SINGAPORE -- Many observers believe the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster has opened up Aceh and the rest of Indonesia to the West. In fact, Aceh has been intermittently "closed" to international scrutin for 30 years amid the struggle by Acehnese secessionists to create an independent state. Now, as the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) assist in the delivery of Western humanitarian relief -- and Jakarta seeks to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Acehnese -- the political reality could change.
TNI's decision to restrict the movement of relief workers outside Banda Aceh and the government's announcement of a March deadline for foreign troops to leave Aceh have clearly dampened hope for a possible Indonesian "reconciliation" with the West, especially the United States and Australia. The TNI may have strengthened its political hand amid rising nationalism in Indonesia and growing concerns of Western interference.
Perhaps less noticeable has been the concurrent rise of political Islam, since Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's inauguration as president in October. Two radical Muslim parties, the PKS and PBB, seem to have gained a political foothold. Both PKS and PBB supported Yudhoyono's candidacy against the established secular political parties Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which backed incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri.