Aceh refugees demand compensation<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan<\/p>\n
Some 1,000 Acehnese refugees staged a protest in front of the
\nNorth Smatra provincial legislature on Thursday, asking the
\ngovernment to keep its promise to provide them with financial
\nassistance.<\/p>\n
Arriving in five trucks and dozens of buses, the refugees
\ndemanded the immediate distribution of financial compensation so
\nthat they could start new lives in other areas.<\/p>\n
Coordinator of the protesters, Ngadirun, said the protest was
\nprompted by a report that the central government had allocated
\nsome Rp 10 million (US$1,111) for each family, not Rp 2.75
\nmillion as previously mentioned by the local administration.<\/p>\n
He said the money was intended to finance each family in
\nestablishing a new home after they had joined the local
\ntransmigration program.<\/p>\n
\"We are ready to move and live in other parts in the country,
\nbut the government should provide us with the money to start our
\nnew lives,\" Ngadirun said.<\/p>\n
He underlined that none of the refugees wanted to go back to
\nAceh as the security situation in the restive province remained
\nuncertain.<\/p>\n
The government had also vowed to provide some Rp 900 billion
\nto support the refugees while they were still living in refugee
\ncamps spread across the province.<\/p>\n
However, the refugees claimed that none of the promises had
\nbeen kept, and sometimes they did not even receive their
\nallowances to buy food.<\/p>\n
Currently, there are 1.3 million refugees staying in Langkat
\nregency here.<\/p>\n
Most of the refugees are not Acehnese, as they had come from
\nother islands in Indonesia and left the province when the
\nseparatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) grew stronger in Aceh.<\/p>\n
In the meeting with the refugees, North Sumatra social affairs
\nagency chief Sylvester Lase dismissed the report that the central
\ngovernment had allocated Rp 10 million for each family.<\/p>\n
He said the government provided Rp 2.75 million for the
\nrefugees to start up new lives, and another Rp 5 million for each
\nfamily to set a new home.<\/p>\n
The official said the money would only be disbursed when the
\nrefugees were ready to join the local transmigration program, or
\nto return to their hometowns.<\/p>\n
He claimed that the program had yet to start, and that the
\nfirst badge of the refugees would consist of 73 families to be
\nsent to Riau province, 39 families to South Tapanuli regency in
\nNorth Sumatra and six families to Medan Sunggal district in
\nMedan. The second badge would be made up of 489 families to be
\nsent to Riau.<\/p>\n
Sylvester also said that should the refugees find any
\nirregularities in the distribution of the compensation, they
\nshould report it to his office.<\/p>\n
\"If the officials take your money, just report it and we'll
\ndismiss them,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aceh-refugees-demand-compensation-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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