Kampar legislature dismisses regent Jefri

Kampar legislature dismisses regent Jefri

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

The Kampar regency legislative council in Riau unanimously agreed
on Saturday to dismiss regent Jefri Noer and his deputy A. Zakir
to end the two weeks of massive protests by teachers and students
in the province.

In the meantime, Jefri rejected his dismissal, saying he was
still in control of the administration and would await a decision
from the Ministry of Home Affairs because the regency legislature
lacked the authority to dismiss him.

Responding to the recommendation given by a special inquiry
team in a plenary session, the five majority factions called for
Jefri's dismissal while the two minority and the military/police
factions were initially against his dismissal.

The special team set up by the regency legislature to
investigate the case recommended the dismissal of the regent and
his deputy because the people had lost confidence in them.

The confidence crisis spread through the province when
teachers and students hit the streets for over two weeks to call
for the regent's dismissal.

The crisis began three weeks ago when Jefri ordered high
school principal Abdul Latif Hasyim to leave a meeting Jefri was
hosting, a move labeled harassment by people.

During the meeting the regent became angry when the principal
questioned the regency's education allotment from the budget. The
regent had only allocated 5.39 percent of the Rp 700 billion
(US$82.2 million) budget this year for education, far below the
minimum 20 percent required by the Constitution.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar
and the United Development Party (PPP) factions said the two
officials should be dismissed because the case had caused a
serious crisis in the province, plus the regent's recent response
to the legislature's questions over the case were unacceptable.

The joint faction of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and
other minor parties, and the military/police faction suggested
that the police step in and handle the case and then take it to
court, but after a 10-minute discussion, the two factions agreed
to fire Jefri and Zakir.

Only 34 of 45 members of the legislative council attended the
plenary session.

The legislative speaker who presided over the plenary session
told The Jakarta Post via telephone that he would immediately
convey the results of the plenary session to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri. He said the President was expected to approve
Jefri's dismissal to end the crisis.

Jefri has insisted that he will continue to lead the regency
administration while waiting for a decision from the central
government.

"My boss is the home minister," he said, adding that it was
not that easy to dismiss him in such a case, otherwise there
would be regent dismissals every day.

Responding to the massive protests, home minister Hari Sabarno
said recently he would send a team to the regency to investigate
the case if the legislative council proposed Jefri's dismissal.

Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy regulates that a regency
legislature has the authority to dismiss a regent only when
he/she is found guilty of committing a crime.

The legislature also tried to oust Jefri in 2002 for allegedly
using a fake school diploma to make him eligible to run for
election in 2001, but the home minister rejected the
legislature's decision.