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Acheh Darussalam
Prehistory
According to several archaeological findings, the first evidence of human habitation in Acheh is from a site near the Tamiang Riverwhere shell middens are present. Stone tools and faunal remains were also found on the site. Archeologists believe the site was first occupied around 10,000 BCE.
Pre-Islamic
The history of Acheh stretches back to the Lambri Kingdom. Several documented references indicate that Hindu-Buddhist culture existed in the area before its Islamization.
The people of Lambri were described by Marco Polo as “idolaters”, who had a Maharaja as their ruler, a king in the Hindu political structure, likely meaning they were Hindus/Buddhists, or a combination thereof.
The inscription at Tanjore of Rajendra Chola I documents the conquest of a land called “llämuridesam”, located at the northern tip of Sumatra. The Nagarakritagama documents the possessions of the Imperial Majapahit, and states that they control Barat, identified as the western coast of Acheh. Chinese records indicate that Acheh was under the control of the Sriwijaya.
Though many temples were left abandoned or converted into mosques, such as the Indrapuri Old Mosque,
some evidence remains, such as the head of a stone sculpture of Avalokiteshvara Boddhisattva was discovered in Acheh. Images of Amitabha Buddhas adorn his crown in front and on each side. Srivijayan art estimated 9th-century CE collection of National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta. One of the few structural remains is the Indra Patra fort, which has several Hindu shrines.
Historic names such as Indrapurba, Indrapurwa, Indrapatra, and Indrapuri, which refer to the God Indra, also indicate that Hinduism had a lasting and significant presence in this country.
Beginnings Of Islam In Southeast Asia
Evidence concerning the initial coming and subsequent establishment of Islam in Southeast Asia is thin and inconclusive. The historian Anthony Reid has argued that the region of the Cham people on the south-central coast of Vietnam was one of the earliest Islamic centers in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, as the Cham people fled the Vietnamese, one of the earliest locations that they established a relationship was with Acheh.
Furthermore, it is thought that one of the earliest centers of Islam was in the Acheh region. When Venetian traveller Marco Polo passed by Sumatra on his way home from China in 1292 he found that Peureulak was a Muslim town while nearby ‘Basma(n)’ and ‘Samara’ were not. ‘Basma(n)’ and ‘Samara’ are often said to be Pasai and Samudra but evidence is inconclusive. The gravestone of Sultan Malik as-Salih, the first Muslim ruler of Samudra, has been found and is dated AH 696 (AD 1297). This is the earliest clear evidence of a Muslim dynasty in the nusantara/Malay area and more gravestones from the 13th century show that this region continued under Muslim rule. Ibn Batutah, a Moroccan traveller, passing through on his way to China in 1345 and 1346, found that the ruler of Samudra was a follower of the Shafi’i school of Islam.
After the initial appearance of Islam in Acheh, it further spread into the coastal regions by the 15th century.
Acheh soon became a cultural and scholastic Islamic center throughout Southeast Asia. It also became wealthy because it was a center of extensive trade.
The Portuguese apothecary Tome Pires reported in his early 16th-century book Suma Oriental that most of the kings of Sumatra from Acheh through Palembang were Muslim. At Pasai, in what is now the North Aceh Regency, there was a thriving international port. Pires attributed the establishment of Islam in Pasai to the ‘cunning’ of the Muslim merchants. The ruler of Pasai, however, had not been able to convert the people of the interior.
Sultanate of Acheh Darussalam
The Sultanate of Acheh was established by Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah in 1511. In 1584–88 the Bishop of Malacca, D. João Ribeiro Gaio, based on information provided by a former captive called Diogo Gil, wrote the “Roteiro das Cousas do Achem” (Lisboa 1997) – a description of the sultanate. Later, during its golden era, in the 17th century, its territory and political influence expanded as far as Satun in southern Thailand, Johor in Malay Peninsula, and Siak in what is today the province of Riau. As was the case with most non-Javan pre-colonial states, Achenese power expanded outward by sea rather than inland. As it expanded down the Sumatran coast, its main competitors were Johor and Portuguese Malacca on the other side of the Straits of Malacca. It was this seaborne trade focus that saw Acheh rely on rice imports from north Java rather than develop self sufficiency in rice production.
