After the initial shock of the tragedy sank in, Mr. Yudhoyono correctly identified his biggest long-term problem: how to spend nearly $6 billion in pledged aid, a tantalizing blank check in a country notorious for corruption. To squander the goodwill of the international community now would be to negate his mandate and invite negative comparisons with the cronyism of former dictator Suharto.
 
    He went outside the cozy club of Jakarta's political class, consulting Southeast Asia's elder statesman, Lee Kuan Yew. The fastidious founder of modern Singapore stressed the importance of a professional reconstruction effort. He also suggested Mr. Yudhoyono consider working with management consultants to design the right framework, mentioning the name of McKinsey & Co.

    The biggest cultural shock to the system has been the BRR's willingness to give local residents a say in what comes next -- a component of the reconstruction blueprint pushed by McKinsey. Local wishes have long been subordinate to Indonesia's post-colonial obsession with holding a farflung archipelago together as a nation.
 

    BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – Rebels in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province formally disbanded their armed wing Tuesday, ending a 29-year struggle for independence that killed thousands so the movement could participate in elections next year.
 
    "The armed wing of the Free Aceh Movement has demobilized and disbanded," said rebel commander Sofyan Daud, effectively ending the separatist insurgency that has killed at least 15,000 people since 1976.
 
    "The Aceh national army is now part of civil society, and will work to make the peace deal a success," he said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
 
    "We are entering a political era now. We do not need weapons anymore."