Nurdin Hasan & Anita Rachman – A chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, or AJI, in Aceh Province has rejected the proposed regional Islamic Press and Broadcasting Bylaw, saying it could undermine press freedom.

Jakarta – A grenade exploded in front of a hotel in Peunayong in the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh on Friday at approximately 6:00 a.m. Friday, immolating one car and damaging two others but injuring noone.

Banda Aceh – Intimidation through setting fire to political party offices, banners, billboards and campaign advertising and threats against legislative candidates has tainted the administration of the 2009 elections in Indonesia's northern-most province of Aceh.

Hotli Simanjuntak – Thousands of Aceh residents held communal prayers in places of worship across the province on Friday as they honored the victims of the devastating 2004 tsunami that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

In Banda Aceh, prayers were held at Mesjid Raya Baiturrahman mosque.

Dozens West Aceh citizens staged a rally Friday marking the fourth anniversary of the tsunami to demand the government organize the reconstruction of the devastated areas in the province more equitably.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The looming termination of many labor-intensive programs in Aceh, combined with the remnants of its conflicts and rebellion, is putting the tsunami-devastated province under the twin threats of social deprivation and unemployment.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – An ineffective relief and recovery system has led to uneven distributions of disaster-relief funds for reconstruction projects post the tsunami disaster in 2004, a World Bank expert said Tuesday.

It's four years this month, since the tsunami hit the Indonesian province of Aceh. While the tsunami brought much destruction to the region, it was the catalyst for great political change for Aceh. The government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement stepped up the pace for peace talks, leading to the Memorandum of Understanding in August 2005.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Despite Rp 50 billion (US$4.17 million) allocated for disaster mitigation in Aceh this year, nearly the entire province remains at threat from natural and man-made disasters, especially flooding, a conservationist says.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Businesspeople in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam have blamed the improper implementation of sharia (Islamic law) for the lack of development in the province's tourism industry.

"The image of Aceh as a sharia-ruled region has caused reluctance among tourists to visit," Totok Yulianto, owner of a travel agency here, said recently.

Canberra – Indonesian rights activists asked Australia on Monday to help bring reconciliation following a three-decade civil war in Aceh province, saying conflict will again threaten without more progress.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The absence of an electoral supervisory agency in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam could trigger violations in the upcoming 2009 election process and threaten stability in the area.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Maimun panicked when a doctor told him he was infected with HIV, detected when he went to give blood for one of his relatives.

At the time, the fisherman from Tapaktuan district in South Aceh, thought of HIV/AIDS as an embarrassing disease, often viewed as an indelible shame in Aceh, where Islamic sharia law is applied.

Jakarta – Unemployment in Aceh Nangroe Darussalam has increased this year as rebuilding efforts following the deadly tsunami that hit the province in late 2004 have slowed.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh State Administrative Court (PTUN) on Friday rejected a lawsuit filed against the Aceh elections commission by eight legislative candidates who failed the Koran test required as part of their nomination.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Banda Aceh – The top leader of former rebel group the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Teungku Chik Hasan Muhammad di Tiro, may be the founder of Indonesia's longest proactive separatist movement, but when he came home it was not as a rebel, but still with a cause.

The world's "post-conflict" areas are a living laboratory with ever changing experiments, the Aceh Reintegration Agency (BRA) and the local population being among its guinea pigs.

Critics say that approaches such as that of the BRA which only distributes funds to verified individuals to ensure their accountability, are ineffective and further weaken "strong communal ties".

Aceh – After a two-week-visit to several regions in Aceh, the supreme leader of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group Hasan Di Tiro left the province Sunday for his home in Stockholm.

Banda Aceh, Indonesia – A grenade exploded outside the office of former separatist rebels in Indonesia's once-restive Aceh province Thursday, but no one was reported injured, a police official said.

Resource-rich Aceh was torn by conflict for nearly 30 years before a peace deal between Jakarta and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in 2005.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Challenges await 11 Acehnese villagers who have succeeded in bringing giant company ExxonMobil Corp. to a US Federal Court, with the judge handling the case resigning from his post amid fears that revealing their identities might endanger their lives.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – When Acehnese independence hero Hasan di Tiro visited the grave of his rebel organisation's former military commander this week, tears flowed.

Abdullah Syafi'ie, who stood with Mr di Tiro at the 1976 declaration of Acehnese independence, died in a fierce battle with Indonesian soldiers in 2002, cut down alongside his own wife and bodyguards.

Ati Nurbaiti, Banda Aceh – Hasan Tiro, the supreme leader of the former separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), cited Sunday a string of heroes from Aceh's past in his appeal for his fellow Acehnese, including former rebels, to work for peace.

Hotli Simanjuntak and Ati Nurbaiti, Banda Aceh – Deafening shouts of 'Allahu akbar!' and 'Long live Wali Nanggroe!' greeted the long-awaited senior Aceh figure, Hasan Tiro, who arrived in the capital Saturday after an absence of almost 30 years.

Stephen Coates, Banda Aceh – Pink from floor to ceiling and with hot pink windows and doors, the office of the Aceh Transitional Committee (KPA) looks more like a perfumery than the nerve centre of a former rebel army.

