Verandah of Violence

In Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh, the democratization process that began in Indonesia in 1998 encouraged the overt expression of regionalist sentiment and resentment of the military. The surprising extent of both feelings made Aceh, home to a long-standing independence movement, the next potential candidate after East Timor to break away from Indonesia, and led to harsh repressive measures by the military.

The tsunami of December 2004 brought incalculable destruction and loss to Aceh. At the same time, it brought international sympathy and aid on an unprecedented scale, along with new pressures for peace. In August 2005, Indonesia and Aceh signed a peace agreement designed to put an end to the conflict.

This book offers a guide to the complexities of modern Aceh, a land dubbed "The Verandah of Mecca," as it moves toward peace and reconstruction. With balanced coverage by leading authorities, historians, political scientists, and journalists, Verandah of Violence probes the underlying causes of the conflict that has pitted Aceh against Jakarta, explaining why the Acehnese entered the Indonesian republic in 1945 with an unparalleled determination to resist outside domination, and how these attitudes have shaped Aceh's relations with the Indonesian state.

Anthony Reid is the founding director of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. A student of Aceh since the 1960s, he is also the author of An Indonesian Frontier: Acehnese and Other Histories of Sumatra. Other contributors include Teuku Ibrahim Alfian, Edward Aspinall, M. Isa Sulaiman, Aleksius Jemadu, Damien Kingsbury, Lee Kam Hing, Leslie McCulloch, Rod McGibbon, E. Edwards McKinnon, Michelle Ann Miller, William Nessen, Peter G. Riddell, and Kirsten Schulze.

Maps and Illustrations

In Memoriam

Preface

Acknowledgements

Spelling and Usage

Contributors

Glossary and Abbreviations

Chronology of Events

1. Introduction, Anthony Reid

2. Indian and Indonesian Elements in Early North Sumatra, E. Edwards McKinnon

3. Aceh in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: "Serambi Mekkah" and Identity, Peter G. Riddell

4. The Pre-modern Sultanate's View of its Place in the World, Anthony Reid

5. Aceh at the Time of the 1824 Treaty, Lee Kam Hing

6. Colonial Transformation: A Bitter Legacy, Anthony Reid

7. Aceh and the Holy War (Prang Sabil), Teuku Ibrahim Alfian

8. From Autonomy to Periphery: A Critical Evaluation of the Acehnese Nationalist Movement, M. Isa Sulaiman

9. Violence and Identity Formation in Aceh under Indonesian Rule, Edward Aspinall

10. Sentiments Made Visible: The Rise and Reason of Aceh's National Liberation Movement, William Nessen

11. Military Business in Aceh, Damien Kingsbury and Lesley McCulloch

12. Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency: Strategy and the Aceh Conflict, October 1976-May 2004, Kirsten E. Schulze

13. Democratisation, the Indonesian Armed Forces and the Resolving of the Aceh Conflict, Aleksius Jemadu

14. What's Special about Special Autonomy in Aceh?, Michelle Ann Miller

15. Local Leadership and the Aceh Conflict, Rodd McGibbon

Bibliography

Index