The triumph of peace in Aceh that was being celebrated yesterday was born out of the horror of the tsunami a year and a day before. Indonesia’s north Sumatran province was closest to the epicenter of the undersea earthquake and was the first landfall for the tidal wave. In a few short horrific minutes, 168,000 Acehnese died. Compared with this, in 30 years of fighting for independence, 15,000 people had been killed. This latter is a terrible enough total, but the scale of death from the tsunami shocked both locals and government out of their confrontation.
Rebels came out of the hills and forests to help their brethren cope with the disaster. And once the scale of the disaster became apparent, the government in Jakarta did not skimp in its own efforts to help the stunned survivors cope with their tragedy. Rebel and soldier and policeman worked alongside each other, united in a bond of humanity. As the crisis passed, they could all have picked up their weapons again and returned to their deadly rivalry. But something had gone out of the conflict. Peace talks, which had been continuing in a desultory fashion for some years, were quickly advanced to the front burner and by August a peace deal was signed in Helsinki.
The rebels would disarm, receive an amnesty and pursue their claims for independence or autonomy by political means. Meanwhile the government promised to withdraw its major security presence in the province and accept that some Aceh politicians would be pressing for independence.
Since August, the rebels have been handing in their weapons while the military has been demolishing much of its security infrastructure and pulling out troops and paramilitary police. There have been occasional hiccups when suspicions among the Acehnese were aroused but this has been a remarkably rapid peace process with no real hitches at all. Yesterday the last of the rebel weapons was handed in. Within the next few days, the last of the anti-insurgency military will have gone and Aceh will be left in peace for the first time for over 30 years,
A cynic might say that this peace has been bought at the price of 185,000 lives, those killed in the conflict and those who perished in the tsunami. It is not an edifying way of looking at this achievement. The tsunami victims may have been seen by themselves or by others as either Acehnese or Indonesians, but everyone who rushed to the aid of their stricken communities saw them primarily as human beings in the grip of tragedy.
It is this humanity that has produced something noble out of a disaster. The wisdom of the Indonesian government and the Acehnese rebels is proof that seemingly intractable conflicts can be ended, by generosity and good will.
It is a lesson that was completely lost on the government and rebels in Sri Lanka, but apparently has not been missed by New Delhi and Islamabad in the wake of the Kashmir earthquake. Hopefully will also have wider application in other enduring conflicts.
