THE essence of democracy is the ability to compromise, and the people of Aceh are now being tested. The House of Representatives (DPR) has just passed the Aceh governance bill into law, and some in Indonesias westernmost province view it as imperfect. This is their right, but how they react to it is another matter.

These people have three alternatives. The first is to oppose it actively, which has the potential to end in breaking the law. The seco