Development of Free Aceh Movement

Under the guidance of Hassan Diro's political ideas, the Free Aceh Movement was founded in 1970s, and now it has become one of the earliest and most influential organizations in Aceh. Its activities can be roughly divided into three stages: mid-1970s and early 1980s, late 1980s and early 1990s, and 1998 till now.

The first and second stages of "Free Aceh Movement" were under the rule of Suharto's military regime. 1965 After President Suharto came to power, he implemented centralized rule based on military strength, strictly controlled the politics and economy of the outer islands, implemented an inclined economic policy, and paid attention to the development of parts of the central and western regions, resulting in the economies of the outer islands such as Aceh, Riau and Irian Jaya.

In this context, Hassan Dillo returned to Aceh from the United States, issued the Declaration of Independence on June 5438+0976+065438+1October 4, established the Free Aceh Movement and declared to fight for the independence and freedom of Aceh. 1977, the "Free Aceh Movement" was forced to turn into the jungle and start an armed struggle because its action plan was leaked. Less than 200 people directly participated in the separatist movement. The main forms of activities are distributing leaflets and sporadic violence, so that local people equate them with armed bandits. . Despite this, the Indonesian government quickly took military action to suppress the "Free Aceh Movement", while Hassan Diro went into exile in Sweden on 1979.

Although the "Free Aceh Movement" was temporarily suppressed, the social, political and economic conditions that prompted the Aceh separatist movement did not disappear. With Indonesia's economic construction, the regional development gap is widening, and the contradiction between Aceh and the central government is becoming increasingly acute.

After the first defeat, some members of the Free Aceh Movement stayed in the jungle of Aceh, while others received military training in Libya and other countries. 1In the first half of 1989, the "Free Aceh Movement" rose again, covering Greater Aceh, Central Aceh, North Aceh, East Aceh and Pitie, especially the last three counties. According to Major General Pramona of the Indonesian military, from the middle of 1990 to the beginning of 1993, it was difficult to determine the number of guerrilla members of the Free Aceh Movement, who seemed to be all over Aceh. Shortly after the movement began, the Indonesian central government sent a large number of troops to suppress the "Free Aceh Movement" and began to occupy Aceh militarily from 65438 to 0990 to strengthen its control over the region.

Through the analysis, we can see that the "Free Aceh Movement" was dominated by military struggle in the first and second stages, and its organizational strength was relatively weak. In the first two stages, the number of people who directly participated in the armed struggle was small and the scale of the struggle was small. Although some members received military training abroad, the armed forces were strengthened and occupied some remote villages in Aceh. But in general, the "Free Aceh Movement" is far from the military strength of the Indonesian government. Secondly, the "Free Aceh Movement" had a certain impact on Aceh society, but overall, social support was insufficient. In the first stage, Hassan Rorty tried to get foreign aid and ignored local social forces. It is said that Hassan Diluo met some local ulemas at the beginning of his return to Indonesia, including Daud Beureueh, the leader of the local rebellion in Aceh in the 1950s, trying to gain their support. However, because he pinned more hopes on the aid of western countries and worried that the establishment of Islamic regime would cause prejudice in the west, he did not accept daud Beureu's proposal of establishing Islamic regime, which led the latter to refuse to mobilize the masses to participate in Free Aceh. In the second stage, the "Free Aceh Movement" grew in scale and influence, and was supported by intellectuals, unemployed workers and poor farmers. On the one hand, it clearly advocates the establishment of Islamic regime, which conforms to the wishes of the local ulema in Aceh and has great appeal to the people; On the other hand, due to the backward local economy and culture, Aceh society is very dissatisfied with the central government. For the development of the region, the idea of separation has begun to appear among local bureaucrats, public leaders and the public, so the idea of "Free Aceh Movement" has a certain appeal. However, the thought of "independence" in this period did not satisfy the wishes of all social strata in Aceh. The local people have no unified independent will, but are in an ambiguous state. They sympathize with the "Free Aceh Movement", but do not think that "independence" is the ultimate way to solve the problem. They have hope for the central government and try to gain local autonomy through struggle. Therefore, in the first two stages, the power of "Free Aceh Movement" has developed, but its "independence" proposition has not been recognized by most Aceh people, and its local influence is limited.

Suharto's policy towards Aceh has always been based on strict political and economic control and military repression. The specific performance is: 1 Take strict control measures against Aceh. Although the Su Jianuo government granted Aceh the status of Special Administrative Region and stipulated that Aceh had relatively independent management power in political, economic, cultural and religious affairs, these provisions were ineffective during the Suharto government. President Suharto emphasized stability and development after he took office. Politically, "stability" is manifested in establishing complete military rule, relying on armed forces to control the country, and implementing the trinity rule system of president-ruling professional group-army. In local administrative agencies, a large number of officers have been appointed as administrative heads at all levels, from governors, county heads to township heads, depriving local autonomy. Economically, "development" shows that a large number of active and retired officers are placed in important economic sectors to control regional economic production. At the same time, most of the local income was turned over to the central government, which made a serious policy tilt to a few areas in the distribution process. 197 1 year, a large amount of natural gas was discovered in north Aceh, and production began in 1977. However, this has not brought any benefits to the local economic and social development in Aceh. The income from natural gas goes directly to the central government. The local people in Aceh originally expected more employment opportunities with the development of industry, but most of these jobs were occupied by immigrants from Java. The prosperous industrial area is in sharp contrast with other backward agricultural areas in Aceh, the high income of Javanese and the poor life of local people in Aceh. The region is increasingly dissatisfied with the central government and the nation, and different social classes have put forward different suggestions to promote local economic and social development. The thought of "independence" represented by "Free Aceh Movement" is the extreme expression of this dissatisfaction. 2. Suharto regime resolutely suppressed the "Aceh Freedom Movement". For the separatist movement in Aceh, the Suharto regime, which is dominated by soldiers, adopted a two-handed policy. On the one hand, it built roads in Aceh and appeased most Aceh people politically, but it did not take really effective measures to develop the local economy in Aceh. On the other hand, the "Free Aceh Movement" was resolutely suppressed by the military. Although the scale and influence of the "Free Aceh Movement" in the first two stages were relatively small, the Indonesian central government quickly took action to suppress it.

