Campaigning has begun for next month's long-awaited elections in the Indonesian province of Aceh. For the first time, Acehnese will directly elect their own governor and independent candidates will get to take part.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Speakers: Damien Kingsbury, one-time advisor to the GAM negotiating team and Indonesia specialist at Deakin University

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Two years after the December 2004 tsunami devastated Aceh, women are playing a significant role in helping the economy bounce back.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Campaigning for the landmark Dec. 11 elections in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam kicked off Friday after gubernatorial candidates pledged to campaign peacefully in the polls seen as key to cementing a peace deal in the tsunami-devastated province.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – After being suspended for around a month for his alleged involvement in a corruption case, Akhyarmansyah Lubis has been appointed by the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) as the agency's asset management adviser.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Two foreign observers have been accredited by Aceh's Independent Election Commission (KIP) to monitor the upcoming Aceh vote.

The two are the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM).

Nani Afrida, Aceh Jaya – It was once too dangerous to dine out in Aceh Jaya's Tuwe village, a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) stronghold and the scene of frequent fighting between guerrillas and soldiers.

But now the ominous sound of gunfire, which used to be common in the former military "black"-zoned district of Panga, has been replaced with good-natured banter.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Muhammad Kalianda is tired of waiting for help to build a new home to replace the one destroyed in the December 2004 tsunami. So the 53-year-old teacher is slowly working alone to finish the building an aid agency promised him.

Mark Forbes – On Banda Aceh's outskirts sits a deserted village of banana yellow fibro shacks, held together with duct tape and built without water or power in the middle of a flood plain.

Nani Afrida, Aceh Besar – Tsunami survivors living in Aceh Besar regency are demanding the government compensate then for land acquired to build an alternative road from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh.

"It has already been two years since the government promised to reimburse us for our land," a Glebruek village resident, Syarifuddin, 30, told The Jakarta Post.

Banda Aceh – All eight pairs of candidates for the governorship and vice-governorship of Aceh on Tuesday vowed to work for peaceful elections in December.

The candidates signed a pledge to safeguard peace in Aceh during a ceremony attended by current Aceh governor Mustafa Abubakar, head of the Aceh police, Bahrumsyah Kasman, and various other officials and activists.

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – Expectations are high while the possibilities for violence are likely slim in the scheduled December elections in Aceh. Voter turnout is also expected to be high. All the basic requirements for an election are very likely to be fulfilled. But will the Aceh elections be successful?

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh needs at least 10,000 election observers to help ensure just and democratic regional polls in Aceh on Dec. 11, Ikhwanussufa of the Independent Election Committee in Aceh (KIP Aceh) said Friday.

Foster Klug, Washington – The head of the European Union-led peace monitoring mission in Indonesia's devastated Aceh province predicted on Thursday a smooth transition when the Europeans leave next month as former rebels rejoin society, participate in elections and negotiate directly with their former enemies in government.

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Most people in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province want to vote in December's landmark elections but many wrongly believe they are not registered to do so, a survey released on Wednesday showed.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Eight pairs of candidates are eligible to contest Aceh's Dec. 11 gubernatorial elections, the Aceh Independent Elections Commission declared Monday.

Among the hopefuls running for governor are a retired general and former head of the military district command and a former member of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Sydney – The democratic process has moved forward in Aceh province. The provincial election in Aceh will be held on 11 December 2006 after the Indonesian parliament endorsed the Law for the Aceh Government, on 12 July 2006.

This election was mandated in the peace agreement between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August 2005 in Helsinki.

Banda Aceh – A former Indonesian general and a separatist rebel are among eight candidates running for governor in the once-volatile province of Aceh next month, an election official said on Monday.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh's first-ever direct elections are scheduled for December, yet many eligible voters may be unable to cast ballots because they have not registered.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Nani Afrida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – The European Union election monitoring mission is upbeat Aceh's first direct elections, scheduled for December, will proceed peacefully.

Banda Aceh – An eight-person team from the European Union has begun monitoring work ahead of elections in Indonesia's Aceh province, the head of the monitoring mission said Tuesday.

Vanda Mutia Dewi, Jakarta – A recent report by Greenomics Indonesia revealed some very interesting facts about who exactly is to blame for the delays affecting the reconstruction process in Aceh.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Former rebels may lose upcoming direct elections in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam because they have split into two rival groups, analysts say.

Sutarto, Jakarta – Sidney Jones, President Director of the International Crisis Group for Southeast Asia, estimates that regional leaders' election in Aceh will be safe.

The indication is that the votes of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will be divided so now there is no reason to encourage people to oppose the GAM.

Jakarta – Peace in Indonesia's once-restive Aceh province should hold even if former separatist rebels running in December's local elections fail to win any posts, analysts said on Thursday.

