Hari urged to step in on Kampar case

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

Riau Governor Rusli Zainal said on Sunday he could ask Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno to intercede in the dispute between Kampar Regent Jefri Noer and thousands of teachers and students who are demanding the regent's resignation.

Despite the increasingly strident demands for his resignation, Jefri is adamant that he will not step down.

Speaking to reporters in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, Rusli said the Kampar Regency Council was setting up a special committee to investigate the case.

The councillors will then convene a plenary meeting to discuss the outcome of the investigation, after which they will decide the fate of the regent.

"If there is a deadlock in the plenary meeting, we will ask Minister (Hari) to step in," he said as quoted by Antara.

The minister of home affairs has the authority to order an election to find a new regent if the council becomes deadlocked.

The governor also asked teacher and student protesters to stay off the streets and go back into the classroom, as their demand had been heard and was now being considered.

Besides confirming that he would not resign as regent, Jefri, who ended up in this position because of his allegedly poor treatment of a local teacher, said he would fire all teachers involved in the protests unless they immediately resumed their classes.

"I will not resign. These protests have been engineered by provocateurs and do not represent the true wishes of teachers and students in the regency," he said during a meeting on Saturday with Kampar councillors.

All 45 councillors attended the meeting, which was guarded by a large contingent of police and military personnel.

The regent was responding to protests by thousands of students and teachers that began last Tuesday, five days after Jefri reportedly ordered a teacher to leave a meeting between the regent and teacher representatives. According to witnesses, the teacher was kicked out after questioning the regent's budget allocation for education.

The protesting students and teachers maintain that Jefri's outburst was an insult to the teaching profession.

Outside the council building on Saturday, thousands of teachers and students stepped up the pressure on the regent, as most of the schools in the regency were closed for the fifth day in a row.

The protesters said they would not back down from their demand for Jefri's resignation because, according to them, not only did the regent insult the teaching profession, but he also ignored education in his budget.

Five percent of the regency's Rp 700 billion (US$82.8 million) 2004 budget was allocated for education. The Constitution requires all levels of government to allocate at least 20 percent of their total budgets for education.

The speaker of the Kampar regency council, Syarifuddin Effendi, said the council would establish a special committee to discuss the protesters' demand.

"The committee will also assess a report by the regent. They will release the results of their work either Tuesday or Wednesday," he said.

After the committee completes its task, the regency councillors will convene a plenary meeting to discuss whether to dismiss Jefri.

Separately, the chairman of the Kampar branch of the All- Indonesian Teacher Association said the teachers would continue their protest until the regent resigned or was removed from office.