THE usually peaceful evening at Bili village, Pidie Regency, Aceh, was disturbed by the sound of excavators. A villager, Aiyub Sakti, saw the heavy equipment entering the site of Rumoh Geudong, once a traditional house where the military committed gross human rights violations against the people of Aceh during 1989-1998.

Aiyub, 32 years old, said that the excavator immediately dug out soil and rocks from the land around Rumoh Geudong. Not long a