Meunasah Mon Cut – an agricultural-character gampong in Kecamatan Lhoknga, Kabupaten Aceh Besar
Meunasah Mon Cut is a gampong (Acehnese/Indonesian village administrative unit) within the territory of Kecamatan Lhoknga, Kabupaten Aceh Besar, Aceh province, Indonesia. Based on its coordinates (5.498°N, 95.244°E), it is situated in the northwestern part of Sumatra island, within the province's only officially recognized special autonomous region. The gampong is located in Kecamatan Lhoknga and administratively belongs to Kabupaten Aceh Besar. From regency-level sources, it is known that Kecamatan Lhoknga is among the areas severely affected by the 2004 tsunami, which have undergone significant social and economic transformation since then.
General overview
Meunasah Mon Cut is relatively unknown to the broader public; it does not appear as a named attraction in tourism publications or regional development plans. The gampong belongs to the Kemukiman Lamlhom administrative area within Kecamatan Lhoknga, Kabupaten Aceh Besar. The total area of the gampong is 37.09 hectares, of which 32.35 hectares are rice fields, 0.06 hectares are plantation, 0.06 hectares are garden area, and 4.25 hectares are residential zones. This proportion clearly demonstrates that the settlement is predominantly agricultural in character, with the overwhelming majority of its territory used for rice cultivation. The gampong consists of three dusun (sub-units): Dusun Nek Pang Yusuf, K.Nek Polem, and Tgk. It borders Meunasah Baro village to the north, rice field strips to the south and west, and Meunasah Manyang village to the east. Administratively, Kecamatan Lhoknga contains several other units with similar structure and size, also bearing the "Meunasah" prefix. On November 22, 2022, Tuesday, the government of Kabupaten Aceh Besar declared the gampong a Kampung KB (a village participating in the Keluarga Berencana population and development program). Prior to this, in 2019, the gampong also received regional recognition: Ir. Mawardi Ali, the bupati of Kabupaten Aceh Besar, emphasized that Gampong Meunasah Mon Cut demonstrated outstanding performance in village administration, village financial management, and other areas, and was included among the ten best gampong of Aceh province. The provincial Gampong Assessment Committee – led by the head of the Aceh Provincial Community Development and Gampong Office (DPMG) – visited the gampong in 2019 to evaluate it within the framework of the provincial gampong competition.
Real estate and investment
Publicly available village-level real estate market data specific to Meunasah Mon Cut is not accessible; therefore, the broader context of Kabupaten Aceh Besar and Aceh province is presented below. Kabupaten Aceh Besar is overall the westernmost kabupaten in Indonesia and forms part of Aceh province. The defining characteristic of Aceh province's real estate market is the application of Islamic law (syariat Islam) throughout public and economic life. This is also decisive for real estate financing: syariah-based financing structures are more characteristic of the market than conventional interest-bearing mortgage loans. The advantage arising from Aceh Besar's proximity to Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, enables the influence of broader agglomeration effects. Regarding foreign individuals, the general regulation applicable throughout Indonesia is that real estate acquisition is possible on the basis of Hak Pakai (usage rights), which is tied to a valid KITAS/KITAP residence permit, with an initial term of 30 years and extendable for a total of 80 years; the procedure must be conducted through a licensed notary and registered with the BPN National Land Office. In the case of Meunasah Mon Cut – due to the gampong's predominantly agricultural and residential land use, and its rural location within Kecamatan Lhoknga – real estate transactions are presumably minimal and local in character, though controlled village-level data on this is not available.
Safety and security
No independent, verified statistics on public safety in Meunasah Mon Cut are publicly available. Regarding the broader Aceh province and Kabupaten Aceh Besar, it can be generally stated that the Helsinki peace agreement concluded in 2005 ended the decade-long armed conflict that previously characterized the daily lives of the region's inhabitants. According to one Acehnese anthropologist, before the 2004 tsunami, the security situation in Aceh was extraordinarily tense: during the period of military and then civil emergency, armed clashes were almost continuous. Since the peace process and the subsequent reconstruction period, the region has been predominantly stable. In Aceh province, the institutional framework of syariat Islam plays a role in the regulation of public order and social norms, which also impacts the parameters of community life. In the case of Meunasah Mon Cut – based on the facts of its participation in the 2019 provincial gampong competition, the recognized orderliness of its village administration, and its designation as a Kampung KB program village – the gampong indicates orderly community functioning; however, this does not substitute for verified, itemized data on public safety.
Tourist attractions
No independent tourist attraction in Meunasah Mon Cut can be identified from verified sources. However, several attractions known from verified sources are located in the immediate vicinity, within Kecamatan Lhoknga. Pantai Lhoknga, located in Kecamatan Lhoknga, is situated on the shore of Mon Ikeun gampong. The beach is primarily recognized by both local and foreign visitors as a surfing destination. The beach is approximately 22 kilometers from Banda Aceh. Also located within the kecamatan is the Masjid Rahmatullah Lampuuk, which is situated in Desa Lampuuk, Kecamatan Lhoknga. The mosque was built in 1990 and inaugurated in 1997. Pantai Lhoknga was one of the first Acehnese mainland points reached by the tsunami of December 26, 2004; during the destruction that followed, the Masjid Rahmatullah building remained the only standing structure in the vicinity. Today, the mosque functions not only as a place of prayer but also as a religious tourist attraction. Pantai Lampuuk beach is also located within Kecamatan Lhoknga, in Meunasah Mesjid Desa, Kabupaten Aceh Besar. These attractions constitute the tourism context of Meunasah Mon Cut's immediate surroundings, but verified source data is not available regarding their exact distance from the gampong itself.
Summary
Meunasah Mon Cut is a small-sized, agricultural-character gampong in Kecamatan Lhoknga, Kabupaten Aceh Besar, where the built-up area comprises only a small fraction of the total 37.09 hectares, with the remainder predominantly serving rice cultivation. The gampong was included among the ten best villages of Aceh Besar within the framework of the 2019 provincial gampong competition, indicating orderly local administration. From a tourism perspective, direct interest is focused rather on attractions at the kecamatan level – notably Pantai Lhoknga and Masjid Rahmatullah Lampuuk. No independent, verified village-level data is available regarding the real estate market and public safety; both areas are interpreted within the general framework of broader Kabupaten Aceh Besar and Aceh province.
