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.
At the time, Syafi'ie's death was hailed by luminaries such as the then defence minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who said he hoped it would herald "a negotiation for peace" after almost 30 years of civil war with Jakarta.
But in the end, peace in Aceh had little to do with the deaths of its separatists and everything to do with the tsunami of December 2004, which killed hundreds of thousands – rebels as well as Indonesian military and their families.
A reluctant Jakarta accepted there had to be a new way of dealing with the province, which long argued it had only ever fought alongside Indonesia in the post-World War II independence struggle in order to help win its own independence.
Dr Yudhoyono, by then President, and his deputy, Yusuf Kalla, were even mentioned as odds-on favourites for the Nobel peace prize after the 2005 peace agreement, which was brokered by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.
So it was a significant confluence when Mr Ahtisaari was named a week ago as the prize's 2008 recipient, hours before Mr di Tiro returned to Aceh from long-term exile in Sweden.
Mr di Tiro, 83, did not have much to say on his arrival, apart from a terse "Thank God, I've been able to come home".
Pointedly, he spoke in Acehnese, not Indonesian – a language Mr di Tiro, despite being a former representative for Jakarta to the UN, refuses to speak.
In a speech read for him by Malik Mahmud, the ex-prime minister-in-exile of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) which Mr di Tiro founded, there was a warning to any who would seek to undermine the peace.
"Guard the unity of Aceh and don't be goaded into criminal activities by subversive groups, (which try) in their attempts to sabotage the peace to make us fight amongst each other and break Aceh apart; if we are not careful, a bloody conflict will arise again... which will be to everyone's detriment," the speech urged.
Later, at a function that the elderly hero was too tired to attend, Mr Mahmud unexpectedly berated Aceh Governor – and former GAM spokesman – Yusuf Irwandi and others for their failure to "adequately" welcome Mr di Tiro to the capital, Banda Aceh.
The chair provided for him was only plastic and not befitting a leader of his importance, Mr Mahmud complained, and there had not even been a proper step for him to ascend to the stage set up in the forecourt of the city's majestic Baiturrahman mosque.
Mr Irwandi, seated in the audience, was quietly furious. It seemed he was being publicly blamed for the rocky state of civil society in Aceh – which, a recent International Crisis Group report has warned, exists in a state of peace that is "sustainable, but (which) no one should take... for granted".
Kidnappings, extortion rackets and low-level bombings have become almost daily events, according to figures kept by organisations such as the World Bank.
However, criminal groups – whose activities are on the rise – across Aceh are one thing; political splits, most notably displayed in continuing antagonism between the Irwandi and Mahmud camps despite an apparent rapprochement early this year, could threaten the peaceful conduct of national parliamentary elections next April.
The cracks are spreading, and squabbling over what has otherwise been a triumphant visit by Mr di Tiro could result in the legacy not only of his and Mr Ahtisaari's efforts, but those of others, including Mr Irwandi, being squandered.