Aceh governor pleads for more aid<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh appealed on Wednesday to Acehnese
\nand others living in Jakarta to provide humanitarian aid for
\ntheir brothers currently suffering the brunt of military
\noperations in the war-torn province.<\/p>\n
Assistance was urgently needed particularly to rebuild
\nhundreds of schools that were burned down during the raging war,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists in Jakarta, Puteh said the burning of
\nthe school buildings had disrupted studies for hundreds of
\nthousands of students in Aceh.<\/p>\n
\"The immediate rebuilding of those burned schools is a
\npriority to enable the students to return to school as soon as
\npossible,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Puteh was in Jakarta to attend a one-day meeting of the
\ngovernors' association currently headed by Jakarta Governor
\nSutiyoso. Humanitarian aid for the Acehnese people was one of the
\ntopics discussed by the provincial leaders.<\/p>\n
Separately on Wednesday, around 200 Acehnese in Greater
\nJakarta donated blood in an event sponsored by the Taman Iskandar
\nMuda organization, an Acehnese community group, in cooperation
\nwith the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).<\/p>\n
The event was held at the PMI headquarters on Jl. Gatot
\nSubroto, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Jakarta's Taman Iskandar Muda chairman Tengku Syafi'i Didoh
\nsaid his group hopes this movement will continue so that there
\nwould be enough blood donations for the war victims in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Puteh said various kinds of humanitarian assistance were
\nneeded for more than 30,000 refugees who fled the violence, poor
\npeople, widows, orphans and other neglected children.<\/p>\n
\"Because Acehnese are part of the great family of Indonesia,
\nwe call on all the communities here to give them aid,\" he urged.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the sidelines of the Wednesday meeting, Governor
\nSutiyoso promised that the governors' association would extend
\naid for Acehnese victims, but could not give details on the
\nassistance as it was still under discussion.<\/p>\n
He made the promise after Puteh pleaded with the governors for
\n\"moral and material support\" for the Acehnese people.<\/p>\n
\"During the meeting, I was asked to explain what was needed by
\nthe people in Aceh. About the aid, it depends on the capability
\nof each province. The most important thing is moral support, the
\nunderstanding that Aceh is part of Indonesia,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Puteh also announced that at least seven civil servants in his
\nprovince were being interrogated by the martial law authorities
\nfor their alleged involvement in the rebel Free Aceh Movement
\n(GAM).<\/p>\n
The investigation followed the move to reregister civil
\nservants in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Puteh refused to call the reregistration program a repressive
\nmeasure, known as penelitian khusus or litsus, which was used by
\nformer strongman Soeharto's authoritarian regime to identify
\nmembers of the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).<\/p>\n
However, the governor admitted that several questions posed
\nfor Acehnese civil servants during their interviews may reveal
\ninformation on GAM's network and the possibility of their role in
\nthe rebel group.<\/p>\n
The central government plans to reregister other civil
\nservants nationwide to test their loyalty to the unitary state of
\nIndonesia, a move that has drawn fire from prodemocracy and human
\nrights activists.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aceh-governor-pleads-for-more-aid-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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