People of Indonesia - Acehnese
Residing in the Special Region of Aceh, Sumatra’s northernmost provincial-level jurisdiction, the more than 2 million Acehnese are most famous throughout the archipelago for their devotion to Islam, their militant resistance to colonial and republican rule, and their tragic experience as victims of the tsunami that struck Aceh’s western coast on December 26, 2004. Although the Acehnese were renowned throughout the nineteenth century for their pepper plantations, most are now rice growers in the coastal regions.
Acehnese do not have large descent groups; the nuclear family consisting of mother, father, and children is the central social unit. Unlike that of the Javanese or Balinese, the Acehnese family system shows marked separation of men’s and women’s spheres of activity. Traditionally, males are directed outward toward the world of trade. In the practice of merantau—going away from one’s birthplace in order to return later—young adult males seek fortune, experience, and commercial repute. This may involve travel to another village, province, or island. This maturation process among males is viewed as growing out of the domestic female-dominated world of sensory indulgence and into the male world of reasoned rationality, the practice of which is expressed through trade.
One model of Acehnese family life is that a woman sends a man out of the house to trade and welcomes him back when he brings home money. When he has exhausted his money, she sends him out again. Meanwhile, women and their kin are responsible for working the fields and keeping the gardens and rice fields productive. This oscillating pattern of migration encountered some difficulties in the 1980s and 1990s as increasing numbers of men failed to return to the Acehnese homeland, instead remaining and marrying in remote locations, such as Jakarta or Kalimantan. In addition, many Acehnese felt pressure from the continuing influx of temporary workers seeking employment in the natural gas and timber industries, and the conflict between the Indonesian army and Acehnese separatists.
The August 16, 2005, peace agreement between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian central government was propelled by the desire on both sides to smooth the flow of aid to victims of the December 2004 tsunami. The rebels dropped their secession demands, and the government agreed to give them some form of political representation. Since 2006 ex-GAM members have been elected as governor and to many lower-level posts in Aceh, and by 2009 the remnants of GAM had splintered into several parties.
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