Aceh refugees ask for compensation
Aceh refugees ask for compensation
Apriadi Gunawan
The Jakarta Post
Medan
Some 1,000 Acehnese refugees staged a protest in front of the
North Smatra provincial legislature on Thursday, asking the
government to keep its promise to provide them with financial
assistance.
Arriving in five trucks and dozens of buses, the refugees
demanded the immediate distribution of financial compensation so
that they could start new lives in other areas.
Coordinator of the protesters, Ngadirun, said the protest was
prompted by a report that the central government had allocated
some Rp 10 million (US$1,111) for each family, not Rp 2.75
million as previously mentioned by the local administration.
He said the money was intended to finance each family in
establishing a new home after they had joined the local
transmigration program.
"We are ready to move and live in other parts in the country,
but the government should provide us with the money to start our
new lives," Ngadirun said.
He underlined that none of the refugees wanted to go back to
Aceh as the security situation in the restive province remained
uncertain.
The government had also vowed to provide some Rp 900 billion
to support the refugees while they were still living in refugee
camps spread across the province.
However, the refugees claimed that none of the promises had
been kept, and sometimes they did not even receive their
allowances to buy food.
Currently, there are 1.3 million refugees staying in Langkat
regency here.
Most of the refugees are not Acehnese, as they had come from
other islands in Indonesia and left the province when the
separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) grew stronger in Aceh.
In the meeting with the refugees, North Sumatra social affairs
agency chief Sylvester Lase dismissed the report that the central
government had allocated Rp 10 million for each family.
He said the government provided Rp 2.75 million for the
refugees to start up new lives, and another Rp 5 million for each
family to set a new home.
The official said the money would only be disbursed when the
refugees were ready to join the local transmigration program, or
to return to their hometowns.
He claimed that the program had yet to start, and that the
first badge of the refugees would consist of 73 families to be
sent to Riau province, 39 families to South Tapanuli regency in
North Sumatra and six families to Medan Sunggal district in
Medan. The second badge would be made up of 489 families to be
sent to Riau.
Sylvester also said that should the refugees find any
irregularities in the distribution of the compensation, they
should report it to his office.
"If the officials take your money, just report it and we'll
dismiss them," he said.