Banda Aceh – Hasan di Tiro, founder of the former rebel group GAM in Indonesia's Aceh, returned on Saturday after more than 30 years exile, welcomed by thousands of people in the province on the tip of Sumatra.

His return came a day after Finland's former president, Martti Ahtisaari won, the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in global peacemaking including in Aceh.

Ati Nurbaiti, Banda Aceh – After three decades of absence, Aceh's former resistance leader Hassan Di Tiro arrived in Banda Aceh in Saturday to a cheerful greeting by thousands of his supporters.

Tiro landed at 11 a.m. to sound of adzan (Muslim calling for prayers) by the greeters, waving to claps of cheering crowds.

Jakarta – An army soldier kidnapped Sunday morning by an armed group in East Aceh was released in Cot Keh Village in Peureulak on Monday morning.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Aceh might be dubbed the "Veranda of Mecca", but that seems to have done little to help the 81 candidates for the Aceh provincial legislative council who failed the Koran proficiency test.

The controversial test, organized by the Aceh Independent Election Committee (KIP), was taken by 1,368 candidates from local and national parties.

Banda Aceh – Political parties in Indonesia's Aceh province pledged peace Friday for the first national elections since government and rebel forces signed a deal to end decades of war.

Their declaration came shortly after a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) said Aceh is tense ahead of the elections, and the current peace should not be taken for granted.

Aceh – Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Special Detachment anti-terror squad (Densus 88) will investigate the bombing of former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leader Muzakkir Manaf's residence in Aceh.

"We are still investigating and checking the type of grenade used," Densus 88 head Sutry Hamdani told Antara in Aceh Besar on Tuesday.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Independent Election Committee (KIP) emphasized Sunday that the planned Koran proficiency test for legislative candidates in the province would determine each candidate's eligibility to contest the election.

Jakarta – Candidates of House of Representatives member from Aceh are scheduled to follow Koran reading test next week, as part of candidacy criteria.

"Alhamdulillah, every political party has agreed with the requirement," said Yawin Adi Dharma, chairman of candidacy committee at Independent Election Commission in Aceh, as quoted by Antara on Sunday.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The predominately Muslim province of Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam is requiring thousands of its legislative candidates to take a Koran proficiency test before they contest the 2009 election.

Abdul Khalik – A US court's decision to proceed with a trial against oil giant ExxonMobil has exposed the Indonesian government's ignorance over the paid military protection of foreign interests in the country.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Legal experts and civil society groups welcomed a US Federal court ruling Thursday to proceed with a trial against US energy giant ExxonMobil, which stands accused of supporting the Indonesian military's alleged killings and torture in Aceh.

Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces chief dismissed Thursday a US federal court judge's ruling that ExxonMobil must face a lawsuit over alleged killings and torture by troops in Aceh province.

Ramadhian Fadillah, Jakarta – ExxonMobil is to be taken to court for allegedly supporting human rights violations by the Indonesian military (TNI) in Aceh.

Stephen Coates, Jakarta – The Indonesian military's links to human rights abuses while helping foreign mining firms are being exposed in a lawsuit by local villagers against US energy giant ExxonMobil, analysts said Thursday.

Washington – ExxonMobil must face a lawsuit filed by Indonesian villagers alleging that the US oil giant is liable for killings and torture committed by military security forces, a federal judge said Wednesday.

"Plaintiffs have provided sufficient evidence, at this stage, for their allegations of serious abuse," said US Judge Louis Oberdorfer in Washington.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – After hard and painful events, ranging from political and military conflict to the tsunami disaster, the people of Aceh can now enjoy more political freedoms and special rights. Six eligible local parties will soon compete for legislative seats in the 2009 legislative election.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A vegetable vendor was busy tending to customers at a makeshift stall at the central market of Banda Aceh on Friday.

Nearby a congregation prayed at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque to commemorate the third anniversary of the peace pact between the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government in Helsinki, Finland.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A fight broke out between members of the Banda Aceh public order agency and the province's sharia police unit Thursday, during a musical stage show held to celebrate their respective 58th and 4th anniversaries.

"It was just a small misunderstanding and not a large-scale brawl among officers," said H. Marzuki, who oversees the two agencies.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Acehnese politicians are no longer required to be proficient in reading the Koran to be eligible for the upcoming national legislative elections.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Justice for victims of conflict and human rights abuses in once-restive Aceh could be a long time coming, with the government and the court yet to show any commitment to the establishment of a human rights court.

While 34 national political parties will contest the general elections in April 2009, the contest in Aceh will be very different. This will be the only place where local parties will also participate.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Six local Aceh parties now eligible to contest the 2009 elections, are determined to make a clean sweep of the 96-seat provincial legislative council, now dominated by national political parties.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Around 24,000 Acehnese who emigrated to Malaysia to escape the war and devastating 2004 tsunami face deportation, with Kuala Lumpur saying it will not extend their temporary stay permits.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Proposals for the establishment of two new provinces in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam have met with criticism from a prominent activist and a local politician.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Lhokseumawe – Residents in a North Aceh village almost cut off a thief's hand late Saturday, in what was the first known attempt at sharia-style punishment of its kind in the province.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A patrol car belonging to Wilayatul Hisbah of the sharia police in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam province, was burned out early Monday morning by unidentified attackers.