Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: Indonesia Launches Attack on Aceh Rebels, 5/19/03
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june03/aceh_5-19.html

Initiating Questions:

1. Have you heard of a country called Indonesia? What do you know about it?

2. What lessons do you think other countries have learned from the U.S. invasion of Iraq?

3. When is it okay for a group of people living in one area to declare themselves independent - politically and financially? Why?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1). Why did talks in Tokyo break down? What is the major issue between the rebels and the Indonesian government?

The talks reportedly failed after leaders of the Free Aceh Movement rejected a government proposal for limited self-rule within Indonesia. Rebels in Aceh want the region to be independent from the rest of Indonesia.

2). Who is the President of Indonesia? What did she do in response to the break in talks?

Megawati Sukarnoputri is the President of Indonesia. She declared martial law in the
region, signing an order that gave the military the power to make arrests, limit travel, and impose curfews on the province's 4.3 million people, the Associated Press reports. She also ordered an intensive military offensive on the rebels in the region of Aceh.

3). How did senior military officials compare this offensive to Iraq?

Senior military officials said that they wanted to emulate the United States success in Iraq with an overwhelming use of force. The military has even "embedded" local reporters with units.

4). What are the main natural resources in Aceh? What role does the economic situation of the province play in the dispute?

Aceh is rich in deposits of oil and natural gas, but rebel leaders have long argued that Indonesia siphons away much of the money earned from the region's resources. Indonesian officials have maintained that Aceh's exports are vital to the country's economy.

5). What role does Islam play in this conflict?

Aceh is one of the more conservative Islamic provinces in the world's most populous Muslim nation. In an attempt to stem the violence and defuse rebel anger, the government allowed Aceh to enact Muslim sharia law last year - the only province in the archipelago to enact the strict Muslim dictates. Nonetheless, rebels say they are fighting for an independent state, not an Islamic one.

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1). How is the situation in Aceh similar or dissimilar to the situation the U.S. faces in Iraq?

2). Should Aceh be allowed to become independent? Why or why not?

Write a 300-500 word essay on either of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra (extra@newshour.org). Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.