In the early years of the political transition from Orde Baru (New Era) to the Reformation regimes (1999 - 2005), a series of communal conflicts erupted across the archipelago of Indonesia. The conflict took place in several provinces in Indonesia, which extended from ethnic to religious conflict; at the same time heated the secessionist conflict in Aceh and Timor-Leste. The conflicts set in a fragile and uncertain landscape as a result of the political and socioeconomic situation at the national level. It was estimated more than eighteen thousand people were killed between 1998 to 2003 (excluding Timor-Leste).
Considering the deadly impact and huge opportunity lost for local and national development and democracy, the Indonesia central government stood up and led formal mediation processes to end the conflicts; i.e. Malino 1 Agreement (2001) in Central Sulawesi; Malino 2 Agreement (2002) in Maluku; and Helsinki Peace Agreement (2005) in Aceh. Before, during, and after the formal peace agreements above, the local community initiated local peace processes at the track 2 and track 3 levels. Women were among many stakeholders who actively led the local peace processes including mediation, negotiation, facilitation, and peacebuilding.
The research in Indonesia took place in the post-conflict setting above. It chose 3 city-province within various conflict contexts: Aceh, Ambon, and Yogyakarta. Aceh province experienced an open conflict under the term of armed conflict or civil war (1976 – 2005) between the secessionist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian military. Ambon Maluku also experienced an open conflict defined as communal conflict or ethno-religious conflict (1999 – 2002) between the Muslim and Christian communities. Yogyakarta on the other hand is experiencing many crises at the grassroots level, so-called latent conflict or below-the-surface conflict. From a feminist point of view, Yogyakarta was selected because it serves as the home base of the research team; therefore, it is more manageable to try out research instruments as well as local consultation.
