The Bumi Flora (Earth of Flowers) Tragedy occurred exactly 24 years ago. This tragedy was a mass murder of workers at the company PT Bumi Flora – a palm oil plantation located in Julok, East Aceh regency on August 9, 2001. The incident allegedly occurred due to the prolonged and tense conflict between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
The mass murder at PT Bumi Flora began when the TNI troops gathered together and lined up the workers. The workers were then asked to take off their clothes and forced to answer questions about the presence of GAM fighters. The workers, who were all civilians, said that they did not know the GAM fighters.
Hearing these answers, the TNI soldiers immediately fired a barrage of live rounds towards the ranks of the workers killing 31 people, injuring seven and leaving one person missing. The victims who survived were then taken by members of the Langsa Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) to the Idi Rayeuk Community Healthcare Centre and the Langsa Pubic Hospital.
The day after the shooting, TNI and intelligence officers allegedly conducted a sweep, terrorising and intimidating the survivors and local residents who witnessed the incident. Victims and witnesses were forced into silence while a narrative was spread that the murders at PT Bumi Flora were carried out by a GAM group.
In 2013 the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has included the Bumi Flora mass murder case in a number of cases of human rights violations that occurred in Aceh(1). Unfortunately, it has still not declared it as a gross human rights violation and it is simply considered to be one of the incidents of human rights violations that occurred in Aceh during the period of armed conflict.
In its development of the case, on April 10, 2025, the Komnas HAM representative office in Aceh received a working visit by the House of Representatives' (DPR) Commission XIII (2). During the working visit, Komnas HAM said that they had processed the Bumi Flora case tragedy through a pro-judicial investigation mechanism for serious human rights violations using the procedures under Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts.
However, 24 years passed and there has not been any significant progress in the pro-judicial investigation that was carried out by the Komnas HAM into the Bumi Flora tragedy. In addition, we consider that the handling of the Flora Bumi Tragedy case has encountered protracted delays (undue delay) which are clearly not in line with Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
This article regulates the right to a judicial process that is honest, fair, open and without bias. The protracted delays in handling the investigation process have resulted in both the victims, the families of the victims and even witnesses in the mass murder becoming victims for a second time because the right to truth, the right to justice, the right to reparation and the right to guarantees that it will not be repeated have failed to be fulfilled by the state.
The Bumi Flora massacre was also one of the incidents reported by the Aceh Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR). Meaning, there has been a disclosure of truth carried out regarding this incident. The results of the disclosure of truth should be able to be used as a reference in a pro-judicial investigation in order to demand state accountability, a practice that has occurred in Argentina and Chile. Furthermore, the findings in the Aceh KKR report have also not been followed up thoroughly by the state to provide rehabilitation for victims and families of victims.
Instead of pursuing a legal enforcement process for the Bumi Flora Tragedy ahead of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the state has still failed to fulfil its commitment to implement the contents of the MoU, such as the establishment of a Human Rights Court in Aceh and upholding substantive justice for the victims as well as sanctions for human rights violations.
On the contrary, the state is now establishing new military posts by building 1 (one) Infantry Brigade Headquarters and 3 (three) Territorial Development Battalions in Aceh province, which shows a lack of respect for the Helsinki MoU through increasing the militarisation of Aceh.
Through the momentum of the 24th anniversary of the Bumi Flora Tragedy, we therefore condemn:
- The government's lack of protection, sense of justice and truth for the victims, their families and the witnesses to the Aceh Bumi Flora Tragedy. The lack of any resolution after 24 years is clear evidence of the state's neglect of the human rights violations that occurred in Aceh.
- Komnas HAM's slowness in declaring the Bumi Flora case as a gross human rights violation, in accordance with Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts, which has resulted in continuing uncertainty and injustice for the victims and their families, resulting in their rights not being fulfilled.
Jakarta – August 9, 2025
- Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras)
- Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
- Kontras Aceh
Endnotes
1. Komnas HAM, Executive summary of the results of the monitoring and investigation of Military Operational Area (DOM) incidents in Aceh province, 2013.
2. Fajri, Rahmat, "Komnas HAM still Investigating Alleged Gross Human Rights Incident at Bumi Flora East Aceh", https://aceh.antaranews.com/berita/382585/komnas-ham-masih-selidiki-peristiwa-dugaan-ham-berat-di-bumi-flora-aceh-timur, Antara Aceh, April 2025.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "24 Tahun Tragedi Bumi Flora: Negara Masih Gagal Memberikan Keadilan Bagi Korban".]
