Introduction: the forging of identity, the imperative of political voice and meeting human needs
Judith Large and Aguswandi
The war in Aceh is the product of years of exclusion for its people. The 2005 peace agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was founded on democratic process, and on political representation and redistribution of wealth - in principle, at least. It provides autonomy, not independence, for Aceh, which is potentially problematic given Jakarta's history of broken promises over devolution, and the scale of violence against the Acehnese by the Indonesian military. Large and Aguswandi chronicle Aceh's peace processes, from the 'humanitarian pause' agreed in 2000, to the, so far, successful Memorandum of Understanding, reached in Helsinki in 2005.
