the Aceh conflict to protect their economic and business interest in region. International Forum for Aceh, a US based NGO Group, lead by Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, campaigns to international community to pressure Indonesia to stop the violence and allow democratic process to take place in Aceh. Tragically, the human rights activist was kidnapped and his brutally tortured decomposed body was recently found in Kabanjahe, Medan, Indonesia. The authority has so far refused to give the result of the autopsy to Jafar's family members. Aceh was and still is, as TAPOL put it a Killing Field and Amnesty International mentioned in its report that Indonesia is Getting a way with Murder in Aceh. Human Rights Watch, a US based human rights organization also have comprehensive reports on human rights violations in Aceh. International pressure to stop the violence in Aceh have been largely ignored by Jakarta. A local Human rights activist said: "What is happening in Aceh is a genocide against the Acehnese people and its way of life. It has to stop. For humanitarian sake, some one must help us." |
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