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.