Another vocal Acehnese councillor murdered<\/p>\n
Ibnu Matnoor and Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh,
\nNanggroe Aceh Darussalam<\/p>\n
The security uncertainties in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province
\nhave claimed another victim with the shooting dead of United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP) provincial councillor, Nasri Zamzam, 43,
\non Thursday evening, a report said on Friday.<\/p>\n
A resident of the area, who asked to remain anonymous, said
\nNasri was shot by two unidentified men in front of his house in
\nAlue Glong village, Sukamakmur subdistrict, in Aceh Besar
\nregency, some 15 kilometers away from the provincial capital of
\nBanda Aceh.<\/p>\n
The witness, however, said it was obvious that Nasri knew his
\nmurderers as they had been involved in a brief talk before the
\ntwo men shot him at about 6:15 p.m. on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Soon after the killing, Tengku Maksalmina, spokesman for the
\nseparatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the Aceh Besar region
\ndenied any responsibility, saying that \"a series of killings had
\nrecently been carried out by the Indonesian security forces in an
\nattempt to stop GAM's struggle for an independent nation.\"<\/p>\n
Local police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Dade Ahmad, however,
\ndefended the allegation that the killing was committed by GAM as
\nmany local councillors had refused to support the separatist
\nmovement.<\/p>\n
\"GAM has all the motives for the killing,\" Dade said.<\/p>\n
Nasri was the eleventh Acehnese public figure to be killed in
\nthe province over the past two years.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Monday evening, Aceh provincial legislative
\ncouncillor from the Crescent and Star Party (PBB), Taslim A.
\nJalil, was killed at his residence in Meunasah village, Lhoknga
\nregency, also in Aceh Besar regency.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the situation in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, escalated
\non Friday following the burning of four schools by groups of
\nunidentified armed men at around 8 p.m. on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said there were explosions prior to the burning of
\nthe schools.<\/p>\n
The four schools were State Vocational High School 4 (SMKN 4),
\nState Vocational High School 2 (SMKN 2), and State High School 3
\n(SMU 3), all located in Ulee Jalan area, some two kilometers away
\nfrom the town center, and Junior High School 7 Cunda, which is
\nlocated some 50 meters from the Medan-Banda Aceh-Lhokseumawe
\nhighway.<\/p>\n
Ilias, a security guard at SMKN 4, said he and members of his
\nfamily were cleaning the teachers' room while watching the World
\nCup on TV at 8 p.m. when three armed and masked men ordered them
\nto get out.<\/p>\n
\"We were in the process of leaving the room when we suddenly
\nheard the sound of breaking glass and saw flames coming from the
\nschool's laboratory,\" Ilias said.<\/p>\n
\"And the firefighters, who arrived about an hour later, failed
\nto put out the fire as several rooms had already been gutted,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Similar conditions were found at SMU 3 and SMKN 2, which are
\nlocated not far from SMKN 4.<\/p>\n
Johan, a security guard at SMU 3, said the first room
\ndestroyed by the fire was the computer room, followed by other
\nrooms.<\/p>\n
But he was unable to give any information about the identity
\nof the arsonist as he had fled the scene.<\/p>\n
The burning of their schools shocked students on Friday
\nmorning.<\/p>\n
Many female students from SMU 3 cried to see much of their
\nschool reduced to a burned-out shell. Some even fainted.<\/p>\n
Nurul Hidayah, 15, a first-grader in the high school, could
\nnot hide her grief after seeing what had happened.<\/p>\n
\"Ya Allah (Oh my God), why was our school burned?\" she asked
\nin tears.<\/p>\n
But, the students went ahead with their examinations despite
\nseveral of the classrooms being unusable.<\/p>\n
While the arson attacks were the first to have hit SMKN 4, SMU
\n3 and SMKN 2, the one on SLTP 7 Cunda on Thursday evening was
\nactually the second.<\/p>\n
Previously, the school was burned by unidentified men when a
\nvisiting delegation of state officials, led by Coordinating
\nMinister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, visited North Aceh on
\nAug. 16, 2001.<\/p>\n
\"An explosive device was put in front of the school compound
\ntwo days ago (Wednesday),\" said Mustafa Sulaiman, 45, the
\nschool's headmaster.<\/p>\n
Mustafa accused the separatist movement of being behind the
\nschool's burning, saying that the arson attack was part of an
\nattempt to disrupt teaching and learning activities in the area.<\/p>\n
Observers estimated that the burning of the four schools had
\ncaused estimated losses of more than Rp 14 billion (US$1.5
\nmillion) to the government.<\/p>\n
Besides gutting classrooms, the blazes also destroyed all the
\nstudents' report books and many important documents.<\/p>",
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