Sound and Silence in the Land of the Rencong

FROM behind a wooden boat can be heard the ululation of a woman: "Lailaha Ilallah, Lailaha Ilallah" (There is no god other than Allah). The woman is in tears at the sight of her husband's corpse lying before her in a pool of blood. The seawater in the boat is turning red with blood.

Jalil, 50, was the first civilian casualty of the military operation in Aceh, the Land of the Rencong (an Acehnese dagger with a curved handle). On Thursday last week,

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