The website was launched on Friday January 2 2009, which according to the organisers is “because Fridays are good and noble days for all people of Aceh.”
Aceh is a bastion of Islam in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Under a special autonomy deal offered by the government in 2001 and further expanded in 2006, Aceh is allowed to enforce partial Shariah law.
Many Acehnese sought asylum overseas during the violent separatist conflict that plagued the province for almost three decades until a peace pact was signed between the Acehnese pro-independence movement and the Indonesian government in August 2005. Under the pact, the guerrilla movement agreed to drop its demand for independence in return for broader autonomy.
The website’s address is www.waa-aceh.org.
