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.