It would be spectacular if Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh's

It would be spectacular if Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh's statement that some 1,000 village heads in the regency of Bireuen in the war-torn province were prepared to resign came to pass.

Puteh did not elaborate on why the village heads would give up their posts. However, it is obvious that the desire to cripple the administration at the lowest level, following the maneuvers of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), is behind the threatened resignations.

Administrative chaos at the low levels is commonplace in Aceh. Yet some villages have two heads; the state's version and the GAM version. And some village heads did not have the courage to do their jobs because of GAM intimidation.

Therefore, the home ministry's plan to replace those village heads without the guts to do their jobs could be considered as being responsible for the threatened resignations.

A statement from the ministry was answered by 76 village heads who stated they were ready to resign. They may have thought that sooner or later they would be dismissed, in line with the government's actions against GAM.

It would, therefore, be wise for the government to review its stance on village heads. Village administrations must be reactivated to serve the public and to protect the people from GAM's propaganda and terror.

The presence of the TNI and police should be increased in the villages to boost the spirit of the villagers, and we suggest that soldiers and police officers become patrons of the village heads going about their daily duties.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta

The annual disaster comes again

It is really ironic that forest fires have begun to rage in several Indonesian islands only a week after the country commemorated Environment Day.

Kalimantan and Sumatra have for the past six years been facing the disaster every year. Fires have destroyed some 2,000 hectares of forest land in Riau province this week alone. They have also damaged forests in Jambi, South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces.

The forest fires reportedly started in the two islands last May. Smoke from the fires have disrupted land, air and water transportations. The fires have also posed threats to the people's health.

Head of forest and land protection of the provincial forestry office in Riau, Fadrizal Labay, attributed the forest fires to the onset of the land-clearing season, usually during the dry season.

Unfortunately, the annual practice of land-clearing has not only caused forest fires but also transportation disturbance.

If the practices remain uncontrolled, its bad impact would not only threaten the local people but also those in neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore.

Thus, trusting provincial administrations to deal with forest fires is unrealistic as they do not have enough money, facilities and human resources to face the disaster.

If the government handles the forest fires without any effort to change the local people's attitude and regreen the damaged areas, the same disaster will recur next year.

We should take stern and integrated actions to manage the problem. -- Kompas, Jakarta