Jakarta – The challenge of staging polls in Indonesia's Aceh this year should not derail a peace pact signed in 2005 between separatists and the government, an analyst said Thursday.

Jakarta – Election officials in Indonesia's strife-torn Aceh province have ordered that potential candidates for upcoming provincial polls must be able to recite from the Koran, Islam's holy book, in order to run, a local report said Thursday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An Acehnese woman is fighting to contest this year's direct gubernatorial election, saying the local poll body unfairly declared her unable to read the Koran.

Passing a Koranic reading test is one of the requirements for candidates to vie for the Dec. 11 gubernatorial election in Aceh, which applies Islamic sharia law.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The involvement of non-governmental organizations and foreign donors in rebuilding the tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh has yet to provide women with a good standard of living, a new book argues.

It says widows are still struggling to feed themselves and their children without proper attention from either NGOs or the government.

Banda Aceh – Oxfam International's staff in Indonesia's Aceh province knew something was amiss last March when they started seeing inflated bills for construction supplies.

Kampung Jawa – The tsunami of 2004 triggered the biggest humanitarian response in history, feeding the hungry, heading off epidemics and engendering the hope that out of a calamity that took 216,000 lives, a better Indian Ocean rim would emerge.

Jakarta – Hundreds of tsunami survivors threw rocks at police in Aceh on Wednesday during a protest to demand housing and jobs at the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) office.

Banda Aceh – Hundreds of Indonesian protesters vented their anger on Wednesday against the state body tasked with reconstructing tsunami-hit Aceh province, throwing stones at police and the agency's office.

Milla Sundstrvm, Helsinki – "Amid all the destruction and loss the mood was high. People were making bricks, digging fishponds, building fishing boats. And people were sitting in coffee shops late into the night just as if there had never been any war."

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's tsunami reconstruction agency pledged Wednesday to speed up aid to the homeless after police clashed with protesters at a blockade of its offices.

Some 1,000 survivors laid siege to the headquarters of the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, complaining of the slow disbursement of aid.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A new study recommends transferring the job of rebuilding Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to the incoming provincial administration, in order to bypass problems in the current reconstruction programs.

Jakarta – A record-breaking increase in revenue has failed to alleviate high levels of poverty in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, according to a new report.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Prosecutors have named two staffers of the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) as suspects in alleged corruption involving the publication of a book by the national agency.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – More than 2,000 displaced people from 14 regencies in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam braved a heavy rain Monday to stage a protest at the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) office in Banda Aceh (photo).

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Anticorruption watchdogs are urging an exhaustive probe of possible irregularities in rebuilding projects at the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR).

The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Aceh Working Group (AWG) said Friday the agency's alleged graft was "systemic", so the investigation must be thorough.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) acknowledged Monday bypassing official procedures in carrying out several projects, but said its actions were justified under existing regulations governing emergency work in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – At least 75 percent of former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels are out of work after returning to their hometowns, the World Bank says.

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office is looking into a report of alleged irregularities in Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) projects.

"We are reviewing the newly released report," the office's deputy for special crimes, Hendarman Supandji, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Jakarta – The United Nations has lodged a complaint after Muslim morality police in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province broke into a UN diplomatic compound and peered through windows at sleeping foreign diplomats, an official confirmed Wednesday.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono conferred honorary state medals Friday to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari and three other foreigners for their role in bringing peace to Aceh.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Former Acehnese rebels are calling for rights abusers from the province's civil war to be put on trial.

They argue that the thousands of people who were tortured during the 29-year conflict are a ticking time bomb that could disrupt the peace deal signed a year ago.

Michael Morfit, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement, known locally as the Gerakan Acheh Merdeka (GAM), and Indonesia's government on Monday marked the first anniversary of a peace agreement that ended nearly 30 years of armed conflict in the resource-rich and historically turbulent province of Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra.

Nurdin Hassan, Banda Aceh – Tens of thousands have rallied in Indonesia's Aceh, celebrating a full year of peace but calling on Jakarta to honour the pact which ended three decades of separatist warfare.

Fakhurradzie M. Gade, Banda Aceh – Thousands of protesters accused Indonesia's government Tuesday of failing to deliver on promises made when separatist rebels signed an agreement a year ago to end decades of fighting in Aceh province.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The formerly rebellious Free Aceh Movement(GAM) is dissatisfied with several articles in the newly enacted law on Aceh governance, but its leaders say the group will wait to see how the law is put into practice, and work through normal channels to amend it.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – It is rare to get a behind-the-scenes look at historic events. But Tuesday's conference commemorating one year of the Aceh peace accord provided a rare glimpse into the process and gave the actors involved a chance to publicly pat themselves on the back.