Unpopular outsiders.(Stateless Peoples--Aceh) From: Canada and the World Backgrounder | Date: October 1, 2003 | COPYRIGHT 2003 Canada & the World. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Aceh is a region on the northwestern tip of the island of Sumatra and part of Indonesia. It covers an area the same size as Nova Scotia. Its people are almost all Muslim, just as the population of Indonesia is. The Acehnese make no claim to a distinct ethnicity or, necessarily, political ideology. Mostly, they speak Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of the country.

So, if the people of Aceh are part of the ethnic, linguistic, political, and religious majority of th...