Aceh: Democratization and the politics of co-option

For many years, the confl ict in Aceh was seen as one of the bitterest and most intractable in Asia. The death toll was low compared to that in some other confl icts in the region (nobody knows for sure, but around 15,000 to 30,000 died between 1976 and 2005); but for many years there was little sign that a compromise solution would be possible. The two sides seemed equally intransigent: on one side, a small but determined ethno-nationalist insurgent group called Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM, Free Aceh Movement) declared that Indonesia was an alien and neocolonial imposition; on the other was an authoritarian and centralizing regime, President Suharto’s New Order (1966-1998) that gave little space for expression of regional interests and was inclined to use military force to respond to challenges.