Adam Malik Center honors five governors

Adam Malik Center honors five governors

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Adam Malik Center (AMC) has honored five governors for their
success in managing ethnic, religious and intergroup conflicts in
their provinces.

The five are North Sumatra Governor Tengku Rizal Nurdin, Riau
Governor Saleh Djasit, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, East Nusa
Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo and Papua Governor Jaap Solossa.

Nurdin, Saleh and Solossa received their awards in Jakarta
over the weekend. Sutiyoso, who is overseas, and Tallo, who was
unable to attend the ceremony because of illness, will receive
their awards this week.

Nelly Adam Malik, the wife of former foreign minister Adam
Malik, called on the governors during the ceremony to continue
working to maintain the unitary state of Indonesian.

The president of the AMC, Antarini Adam Malik, said in a press
release here on Tuesday that the center, in cooperation with the
Public Administration Institute and the home ministry, considered
the five governors deserving of honor for their significant
contributions to managing conflicts and maintaining the country's
sovereignty.

"We are proud of the role North Sumatra Governor Rizal Nurdin
has played in maintaining security in the province. Despite many
threats and bombings, no conflicts have erupted in the province
over the past five years. He has also succeeded in handling the
Acehnese and Javanese taking refuge in the province due to the
continued conflict in Aceh," Antarini said.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has made it known that she
would like Rizal to serve a second term in office until 2008 in
order to maintain security and order in the province,
particularly ahead of the 2004 general election and presidential
election.

Djasit was honored for his success in quelling demands for the
resource-rich province's separation from Indonesia because of the
unfair fiscal balance from the exploitation of natural resources
during the New Order era.

AMC executive director Helmi Raja Marpaung said during the
award ceremony that Tallo had spent a great deal of time coping
with the impact of the East Timorese who took refuge in East Nusa
Tenggara following the 1999 UN-sponsored self-determination
referendum in the former Indonesian province.

Antarini said Papua was singled out not only because of
Governor Solossa's hard work in managing numerous conflicts and
other issues, but also to commemorate the return of the
easternmost province to the Republic of Indonesia on May 1, 1963,
through a referendum in which Adam Malik played a major role.

"This award is presented to the people of Papua who have
worked hard for the sake of the Indonesian unitary state in the
country's eastern region," she said.

Solossa was also honored for his contributions to maintaining
calm in the province following the murder of proindependence
Papuan Presidium Council chairman Dortheys "Theys" Hiyo Eluway on
Nov. 10, 2001, and the announcement of plans to split the
province into three provinces -- Papua, West Irian Jaya and
Central Irian Jaya.

The government will split the province into three in an
apparent attempt to maintain security and order in the area and
to weaken the Papua Independence Organization, which is fighting
for independence.

Like Aceh, the central government has offered Papua special
autonomy, which would allow the province to handle its own
affairs and to receive some 80 percent of the revenue from the
exploitation of natural resources in the province.