The political and economic policy mistakes are the root of the separatist movement in Aceh, and the military high-handed policy has not eliminated the separatist tendency in Aceh, but has made the problem difficult to return. In particular, Indonesian soldiers established a military occupation area in Aceh in 199 1 year and ruled Aceh for nearly1year. It is reported that during this period, the army abused its power, from intimidation to kidnapping, from rape to massacre, and seriously trampled on human rights. About 2,000 civilians were killed on suspicion of links with the Free Aceh Movement, and many were arrested and interrogated. Military action did not completely eliminate the "Free Aceh Movement", but hurt innocent civilians, plunged the whole Aceh into deep national disaster and hatred, and greatly intensified the contradictions between the central and local governments, especially ethnic contradictions. The "driving force" produced by this local separatist tendency in Aceh is far greater than the appeal and influence of the "Free Aceh Movement", which can be said to be an important turning point in the popularization of the separatist movement.

1998 president Suharto stepped down, centralized politics ended, Indonesia began to transition to political democratization and multi-party system, and the central government's control over local governments weakened. Under this circumstance, the local media in Aceh have reported the military atrocities one after another. "A stone stirs up a thousand waves", and the voice of the local society in Aceh for withdrawing troops, judging the military atrocities and compensating the victims is growing. As Indonesia is in the transition period of power, the central government cannot respond quickly, which leads to the increasingly turbulent situation in Aceh.

At the end of June 1999, students from all over Aceh organized a rally to demand a referendum on Aceh's political status. The "Free Aceh Movement" has revived. Members of the "Free Aceh Movement" in exile returned to Aceh and began to mobilize the whole people instead of student organizations, trying to replace national self-determination with the requirement of independence. The conflict between its armed forces and the central government forces is escalating, which makes the situation in Aceh deteriorate gradually. Before 1998, guerrilla activities were concentrated in Aceh, East Asia, and by 200 1, the activities of "Free Aceh Movement" had spread all over the province. It is said that the organization has 17 base areas, and each base area has 7 military headquarters. And has its own army, police and even marine corps, *** 17000 personnel. In addition, the Free Aceh Movement claims to have representative offices in 60 countries. Indonesian Defense Minister Ma Fu admitted that 80% of Aceh's land is already in the hands of pro-independence elements. It should be pointed out that apart from the separatist stance of the Free Aceh Movement, there are also different opinions on the direction of Aceh. For example, the student movement advocates a referendum and the local government advocates the implementation of a special autonomous region.

The expansion of separatist activities in Aceh and the independence of East Timor have caused a negative chain reaction in other parts of Indonesia. The independence tendency of Irian Jaya, Maluku, Riau and North Sulawesi provinces, which have always been dissatisfied with the central government on the issue of resource allocation, has increased accordingly, putting Indonesia, which has 17000 islands, in danger of disintegration. Some people even worry that if it is not handled well, Indonesia will become the "second Balkan" and the whole country will be in a state of disintegration.

Facing the chaotic situation in Aceh, successive Indonesian governments have tried to control the separatist tendency in Aceh by giving Aceh more local autonomy under the premise of national reunification. For the armed independent forces represented by the Free Aceh Movement, the Wahid government once controlled them through peaceful negotiations, signing a ceasefire agreement and other measures, but it did not fundamentally solve the problem. Since Megawati succeeded as president in August, 20001,Indonesia's domestic political situation has been relatively stable. On the one hand, on the premise of ensuring national reunification, the central government maintained the plan formulated by Habibie and Wahid governments to give more local autonomy, and held consultations with the local government in Aceh in an attempt to ease the situation. On the other hand, the pro-independence armed forces represented by the "Free Aceh Movement" were suppressed by tough means. However, from the current situation, these measures are not effective. The violent conflict in Aceh continues, and the whole society is still in turmoil, which also directly affects the political stability and economic development of Indonesia.

It is worth noting that investigating the atrocities committed by the army in Aceh is one of the fuses for the resurgence of the separatist movement in Aceh. However, from Habibie government to Wahid government and Megawati government, this issue is basically avoided, which is closely related to Indonesia's political characteristics. However, as some moderate Islamic organizations in Aceh have said, if the government can initially investigate the atrocities committed by some soldiers, perhaps the situation will not develop from calling for a referendum to an independence movement. A lawyer in Aceh also pointed out that the correct way to win the hearts of the people is to prosecute the military and police who committed human rights atrocities in Aceh province according to law.

Generally speaking, the root of the trend of separation in Aceh is economic interests, and the "Free Aceh Movement", as the representative of this trend, is mainly armed struggle, and its influence in Aceh is gradually expanding, and the factor that promotes the "popularization" of the separation movement in Aceh is the mistake of government policy. Under the current situation, investigating the atrocities committed by soldiers in Aceh is one of the prerequisites to solve the Aceh problem, but if we investigate the Aceh problem, it will directly harm the interests of military groups. Because the army has always played an important role in Indonesia's political life, whether in Suharto's ruling era or for the current Indonesian government. Therefore, the solution of the Aceh issue involves not only the relationship between the central and local governments, but also the relationship between the main ethnic groups and ethnic minorities. More importantly, it is closely related to the overall political and institutional characteristics of Indonesia. The real solution of the Aceh issue is related to the reform of Indonesia's political system and the development process of political modernization.