Tim Dodd – Indonesian marines, in their trademark purple berets, walked slowly through the village in double file, automatic weapons at the ready, while people hid in their houses. Today they did not search buildings or take anybody away.
They were here to intimidate, not to kill. But after they had passed, villagers said soldiers had killed several people nearby in the previous week. Welcome to Aceh, Indonesia's next intractable problem.
At the other end of Indonesia, the province of East Timor will vote in two weeks time to decide its future. And although its problems are complex, a solution is within sight.
Not in Aceh, where the history of conflict runs much longer and deeper, and where hardline opponents of Indonesian rule reject all compromise.
For Indonesia, the stakes in Aceh are much higher than in East Timor. The province is blessed with abundant natural wealth and was an integral part of the country from its declaration of independence in 1945.
Last Wednesday, a few kilometres away from where Indonesian marines were conducting a sweep through the village, I met the local commander of the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) Movement, the fighters who have been resisting Jakarta's rule since armed rebellion re-erupted in 1989.
A guide had taken us to a small mosque in the paddy fields, not far from the main road which was being patrolled by soldiers. We waited for about 20 minutes until the 43-year-old commander, Tenku Abdullah Syafii, arrived on a motorbike from his base in the mountains, wearing combat dress and carrying an automatic rifle. It was a contemptuous gesture, directed at the Indonesian army which claimed to have killed nine of his men a few days previously.
"We won't talk with Indonesia, because they colonised Aceh. They raped our women and killed our children. We will revenge them," he says.
Abdullah says he has been in the mountains fighting the Indonesians for 23 years. Coincidentally, this is the same length of time East Timor has been under Indonesian rule, but Abdullah rejects an East Timor-style solution. "Why must we talk with our enemies?" he asks. He labels them "Javanese colonial imperialists" and just wants them to leave.
No chance. Aceh, a beautiful mountainous region on the north-western tip of Sumatra, has too much natural wealth. Apart from the forests, which cover 60 per cent of the province, it produces 40 per cent of Indonesia's liquefied natural gas at the Arun plant in the industrial city of Lhokseumawe. The gas comes from Aceh's rich oil and gas fields, which also feed two fertiliser plants and a petrochemicals plant. Aceh is also rich in palm oil, coffee, rubber, coconuts and cloves. And if its problems ever end, the coarse sand of the surf beaches on the spectacular west coast will be a hit with tourists.
For the Acehnese the issue is that all of its major industries are owned by outsiders. Apart from foreign investors, the Jakarta Government and Soeharto interests own a large chunk. The LNG plant is 55 per cent owned by the state oil company, Pertamina. The petrochemical plant is owned by the former president's son, Tommy. One of the fertiliser factories is 60 per cent owned by the State. A paper and plywood factory is controlled by a Soeharto crony, Bob Hasan.
Iskandar Daoed, dean of economics at Banda Aceh's Syiah Kuala University, believes there is an economic solution to the Aceh problem. He says Jakarta takes 30 trillion rupiah ($6billion) from the province each year through taxes and profits of State-owned companies, and only 2 per cent of this is returned. "At least 30 or 40 per cent should go back to the Acehnese," he says.
Daoed admits his figures might not be accurate. "We don't know the exact numbers," he says, but blames the lack of transparency in the Jakarta Government's accounts for this.
A human rights campaigner in the capital city of Banda Aceh, Ahmad Humam Hamid, also wants an economic solution. But he fears things have gone too far. Even though the army started pulling out thousands of troops last year, and in March this year President B.J. Habibie went to Aceh to apologise for the army's brutal tactics in the past 10 years, there has been no proper investigation of human rights abuses since the current bout of rebel activity began. There are 7,000 cases on the books of human rights groups, including killings, missing people, rape and torture.
This week one man told of being detained by the army in 1997 and accused of being an Aceh Merdeka member. He was shot in the leg three times and had his foot amputated as a result. Another man told how he was tortured by the Kopassus special forces in their barracks in Lhokseumawe, which also happens to house the workers of the Arun LNG plant. The plant is 30 per cent owned by the Mobil oil company, which was embarrassed last year by claims by human rights groups that the Indonesian army used the Arun facilities for torture, and used heavy equipment to bury the bodies of its victims. The company has not denied the claims and, said one human rights activist pointedly, neither has it apologised.
Since President Habibie's Aceh visit the situation has worsened. In April, 45 people were massacred during a demonstration outside Bob Hasan's paper plant in Lhokseumawe. Last month at least 51 people died in an army operation in the village of Betoung in West Aceh. Now the army has stepped up operations, bringing 7,000 troops back to the province.
Ahmad believes Jakarta has to arrest the situation by giving real power to Aceh and the other provinces. "They have two choices. They have to adopt a policy of giving autonomy to the regions or they will have disintegration," he says.
In the Pidie district, the Aceh Merdeka stronghold where Abdullah leads the freedom fighters, the flashpoint is getting closer. Six weeks ago Aceh Merdeka began to move its supporters from their villages into refugee camps on the main roads. Now at least 100,000 people have deserted their homes to find safety from the army. Aceh Merdeka also knows that the stream of refugees will attract world attention to their plight.
But although the rebels have succeeded in gaining a hearing, they are far from united. Abdullah's predecessor in the Pidie region defected to the Indonesians, allegedly lured by comforts of life not available in the jungle, such as a nice car.
Aceh Merdeka's leader, Hasan Tiro, lives in exile in Sweden. Even though he is of Acehnese royal blood, suspicions that he plans to have his son succeed him have not endeared him to others in the movement. A more Muslim and more democratic faction of Aceh Merdeka is led by Husainy Hasan, who is believed to be in Malaysia. Although Aceh Merdeka will accept nothing short of an Indonesian withdrawal, plenty of other Acehnese will. For example, the influential student movement backs a referendum on independence.
But despite appearing divided, one thing the Acehnese will not do is give up. According to Ahmad, the Acehnese have a saying that when a man dies he leaves three things: his possessions, his family and vengeance. Revenge can be a long time coming.