21 years after disaster helped bring peace to Aceh – has botched Indonesian response to floods reignited calls for independence?
A decades-long insurgency in the Indonesian province ended after 2004’s devastating tsunami. But pro-independence talk is on the rise again.
On August 15, 2026, thousands of people gathered at Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the peace agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). During the event, some participants raised GAM's red, black, and white crescent-star flag and chanted "Free Aceh," while others replaced Indonesia's national flag with GAM's.
These displays have reignited calls for Aceh's independence, despite the 2005 Helsinki Agreement bringing peace to the region. GAM's struggle for independence began in 1976 and lasted nearly three decades, resulting in thousands of deaths and widespread human rights abuses. The peace agreement gave Aceh extensive self-governing powers, but lingering grievances over revenue-sharing provisions related to the province's gas fields persist.
Recently, Aceh has been recovering from severe floods and landslides that struck the province in late November 2025, resulting in over 1,000 deaths and displacing more than 1 million people. The central government's response to the disaster has fueled pro-independence sentiments, with calls for Jakarta to declare the disaster a national disaster.
The resurgence of pro-independence sentiment in Aceh highlights the ongoing negotiation of national belonging between states and citizens, and how perceived neglect in times of need can harm regional identity.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
