The region of Aceh was eventually chosen because it contained religious autonomy issues that were based in a historical concept of cyclic stability and violence.
It was then a matter of sorting through the news reports to find sequential coverage by both camps. It should be noted that authentic emic reports, not authored by the Indonesian government, were exceedingly hard to find.
History.
Originally an area of scattered principalities, based on clans or family ties; .
"Kingdoms based their conception of state more on people than on space or territory,"" explains an emic historian at http://www.thejakartapost.com/history/history.asp. The Dutch landed in Java in 1511 and set about usurping the Portuguese who had only recently arrived themselves, the purpose of the Dutch was more to maintain a trading base than to colonise the people, The company' (Vereniging Oost Indische Compagnie, VOC) used to legalise this trading base went bankrupt in the mid 17th century and the Dutch government took control. The concept of colonisation was then more thoroughly implemented until the Japanese occupation from 1942 to '45.
The period of Japanese occupation was an important time for Indonesia, Legge (cited in Knight 2000, p.112) ascertains .
"The Japanese conquest of the Indies was an event of cataclysmic proportions for the nationalist movement as a whole, as well as for Sukarno himself. It shattered the continuity of Dutch power and shaped the forces of Indonesian nationalism in new and unexpected ways."" .
These ways are more clearly explained by the emic historian "Although short-lived, the occupation enabled Indonesians to arm themselves for the very first time."" http://www.thejakartapost.com/history/history.asp.
At this point we can see the cycle of freedom (stability) and repression (violence) starting to appear, the Indonesians had been ruled by their own in the beginning. They were divided into local principalities that would have provided secular autonomy (stability).