Modern Peace Museum for Aceh

By Tabrani Yunis
Aceh, a province of Indonesia is located on the western tip of Indonesia. As the province located at the gate of Indonesia, this province has a dynamic and a lot of historical matters we can talk or discuss.

Historically, Aceh before the Independent of Indonesia was in the era of kingdoms. Aceh were ruled or led by the Kings and Sultans. As we know there are many names of the Sultanates in Aceh. One of them which is very wellknown is Sultan Iskandar Muda,. Other names such as Sri Ratu Safiatuddin etc. Besides, Aceh also had many heroes and heroins. We all know Teuku Umar as the very famous hero, Cut Nyak Dhien, his wife is also very popular, not only in Indonesia, but the world. We all still remember the heroines of Aceh such as Cut Mutia, Laksamana Malahayati and many others that become as the symbol of the fame of Aceh in the decades of kingdoms of Aceh.

Aceh, since its unity as part of Indonesia seems that not long after Indonesia declared its Independence day, the conflict between Aceh and Indonesia has been arisen until armed conflicts.
Aceh is known as provinve which has a long term history of conflict. The last longest conflict ran for more than 30 years which had brought Aceh lost, not only Properties, but many people died, tortured, etc and resources because of conflict.

Various initiatives had been done to stop the violence and conflict, but the conflict kept going on. Many International bodies tried to help Aceh to peace talk and peace agreements, but all these initiatives failed. Fortunately, the initiative which was initiated for along time, the agreement then signed by both sides in Helsinki. The peace agreement signedby both, Indonesian Government and GAM mediated by The President Martti Ahtisaari, the real peace exist in Aceh. Ideally Aceh must become as the peace laboratory. A lot of people think the same thing. The experience of Aceh in conflict and peace actually must be shared through various ways or methods. It is important in order to make people in Aceh not to forget the long term and sorrowful. Conflict and peace are experience of people in Aceh will be useful when it can be shared to other areas or provinces oe even countries. We can share the best practices etc.

Another consideration why Aceh needs to have a representative peace museum is because of the current situation of the new generation or young people in Aceh have very little knowledge on the conflict and peace. Ideally the new generation in Aceh can get the lesson learned from the long conflict and peace process in Aceh to day. Since there are many people from different countries also need the lessons learned from Aceh, they can come to Aceh and learn it from the Aceh Peace museum. It will of course give positive impacts for Aceh in the future. The modern Aceh peace museum will be useful for students in Aceh as the center of knowledge and the center of research center in Aceh.

We can see the progress mase by the tsunami museum. Yap, the same as the experience of people when the tsunami disaster hit Aceh. The devastated tsunami disaster had made the sorrowful for all people in Aceh and out of Aceh. The big lost, properties and life and even the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation post tsunami are the lesson learned which should be good to share. Fortunately, the tsunami museum had been built that can be used as the laboratory of tsunami. Even in reality the function of it, the museum sometimes misused by visitors who just used it for selfies etc.

Again, dealing with peace museum in Aceh to day, actuality Aceh needs to have an ideal one such as the tsunami museum. It is very important Aceh has a representative peace museum, because the existing one is actually not a museum. It is only as the side of consciousness, not in a format of museum. Therefore we hope the local and central governments can think about it and also its continuity in the future