The Acehnese people of northern Sumatra, Indonesia is a matriarchal society. This was stated by some foreign journalists and foreigners involved with the people of Aceh after the Tsunami. It goes without saying that they did not claim that the people of Aceh is “matriarchal” but rather “matrilineal“, as the term matriarchal itself is often misinterpreted and still meets strong resistance in the Western world. Conversely, the term “matrilineal” and other terms are preferred, because it only emphasizes the basic understanding of just one characteristic of those societies, e.g, only about the lineage (in this case matrilineage) or about their egalitarian characteristics.

An interpreter who worked for groups which helped the victims of the Tsunami in Aceh and who was also aware of the existence of matriarchal societies in Indonesia such as the Minangkabau, also expressed the same thing. “The Acehnese society is matriarchal“, the interpreter said. The interpreter, a Javanese woman who was studying German literature at a university in Berlin as the Tsunami occurred, said that she got the information from the results of some interviews with some male victims of the Tsunami that the land which was considered as the property of these men, turned out to be that of their wives and their wives’ family.

Up to the present time, newspapers and news about Aceh  almost only deal with stories deemed suitable for the media consumption such as “separatist movements of Aceh”, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Samudra Pasai (Acehnese Sultanate), implementation of Sharia Law in Aceh, the source of gas and oil which also was and still is the source of the sufferings of the  Acehnese people, and other similar stories. There is almost no report on the culture and the Acehnese people. In fact, stories about Cut Nyak Dien, laksamana Malahayati, the resistance of the Acehnese people against the oppression, Acehnese queens (Acehnese sultanas) like Sultana Inayat Syah, and Acehnese women who were extraordinarily strong and independent, only showed the characteristics of a matriarchal society. Women like Cut Nyak Dien (the leader of the guerilla war of the Acehnese people against the Dutch colonials), Sultana Inayat Syah, other Acehnese Sultanas and laksamana Malahayati -the commander-in-chief of female warriors made up of widows known as  Inong Balee, who waged wars against the Portuguese and Dutch conquest-,  would not exist in a patriarchal culture which indeed humble, marginalize, demean and abuse women. Sultanas or queens in the world kingdoms, based on whichever religion, would not exist due to the fact that the realm of power and patriarchal religions be “masculine.” The nature of the Acehnese resistance against the oppression, praised by Pramudya Ananta Tour -a Javanese writer and author- as “people with strong individual courage“, is the true character of people or individuals coming from matriarchal societies which can not accept oppression.

Unfortunately, after the Tsunami, the nature of land ownerships in Acehnese society has changed significantly. According to foreign journalists working on Tsunami issues in Aceh, the problem of land ownership arose because in general the original owners can no longer get their land back and it is no longer based on matrilineally communal ownerships but private ownerships.

Seorang penterjemah Indonesia di Berlin yang bekerja untuk kelompok-kelompok yang membantu korban Tsunami di Aceh dan yang juga mengetahui mengenai keberadaan masyarakat matriarkat di Indonesia seperti masyarakat Minangkabau, juga menyatakan hal yang sama. Masyarakat Aceh adalah masyarakat matriarkat, demikian pernyataan penterjemah tersebut. Hal ini ia ketahui dari data-data korban Tsunamai yang menyangkut masalah tanah milik masyarakat. Sang penterjemah, seorang perempuan Jawa yang mengambil studi sastra Jerman di Berlin ini menyatakan bahwa dari hasil pembicaraannya dengan beberapa laki-laki korban Tsunami diketahui bahwa tanah-tanah yang dianggap milik bapak-bapak tersebut ternyata adalah milik sang istri dan keluarga daripada sang istri.

Selama ini, kabar-kabar ataupun berita-berita dari Aceh hanya berkisar pada hal-hal bombastis yang cocok untuk makanan media seperti “gerakan separatis Aceh“, Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), kesultanan Samudra Pasai, penerapan syariat Islam di Aceh, sumber minyak yang menjadi sumber penderitaan rakyat Aceh, dan lain-lain berita serupa. Mengenai tatanan dan budaya masyarakat Aceh tidak begitu sering dibahas. Sebenarnya, dari cerita-cerita mengenai Cut Nyak Dien, Laksamana Malahayati, perlawanan rakyat Aceh terhadap penindasan, ratu-ratu Aceh (sultanah-sultanah Aceh) seperti Sultanah Inayatsah, dan perempuan-perempuan Aceh lainnya yang bermental kuat dan mandiri, sudah terbaca bahwa masyarakat Aceh masih menganut matriarkat. Seorang Cut Nyak Dien, Laksamana Malahayati dan Sultanah Inayatsah tidak akan lahir dari budaya patriarkat yang memang merendahkan, melecehkan dan meminggirkan perempuan. Sultanah-sultanah atau ratu-ratu dalam kerajaan-kerajan dunia yang berdasarkan agama-agama manapun sulit untuk bisa muncul, karena ranah kekuasaan yang memang bersifat “maskulin”. Sifat perlawanan orang Aceh akan penindasan, yang dipuji-puji oleh seorang Pramudya Ananta Tour sebagai “mempunyai keberanian individu”, adalah sifat orang-orang atau individu-individu yang berasal dari masyarakat matriarkat yang tidak bisa menerima penindasan.

Sayangnya, lewat Tsunami, kepemilikan tanah masarakat di Aceh mengalami perubahan yang signifikan. Menurut wartawan asing yang berkecimpung dalam masalah Aceh, kepemilikan tanah menjadi permasalahan, karena umumnya pemilik aslinya tidak bisa lagi memiliki tanah tersebut dan pengaturannya lebih terarah kepada pemilikan pribadi dan tidak lagi merupakan pemilikan bersama kaum yang berdasarkan tatanan masyarakat matrilineal.