Kampar teachers questioned for orchestrating protest

Kampar teachers questioned for orchestrating protest

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

Although Kampar has seemingly returned to normal after the recent
dismissal of Kampar regent Jefri Noer, police plan to summon
teachers who allegedly ordered and mobilized students to hold
massive protests against the controversial regent.

Riau Provincial Police headquarters had summoned three
teachers to clarify their role in the protests, and it plans to
summon another 16 teachers for questioning, said Riau Police
spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Syarif Pandiangan on Monday.

"They are being summoned by the police due to allegations that
they have violated the law on child protection," said Syarif.

Syarif said that the three were Basrun, the acting head of
education and sports office at Kampar regency administration, M.
Yasir, the chairman of the All Indonesia Teachers Association
(PGRI) Kampar branch and Abdul Muis, the head of the education
and sports office at Siak Hulu district in Kampar.

The three teachers reported to the Riau Police headquarters in
Pekanbaru on Monday and were questioned at the Riau Police
detective unit.

"The three are now being questioned as witnesses," said
Syarif, adding that whether they would be named suspects depended
on further findings.

Syarif said that the three would be charged with violating Law
No. 23/2003 on child protection, which carries a maximum sentence
of five years in prison.

Syarif accused the teachers of manipulating and mobilizing
students to join the protests and strike against regent Jefri
Noer during the course of 12 days, paralyzing classes in the
regency. They were also charged with engineering another series
of protests about two weeks ago.

He said that the police had collected evidence including a
circular dated March 21 that asked teachers and students in the
regency to stage a strike.

The circular also asked the students and teachers to take to
streets to demand Jefri's resignation.

"After the three teachers, we will summon others. We actually
planned to summon them all when the protests ended, but situation
was bad at that time.

We had to wait until the situation returned to normal," he
said.

M. Yasir, the chairman of PGRI's Kampar branch, refused to
talk about the substance of the investigation.

"I am still at Riau Police headquarters under questioning, the
investigation is not over yet," he told The Jakarta Post.

Separately, Yuwilis, the lawyer of the three teachers,
rejected police' accusations. He said that the teachers did not
mobilize and manipulate students in the protest, rather the
students protested of their own volition.

The brouhaha in Kampar began last month after Jefri ordered a
school principal to leave a meeting between teachers and the
regent. The move sparked major protests, in which student and
teacher protesters demanded his resignation. Jefri was
subsequently dismissed by the Kampar Legislative Council and the
decision was upheld by the central government.