Govt moves to replace Bireuen village chiefs
Govt moves to replace Bireuen village chiefs
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will immediately replace the 76 villages chiefs in
Bireuen regency, Aceh province, who resigned en masse due to
security concerns, while the Indonesian Military (TNI) expressed
its readiness to supply soldiers to fill the empty posts.
"Those village chiefs are elected by the people, so those who
resign must be immediately replaced by new ones," Minister of
Home Affairs Hari Sabarno was quoted by Antara as saying on
Monday.
Hari said the administration in Aceh must be kept running, but
that the election of the new village chiefs, who are locally
known as keucik, would require consultation with the Aceh martial
law administration.
"In this emergency situation, we need leaders who are
patriotic," Hari said.
If no civilians have the courage to fill these posts, they
will be filled by TNI or police personnel, he added.
Separately, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said
the TNI was ready to assign soldiers to act as village chiefs if
it was instructed to do so.
"The TNI has no other intention than to help the people. If
the TNI is ordered to replace these villages chiefs, we will do
so," he said after officiating at the burial ceremony for the
chief of Central Java's Diponegoro Military Command, Maj. Gen.
Amirul Isnaini, at the Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery.
The TNI was still seeking the right people to occupy the empty
posts, he added.
At present, 70 percent of the Aceh administration is not
operative as many officials had been intimidated, abducted or
murdered by Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, Ryamizard said.
A total of 76 village chiefs from villages in Peudada, Jeumpa,
Jeunib and Juli subdistricts in Bireuen regency, which is known
as a stronghold of GAM, resigned on Sunday because of pressures
from both the TNI and GAM.
They said they could not continue to work under such
pressures.
The village chiefs decided to tender their resignations
following a meeting at Blank Sepang village on Sunday.
Previously, reports surfaced of 30 village chiefs seeking
refuge in the Samalanga area in Bireuen due to fears of GAM
retaliation after attending a TNI indoctrination course on the
Unitary State of Indonesia.
The military operation, Indonesia's largest since the 1975
East Timor invasion, is entering its fourth week in Aceh. The
military said on Monday it had killed 160 GAM rebels and taken
more than 300 prisoners. On the military side, 13 soldiers and
three policemen had also died.