Heeding Integration: Importance of Chemistry of the Government and the People

By: Kathleen Alicia Bong

National integration means the unification of various cultural and social communities into a
unified region forming a national identity. As a nation of vast archipelago comprising more
than 17.000 islands and population numbering around 255 million people, Indonesia has a
tremendously diverse range of culture and customs. This diversity might be beneficial for
Indonesia, but it might as well serve as a threat leading to disintegration–the state of dis-
unification. Disintegration causes harm to the nation’s well-being. Ever since the nation’s
breakthrough from colonization, there has been a lot of diversity-driven conflicts which
largely affected Indonesia’s integration; one of them being Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Views on whether GAM was a treason–the crime of betraying one’s nation, vary. Some
might think that GAM was just a self-defense mechanism against the brutal and ignorant
government. It is no lie that the government had never failed to disappoint Aceh in the past
by exploiting them and continued to feign ignorance toward their voice of pleas. However,
this does not mean that GAM’s actions could ever be justified. They were violent, savage,
and brutal. Then again, everything about GAM was a result of the emotional scars and
traumas caused by the irresponsible government.

Firstly, ever since Indonesia became an independent nation, Aceh had developed a great
deal of disappointment toward the government’s treatment toward them. Having being a
community which highly upholds customs and belief, Aceh demanded Soekarno a special
authority to implement a regional Islamic law as the reward for their great contributions
during the Dutch’s second military aggression.[1] However, Soekarno never kept his
promise. What was worse is that he tried to assign Aceh under the North Sumatera
province, thus provoking the revolt of DI/TII. After the government succeeded in seizing
the rebellion with violence, the government continued nonchalantly ignoring Aceh’s pleas.
The government did not just stop at that and continued disappointing Aceh. On 1971,
Soeharto made a syndication agreement with America to exploit Aceh’s newly found gas
and mining resources.[2] Additionally at that time, Aceh was experiencing increase in
unemployment rate. This made the Acehnese very sensitive and thus Hasan Tiro, who
supported DI/TII, led a revolution of separatism act. He was intelligent and came from a
highly respected family in Aceh, thus easily gaining supports from the Acehnese. [3] This
movement is GAM, which was declared in 4th December 1976.

Secondly, the traumatic Operation Red Net (DOM). To free Aceh, Tiro sought for helps
and validations internationally. He lobbied and campaigned around about “decolonization”
from Indonesia, thus gaining sympathy from Libya, which offered training for his troops in
1986. He also joined hands with other separatist movements like Timor-Timur and RMS. [4]
With Tiro’s thorough preparations, Soeharto sensed that GAM was a big threat and
launched DOM in 1990. The Indonesian army played dirty; they practiced a large-scaled
human rights abuse against the Acehnese. Reportedly, these abuses involved mass rape,
torching, torture, etcetera.[5] This operation went on for nearly a decade and worsened the
relationship between Acehnese and the government.

After Soeharto was stripped of his power and Timor-Timur succeeded in separating itself
from Indonesia, hope made its’ way back to GAM. They went savage against the
government, struggling for their independence again. However, in 26 December 2004, after
the Aceh tsunami, the tension between the government and GAM subsided. Negotiation
was finally on the table, even though Aceh resisted at first. [6] They then came to an
agreement and signed the MoU Helsinki in 15 August 2005, where Aceh was guaranteed
specialized autonomy.[7]

GAM is an evidence of the fundamentality of integration. External threats from other

countries are easier to handle compared to internal threats like GAM. Until present,
Indonesia is still facing threats toward the nation’s integration. An example is the Papua’s
separatist movement which is threatening the nation’s integration. According to CNN, the
government gave Papua a special autonomy (OTSUS) to facilitate their economic
infrastructures and human rights enforcement in Papua.[8] However, in reality, the
application of the autonomy is far from expectation and no thorough evaluation was ever
implemented by the governments; causing Papua to urge the government to revise the
OTSUS policies through demonstrations.

In any way, the government holds a major role in maintaining integration. A lot of
integration-disrupting movements are heavily influenced by the government. As a
democratic nation with the motto unity in diversity, the government should establish a great
chemistry with the people by heeding their opinions in a serious manner. Movements like
GAM is just the Indonesian people expressing their opinions and feelings toward the
government. Despite that, GAM also caused damages in economic, contravened the
nation’s ideology, and instability of the governance. These damages could have been
minimalized if the government was able to truly utilize Indonesia’s strengths and
opportunities to tackle its’ weaknesses and threats. For instance, Indonesia already has a
great deal of experience with revolts. All that is left to do is utilize this knowledge to act on
future revolts and most importantly, prevent them with education and constant reflection on
Indonesia’s law. As for external threats, if the unity foundation of the nation is initially
strong, Indonesia will not have to worry about provocations from the outsiders which can
be handled with Indonesia’s peaceful upbringing and neutrally good international
relationships.

In conclusion, a country’s well-being is highly determined by its’ integration. Even though

Indonesia had had its’ dark past dealing with revolts like GAM, Indonesia surely had learnt
from it. Whether or not GAM was a treason, it varies from view to view; and there is
definitely no right or wrong in having opinions, especially in this democratic nation. It is
true that GAM was brutal and anarchist; and there is nothing that could justify their actions.
They caused a lot of damages to the country for having opposing the country’s ideology.
However, GAM’s actions were just results of traumas and disappointments accumulated
toward the government and the government could have done thousands of times better, care
for, understand, and build chemistry with them.
Word Count: 999

References:

1. Wahyuni, Murni Wahyuni Murni, et al. “SEJARAH Pemberontakan Gerakan Aceh

Merdeka (GAM) Di ACEH Tahun 1976-2005.”
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jom.unri.ac.id/index.php/JOMFKIP/article/view/8586. Accessed 26 Aug. 2021.
2. Ivan Aulia Ahsan, et al. “GAM Lahir Demi Kedaulatan Atas Kekayaan Alam
Aceh.” Tirto.id, Tirto.id, 4 Dec. 2017,
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