Abdullah to lead special Aceh team

Abdullah to lead special Aceh team

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid disclosed on
Thursday his plan to appoint former politician Abdullah Puteh to
head a government special team to resolve the Aceh issue.

Speaking in a meeting with a group of visiting Dutch
businessmen here, the President praised Abdullah as a hard worker
whose integrity was trusted by Aceh people.

The President was confident his choice could be accepted by
all parties in the conflict.

"You know that he is a good worker, and more importantly he is
trusted by all sides in Aceh," Abdurrahman remarked.

"You know Acehnese outside Aceh itself are seen by those
people in the province as traitors. But you never hear Abdullah
Puteh's name being mentioned among them," Abdurrahman said of his
reason to promote Abdullah.

Abdullah, a native Acehnese, is a former chairman of the
Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) and member of the
House of Representatives (DPR) representing the Golkar faction.

He was born in Meunasah Arun, East Aceh on July 4 1948.

According to Abdurrahman, he decided to ask Abdullah to head
the team when visiting U.S. Under State Secretary Thomas
Pickering asked him to appoint an official to head the
government's efforts to end the conflict in the province.

The President also disclosed that Pickering conveyed a list of
ideas to resolve the Aceh issue from State Secretary Madeleine
Albright as follow up to Abdurrahman's meeting with U.S.
President Bill Clinton in November.

"There are fresh ideas on how to deal with the problems of
Aceh. There are items that we can use, that we can implement in
Indonesia," the President said without elaborating. (prb)