When voters in the rest of Indonesia were choosing among 48 parties in last year's election, Ibrahim, who lives in Aceh, was offered only two options. Rebels of the Free Aceh Movement instructed him and his neighbours to boycott the election. Indonesian soldiers and policemen insisted that they turn out and vote. Afraid to defy either side, Ibrahim plumped for his equivalent of the Third Way, and went off to stay with his relatives in a neighbouring province. A lot of Acehnese feel equally trapped. The fight for an independent Aceh has been in progress, on and off, for half a century. On May 12th a three-month ceasefire negotiated between Mr Wahid's government and the rebels came into effect, after an outburst of violence that had killed 345 people since the beginning of the year. But it will be very hard to turn the ceasefire, even if it lasts its due three months, into an agreed peace.
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