After the Portuguese occupation of Malacca in 1511, many Islamic traders passing the Malacca Straits shifted their trade to Banda Acheh and increased the Acehnese rulers’ wealth. During the reign of Sultan Iskandar Muda in the 17th century, Achenesse influence extended to most of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. Acheh allied itself with the Ottoman Empire and the Dutch East India Company in their struggle against the Portuguese and the Johor Sultanate. Achenese military power waned gradually thereafter and Acheh ceded its territory of Pariaman in Sumatra to the Dutch in the 18th century.
By the early 19th century, however, Acheh had become an increasingly influential power due to its strategic location for controlling regional trade. In the 1820s it was the producer of over half the world’s supply of black pepper. The pepper trade produced new wealth for the sultanate and for the rulers of many smaller nearby ports that had been under Acheh control, but were now able to assert more independence. These changes initially threatened Acheh integrity, but a new Sultan Tuanku Ibrahim, who controlled the kingdom from 1838 to 1870, reasserted power over nearby ports.
Under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 the British ceded their colonial possessions on Sumatra to the Dutch. In the treaty, the British described Acheh as one of their possessions, although they had no actual control over the sultanate. Initially, under the agreement the Dutch agreed to respect Acheh independence. In 1871, however, the British dropped previous opposition to a Dutch invasion of Acheh, possibly to prevent France or the United States from gaining a foothold in the region. Although neither the Dutch nor the British knew the specifics, there had been rumors since the 1850s that Acheh had been in communication with the rulers of France and of the Ottoman Empire.
Acheh War
Pirates operating from Acheh threatened commerce in the Strait of Malacca, the sultan was unable to control them, Britain was a protector of Acheh and gave the Netherlands permission to eradicate the pirates, The campaign quickly drove out the sultan but the local leaders mobilized and fought the Dutch in four decades of guerrilla war, with high levels of atrocities. The Dutch colonial government declared war on Acheh on 26 March 1873. Acheh sought American help but Washington rejected the request.
The Dutch tried one strategy after another over the course of four decades. An expedition under Major General Johan Harmen Rudolf Köhler in 1873 occupied most of the coastal areas. Köhler’s strategy was to attack and take the sultan’s palace. It failed. The Dutch then tried a naval blockade, reconciliation, concentration within a line of forts, and lastly passive containment. They had scant success. Reaching 15 to 20 million guilders a year, the heavy spending for failed strategies nearly bankrupted the colonial government.
During the course of the war, the Dutch set up the Gouvernment of Acheh and Dependencies under a governor, although it did not establish wider control of its territory until after 1908.
The Acheh army was rapidly modernized, and Acheh soldiers butchered Köhler (a monument to this atrocity has been built inside Grand Mosque of Banda Acheh). Köhler made some grave tactical errors and the reputation of the Dutch was severely harmed. In recent years, in line with expanding international attention to human rights issues and atrocities in war zones, there has been increasing discussion about some of the recorded acts of cruelty and slaughter committed by Dutch troops during the period of warfare in Acheh.
Hasan Mustafa (1852–1930) was a chief penghulu, or judge, for the colonial government and was stationed in Acheh. He had to balance traditional Muslim justice with Dutch law. To stop the Acheh rebellion, Hasan Mustafa issued a fatwa, telling the Muslim population there in 1894, “It is Incumbent upon the Acheh Muslim to be loyal to the Dutch East Indies Government”.
The Dutch tried one strategy after another over the course of four decades. An expedition under Major General Johan Harmen Rudolf Köhler in 1873 occupied most of the coastal areas. Köhler’s strategy was to attack and take the sultan’s palace. It failed. The Dutch then tried a naval blockade, reconciliation, concentration within a line of forts, and lastly passive containment. They had scant success. Reaching 15 to 20 million guilders a year, the heavy spending for failed strategies nearly bankrupted the colonial government.
During the course of the war, the Dutch set up the Gouvernment of Acheh and Dependencies under a governor, although it did not establish wider control of its territory until after 1908.
The Acheh army was rapidly modernized, and Acheh soldiers butchered Köhler (a monument to this atrocity has been built inside Grand Mosque of Banda Acheh). Köhler made some grave tactical errors and the reputation of the Dutch was severely harmed. In recent years, in line with expanding international attention to human rights issues and atrocities in war zones, there has been increasing discussion about some of the recorded acts of cruelty and slaughter committed by Dutch troops during the period of warfare in Acheh.
