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View all search resultsAnger over slow disaster response triggers display of separatist flags
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Cleanup time: A man cleans a home and salvages household belongings on Dec. 22, 2025, as another man looks on, in the aftermath of flooding in Lokop, East Aceh regency, Aceh. (Antara/Irwansyah Putra)
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early five weeks after the devastating floods in Aceh, anger over the government’s slow disaster response continues to grow, sparking street protests and the display of separatist flags in some parts of the province, with residents demanding President Prabowo Subianto declare a national emergency.
The floods and landslides triggered by extreme weather linked to Cyclone Senyar hit three northern Sumatran provinces in late November, claiming at least 1,140 lives and damaging more than 170,000 houses and 1,200 items of public infrastructure. Nearly 400,000 people are still displaced as of Sunday and 163 people remain unaccounted for.
Aceh remains the worst-hit province, accounting for nearly half of the deaths and most evacuees, with many evacuees still struggling to have access to clean water, food, electricity, and medical supplies in temporary shelters, leaving many vulnerable to disease.
Some groups of Acehnese unfurled red crescent and star flags at protest sites and even on vehicles delivering aid to flood-hit areas in the province last week, expressing their frustration with the government's inadequate disaster response and hoping to draw attention to their plea for assistance.
The flag was once used by the now-defunct Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which fought a 30-year separatist war against Indonesia until the signing of the Helsinki Peace Agreement in 2005, leading to the movement's disbandment and the granting of special autonomy to Aceh.
One of the protests took place last Thursday in front of the office of North Aceh regent in Lhoksukon, where demonstrators, waving the red separatist flags alongside white flags, demanded the central government declare the crisis a national disaster, which would unlock emergency funds and help streamline relief efforts.
“The protests happened because there was no response from the central government to Acehnese demands for national disaster status,” Aceh resident Nurzahri, who is also a member of Aceh Party, the political vehicle of former GAM combatants, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
