21 years after disaster helped bring peace to Aceh – has botched Indonesian response to floods reignited calls for independence?

Thousands gathered in Banda Aceh on August 15, 2026, marking 21 years since the Helsinki peace agreement ended Aceh's nearly three-decade armed independence struggle, with some participants raising the old separatist flag and chanting for independence. The gathering followed severe November 2025 floods and landslides that killed over 1,000 people and displaced more than a million, disasters that President Prabowo Subianto declined to designate a national disaster, rejecting foreign aid despite widespread anger.

Nearly a year later, recovery remains stalled: as of September 2026, only 649 of 34,777 needed permanent homes had been completed, and only 188 of 676 damaged bridges had been restored as of early August. A civil-society coalition raised white flags the day before the anniversary gathering, again calling on Jakarta to declare a national disaster.

The 2004 tsunami had the opposite political effect, drawing international aid that helped accelerate the 2005 peace deal; this time, the government's rejection of outside help and slow rebuilding appear to be reviving the independence sentiment that agreement was meant to settle.

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