Hasan Mustafa (1852–1930) was a chief penghulu, or judge, for the colonial government and was stationed in Acheh. He had to balance traditional Muslim justice with Dutch law. To stop the Acheh rebellion, Hasan Mustafa issued a fatwa, telling the Muslim population there in 1894, “It is Incumbent upon the Acheh Muslim to be loyal to the Dutch East Indies Government”.
Japanese Occupation
During World War II, Japanese troops occupied Acheh. The Achenese ulama (Islamic clerics) fought against both the Dutch and the Japanese, revolting against the Dutch in February 1942 and against Japan in November 1942. The revolt was led by the All-Acheh Religious Scholars’ Association (PUSA). The Japanese suffered 18 dead in the uprising while they slaughtered up to 100 or over 120 Achenese. The revolt happened in Bayu and was centered around Tjot Plieng village’s religious school. During the revolt, the Japanese troops armed with mortars and machine guns were charged by sword wielding Achenese under Teungku Abduldjalil (Teungku Abdul Djalil) in Buloh Gampong Teungah and Tjot Plieng on 10 and 13 November. In May 1945 the Achenese rebelled again.[45] The religious ulama party gained ascendancy to replace district warlords (Ulèëbalang) party that formerly collaborated with the Dutch. Concrete bunkers still line the northernmost beaches.
Indonesia Independent
After World War II, in the country of Acheh, the sultanates agreed to help Indonesia determine independence from the Dutch, so Acheh agreed to become an Indonesian unit which was announced on Radio Rimba Raya, after Acheh joined to become an Indonesian unit, Indonesia was proclaimed an independent country,
Civil war erupted in 1945 between the district warlord party, which supported the return of Dutch rule, and the ulama party which supported the newly proclaimed Indonesian state. The ulama won, and the country of Acheh remained free during the Indonesian War of Independence. The Dutch military itself never attempted to attack Acheh. The civil war elevated the leader of the religious ulama party, Daud Bereueh, to the position of military governor of Acheh.
Achenese Rebellion
The people of Acheh rebelled soon after Indonesia’s independence, a situation caused by a complex combination of what the Achenese perceived as violations and betrayals of their rights.
Sukarno, Indonesia’s first president, had reneged on his promise made on 16 June 1948 that Acheh would be allowed to govern itself in accordance with Islamic Law. But Acheh was divided politically and included in the province of North Sumatra in 1950. This resulted in the Acheh Rebellion of 1953–59 led by Daud Beureu’eh who on 20 September 1953 declared an independent Acheh under the leadership of Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosoewirjo. In 1959, the Indonesian government attempted to pacify the Achenese by offering broad freedoms in matters relating to religion, education and culture.
Free Acheh Movement (G.A.M)
In the 1970s, based on agreements with the indonesia government, American oil and gas companies began exploiting Acheh natural resources. The allegation of unequal distribution of profits between the government and the Achenese nation prompted Dr. Hasan Muhammad di Tiro, former Darul Islam ambassador, called for an independent Acheh. He proclaimed independence in 1976.
This movement initially had a small number of followers, and Teungku Tjiek di Tiro himself had to live in exile in Sweden. Meanwhile, the nation followed Suharto’s economic development and industrialization policies. In the late 1980s, several security incidents prompted the Indonesian government to take repressive measures and send military troops to Acheh. Human rights violations became rampant in the following decades, giving rise to many complaints from the people of Acheh against the Indonesian government. In 1990, the Indonesian government began military operations against GAM by deploying more than 12,000 Indonesian troops in the region.
In the late 1990s, chaos in Java and ineffective Indonesian rule gave the Free Acheh Movement an advantage and resulted in a second phase of rebellion, this time with major support from the Achenese. This support was demonstrated in the 1999 voting in Banda Acheh which was attended by almost two million people (out of the region’s four million population). The Indonesian government responded in 2001 by expanding Acheh autonomy, giving its government the right to apply Sharia law more widely and the right to accept foreign direct investment. However, this was again accompanied by repressive measures, and in 2003 attacks began and a state of emergency was declared for the nation of Acheh. The war was still ongoing when the 2004 tsunami disaster hit the region.
In 2001, villagers in North Acheh District sued ExxonMobil over human rights violations committed by Indonesian military units hired by the company for security of its natural gas operations. ExxonMobil denies guilt on the charges. After a series of attacks on its operations, the company shut down Arun’s natural gas operations in the province.