Dispute Of Four Islands In Sumatra: Opening Symbolic Wounds, Emerging Suspects Of Political Agenda

Polemics of ownership of Pulau Panjang, Pulau Lipan, Pulau Mangkir Gadang, and Pular Mangkir Ketek raise a number of rumors, ranging from prize issues for the Solo gang to oil and gas disputes.

The dispute between the four islands stems from the Ministry of Home Affairs or the Ministry of Home Affairs which issued the Decree of the Minister of Home Affairs (Kepmendagri) Number 300.2.2-2138 of 2025 which regulates the Provision and Update of Codes, Regional Data on Government Administration, and the Island.

Through this decision, the Ministry of Home Affairs determined that Mangkir Gadang Island, Mangkir Ketek, Lipan, and Panjang entered the North Sumatra region. This decision made Aceh not accepting. Deputy Chairman of the Aceh Party Suadi Sulaiman emphasized that the government should respect the Aceh limit agreed in the Henlsinki Agreement. Suadi assessed that the handover of four islands to North Sumatra would be tantamount to tarnishing Aceh's peace agreement with Indonesia.

"Don't exploit Aceh with things that can damage the integrity, both the integrity of peace and the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia," said Suadi.

The issuance of this Ministry of Home Affairs raises a number of speculations. Starting from the belief that these four islands have strategic potential, both from natural resources, geographical positions, to economic opportunities. In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs' decision also raised suspicions about the political agenda, as stated by the Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Review (IPR) Iwan Setiawan.

He said the suspicion was politically linked to the family of former President Joko Widodo. The suspicion was based on Jokowi's relationship with Bobby Nasution and Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian.

"The Governor of North Sumatra Bobby Nasution is Jokowi's son-in-law. Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian is also known as Jokowi's loyalist," said Iwan Setiawan.

Professor of Syiah Kuala University (USK) Ahmad Humam Hamid also commented on the dispute over the four islands that have recently attracted public attention. Humam Hamid assessed that the central government's decision was taken unilaterally without an open dialogue process.

For the people of Aceh, these islands are more than just a map point. These islands are part of a symbolic space that stores the memory of conflicts, autonomy struggles, and peace agreements that are obtained with great sacrifices. Thus, this decision creates injustice, especially for the people of Aceh.

"In the eyes of the people of Aceh, this is not just a transfer of territory, but a waiver of post-peace political dignity and commitment," said Humam.

For this reason, Humam assesses that the transfer of ownership of four islands from Aceh to North Sumtra is not only administrative, but also presents deep symbolic wounds for the people of Aceh.

"The public is not only dealing with physical violence. But symbolic violence is much more dangerous," said Humam again.

Furthermore, Humam also highlighted the approach taken by the Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnivan in this polemic. According to him, Tito reflected his lack of sensitivity to the local historical and cultural realities.

"We don't have to talk about the Helsinki MoU, we just talk about the sociological reality that if we make a survey today secretly to the fishermen's elders from Sibolga to Singkil, they recognize the island belongs to Aceh. That's historical," said Humam.

Humam also highlighted other potentials that made the four islands in Aceh a dispute with the North Sumtra government, namely geographical potential, potential natural resources, potential for ecotourism and marine conservation, and tourism potential.

When the dispute over the four islands surfaced, North Sumatra Governor Bobby Nasution expressed his desire to collaborate with the Aceh government to process natural wealth in the four islands.

"We want the potential to be collaborated together. This means that even if there are natural resources, there is tourism potential, we hope that everything can be managed together," said Bobby.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy, Mineral Resources in 2022, Singkil's offshore area has considerable oil and gas potential. This is based on the results of drilling carried out in the Andaman Working Area (WK).

Citing the official website of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Premier Oil's drilling has succeeded in finding gas reserves at the Andaman II WK Timpan Well. With these findings, the Government hopes that the drilling carried out in Andaman III will also get encouraging results.

In addition to WK Andaman I, II and III, the potential for oil and gas in Aceh is also expected from WK Offshore North West Aceh (Meulaboh), as well as WK Offshore South West Aceh (Singkil) offered through direct offers (joint study). Although the potential for oil and gas in Singkil and Meulaboh is estimated to be quite large, there are challenges that must be faced, namely complex geological conditions.

However, the Aceh Oil and Gas Management Agency emphasized that the four islands are uncertain to have an economical oil and gas content.

Head of BPMA Nasri Djalaldi Banda Aceh, Thursday, said that the four islands that are currently being polemic are close to the oil and gas exploration area carried out by telephone Asia Energy (block Singkil).

For information, BPMA has signed a cooperation contract withUS Asia Energy Ltd for the South West Aceh/OSWA offshore working area (Block Singkil) in January 2023 with a working area of 8,200 km2.

Badminton Asia Energy became the winning company for the 2022 phase I direct bidding work area auction by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.