Aceh on the Net

Every side of the conflict is found in cyber-space

Three indispensable, complementary full-length academic papers on armed struggle in Aceh appear as free downloads in the East-West Center Washington Policy Studies series (http://www.eastwestcenter.org/res-rp-quicksearchresults.asp?step=2&id=129). They are The Aceh Peace Process: Why It Failed by Edward Aspinall and Harold Crouch, The Free Aceh Movement (GAM): Anatomy of a Separatist Organization by Kirsten Schulze, and Security Operations in Aceh: Goals, Consequences, and Lessons by Rizal Sukma.

Two later papers in the series are each available for US$5. These are Konrad Huber’s The HDC in Aceh: Promises and Pitfalls of NGO Mediation and Implementation, and Rodd McGibbon’s Secessionist Challenges in Aceh and Papua: Is Special Autonomy the Solution? Orders may be placed online from the site. See also the full text of Supriyanto Basuki’s December 2003 Naval Postgraduate School master’s thesis (http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/research/theses/Basuki03.asp).

One dedicated corporate source of current news on Aceh is the Banda Aceh newspaper Serambi Indonesia (http://serambinews.com), part of the Kompas Gramedia group. Its site recently underwent a long-delayed, full-fledged successful redesign which includes a large archive (arsip) and very flexible search engine.

Independent Indonesian journalists write high-quality critical exclusives on acehkita (http://www.acehkita.com). A somewhat pared-down English site is also available (http://www.acehkita.com/en). Acehkita keeps a data bank of its postings, and the entire site is conveniently searchable, greatly facilitating research. Both Serambi and acehkita are eminently current.

Re-posts from mainly (essential) mainstream news sources appear on the more full-featured but lesser-trafficked acheh-eye (http://www.acheh-eye.org for English, http://www.acheh-eye.org/index-bahasa.html for Indonesian). Some tabs on this site lead to selective primary documentation from several parties (including ASNLF, the Acheh-Sumatra National Liberation Front, more commonly known as GAM) engaged in the protracted conflict. Eye on Aceh is recorded as a Sydney organisation, but the acheh-eye website was registered by Kurt Biddle, coordinator of the Indonesian Human Rights Network (in the US). The links page is far more extensive on the site’s English version, indicating its potential special appeal to English-only readers. Aceh articles from Inside Indonesia are prominent. While seeking balance and objectivity, the site slants toward views of the loosely organised Aceh international solidarity movement.

For over 13,000 pages of news and views on Aceh covering the 1990–2002 period, type keyword ‘aceh’ in Ohio University’s full copy of the Apakabar Database (http://www. library.ohiou.edu/indopubs/search/search.html). Add a few hundred more results with the variant ‘acheh.’ Searches may easily be refined. If Ohio’s instructions aren’t enough, hit the word SWISH-E on the page to discover all your options. Entries in the database may also be read chronologically, starting at any date (http://www.indopubs.com/db.html).

The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Aceh Operations Command still provides token news summaries (http://www.koops-tni-nad.mil.id), complete with arsip, on an almost never visited site with rudimentary explanations of its ‘integrated operation’. News and other features on the site of the equally unread and now (nominally) terminated information operation of the Aceh Military Emergency Authority (http://pdmd-nad.info) are no longer updated. Still, just a few years ago even the existence of these half-hearted sites would have been unthinkable.

Remarkably, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (formerly Henri Dunant Centre) website (http://www.hdcentre.org) was also rarely read, but many primary documents on its peace process may be viewed there. Just type ‘aceh’ in the site search box. Other prime sites for historical documentation and analyses remain the LIPI-LASEMA compendium (http://www. communalconflict.com/aceh.htm), Radio Nederland’s stunning Dokumenter Aceh (http://www.rnw.nl/ranesi/html/doku_aceh_2003.html) assembled by Aboeprijadi Santoso, and especially the Harvard Conflict Prevention Initiative’s Sumatra portal (http://www.preventconflict.org/portal/main/maps_sumatra_resources.php), complete with many elusive links, news, and a (partially) clickable special bibliography (http://www.preventconflict.org/portal/main/aceh_bibliography.php).

The ASNLF leadership in Sweden also maintains its own relatively small and seldom frequented documentation and agitprop site (http://www.asnlf.com/topint.htm). Aceh’s regional government (Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, NAD) has a humdrum official website (http://www.nad.go.id) worth a look for features like the full text and explanation of Law No 18 of 2001 governing Aceh’s special autonomy (http://www.nad.go.id/index.php?show=Profil&idshow=1&idsubshow=31). There is also a very detailed physical and political map (http://www.nad.go.id/index.php?show=Geografi) which may be clicked to enlarge any of 96 areas, but the ironically present tourist map (http://www.nad.go.id/index.php?show=Pariwisata) is far more entertaining. More maps may be viewed simply by typing keywords ‘map aceh’ or ‘peta aceh’ in Google’s image search (http://images.google.com). The private Indonesia One English, drop-down menu-driven Aceh page (http://www.indonesiaone.net/aceh) has far more capsule information on many aspects of life in Aceh, and, despite some dating, remains helpful if somewhat sterile.

üor anything related to Aceh not specifically mentioned in this brief article, a truly excellent adventure may be had by exploring the English, Indonesian, and Dutch homepages for Aceh in the free net-written Wikipedia encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aceh, http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAD, http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atjeh).

John A MacDougall (johnmacdougall@comcast.net) is the editor of Indonesia Publications (http://www.indopubs.com) and moderates the indonesian-studies list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indonesian-studies).