Kampar Regent must go: Councillors
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau
A special team of Kampar regency councillors on Wednesday recommended the dismissal of Regent Jefri Noer and his deputy, Zakir, following massive protests by teachers and students in the province.
Chairman Yurmailis Saroji said the recommendation was made after the team went to a series of schools and talked to community leaders about the protests.
His deputy, Syafrizal, said both men should be forced to resign because a crisis of confidence in the regental government had spread throughout Kampar following the protests.
Most schools have been closed in the area after students and teachers took to street on Tuesday last week calling for the resignation of Jefri, who they said had insulted the teaching profession.
Jefri had ordered high school principal Abdul Latif Hasyim to leave a meeting after he questioned the state's low education budget.
"The crisis of confidence in the government, manifested by the protests, has disrupted the wheels of Kampar's bureaucracy," Syafrizal said in council buildings in Kampar.
Zulher, the spokesman for the administration, denied bureaucracy was affected to the protest.
"The protest has only closed the schools. All government offices are open as usual, and we are ready to serve the public," he said.
The unanimous recommendation by the team of 13, would be presented to the council's plenary meeting on Thursday.
The outcomes of the consultation would be conveyed to a plenary meeting on Saturday, the day on which the council is set to decide Jefri's fate.
Jefri has been in the spotlight after he ordered a teacher to leave a meeting on Thursday two weeks ago.
Tension rose when principal Abdul questioned Jefri on the regency's low education budget.
The regent had only allocated 5.39 percent of the Rp 700 billion (US$82.2 million) budget this year to education -- far below the minimum 20 percent required by the Indonesian Constitution.
The regent became angry and ordered Abdul to leave the meeting.
Jefri has been in controversy before. In 2002, he was accused of using a fake senior high school diploma to become eligible to stand for the post of regent.
He was voted out by the Kampar Regency Council but the decision was annulled by Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of teachers and students continued to strike on Wednesday, the eighth day of the protest. The protesters have said they will only halt their action if the regent resigns.
In a separate development, 10 high ranking officials in the regency administration went to Kampar and urged the councillors to oust Jefri -- another serious blow to his chances.
In Surabaya, the Minister for Administrative Affairs, Feisal Tamin, said he had ordered a team of officials to investigate protests by students and teachers there.
He urged both parties to negotiate.