The conflict in Aceh does not run straight along the line of the rise of Acehnese nationalism. The Acehnese have long devoted their energy to ending the abusive acts of the Indonesian government and its armed forces.

The new rise of contemporary nationalism in Aceh is a reaction towards this unending feeling of oppression.

It would thus be misleading and ahistorical to say that the conflict in Aceh was simply a product of the rise of ethnic nationalism provoked by, among others, Hasan Di Tiro ( photo ), as has been claimed by some people.

Hasan, the nominal head of the Free Aceh Movement (or GAM), currently lives in Sweden.

And it would also be a mistake if the present war in Aceh aimed at re-establishing Indonesian nationalism through the heavy deployment of troops.

During the country's revolution in the 1940s, far from taking the opportunity to declare an independent Aceh, the Acehnese made huge contributions to the revolution - both in terms of manpower and economic resources.

But despite their strong republican tendencies - soon after the full sovereignty of the new nation-state of Indonesia was handed over from the Dutch to Sukarno regime - their province was absorbed into the territory of North Sumatra.

Centralistic tendencies

This was the main reason for Daud Bereue's 1953 rebellion, essentially a revolt against the centralistic tendencies of the Jakarta government.

The Bereueh movement did not aim for the separation of Aceh from Indonesia. Rather, the unjust policy of the central government, which had not only broken the promise of autonomy, abolished the very existence of the province of Aceh.

Thus, the way of Indonesian nation state was being built in the post-colonial era was criticised.

Even so, the rebellion was met with the heavy deployment of troops to the region. Several massacres took place during this period, such as in March 1954 when 148 people from two fishing villages in Jeumpa were executed.

The rebellion was later settled only through a non-militaristic approach and the government promised that Aceh would be allowed a degree of autonomy through its status as a special region.

However the broken promise of Sukarno ( photo ) administration, and the brutality of the response to the Bereueh movement, caused disappointment with the Jakarta regime and spread the seeds of Acehnese nationalism among ordinary people.

But again, the status of special region became virtually meaningless and the promised benefits of the autonomy deal were largely unrealised.

This was further exasperated by the rise of the New Order regime, whose nation-building project was based on state terror and the massive exploitation of natural resources.

This could explain Hasan's declaration of Aceh as independent state. It arose in reaction to the way the Indonesian nation state was being built, but was also a reaction to the New Order. As historians note, it was probably not by chance that Hasan's declaration coincided with the New Order's alienation of Acehnese.

This is also illustrated by the fact that Hasan, in 1958, published a book entitled 'Democracy for Indonesia', in which he argued in favor of an "ethno federal" Indonesia.

New Order impact

The popular support for Hasan's movement (in contrast to its previously small number) was the result of New Order practices. The extreme face of the militaristic element of the New Order was most evident in Aceh, where military brutality was profound.

According to Indonesianist Ben Anderson, the New Order practices resulted in more and more Acehnese losing hope and confidence in their share in a common Indonesian project.

Therefore, the collapse of Indonesian nationalism in Aceh and the rise of Acehnese nationalism did not "just happen". Rather, it emerged in reaction to the continued maintenance of an unjust system by the Indonesian government's oppressive regime and the brutality of its armed forces.

The increasing alienation of Acehnese from the New Order vision of Indonesia resulted in a search for other sources of belonging and recognition. Aceh was imagined to be a final stage of the nation, rather than merely a place of origin.

Thus, Acehnese nationalism resulted from the unhappy historical relationship of two entities and the accumulation of disappointment, fuelled by state violence in the region. This was nurtured by the continuous policy taken to address the conflict in Aceh.

To say, therefore, that GAM is the group most responsible for producing Acehnese nationalism is misleading.

Judging this complex phenomenon through GAM's rhetoric is not enough because it would be meaningless if there were no objective conditions to support it.

In fact, what the Indonesian government and the military are doing only corresponds to what GAM has been arguing - that Indonesia is a kind of new colonial state. The government justifies this claim by continuing its unjust system in Aceh.

GAM has said that Jakarta is not interested in the aspirations of Acehnese. Indeed, Jakarta consistently acts in accordance with GAM's claims.

The domination of GAM's discourse and its moves to gain popularity is a consequence of the continued correspondence.

Danger to peace

The government's own policies have contributed to the collapse of Indonesian nationalism in Aceh. The Indonesian military has become the co-author, if not the main author, of this collapse.

If the present operation is intended to re-establish Indonesian nationalism and legitimacy in Aceh, it seems destined to failure. This is compounded by the fact that the present operation has turned to be the war against all Acehnese, including both those who support and oppose Jakarta.

It has also resulted in the killing of many people who might have different political ideas from the central government in Jakarta. But killing people does not kill their ideas, because these are proliferated in other ways.

The military operation is even more dangerous for the genuine hope of solving the problem of Indonesian nationalism in Aceh when the very group that has contributed most to its collapse - the Indonesian military - has been put in charge.

The same people who destroyed Indonesian nationalism in Aceh are now believed to be the ones who can repair it.

Since the military operation will certainly not restore Indonesian nationalism, the present senseless war in Aceh should be stopped.

If Jakarta is serious about such a restoration, then stopping the military operation and starting a new and genuine dialogue with the Acehnese would be the best step for re-establishing nationalism in Aceh.

A version of this article appeared in the Jakarta Post on Aug 19, 2003. The writer, an Acehnese human rights and peace activist and postgraduate student at London Metropolitan University, is writing a MA thesis on 'International Politics and The Rise of Acehnese Nationalism'.