N. Sumatra to disburse funds to Aceh refugees
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
North Sumatra governor T. Rizal Nurdin said on Wednesday that he would disburse Rp 8.7 million (US$966) to each refugee family, who have been displaced by fighting in Aceh, within 14 days.
He said the money would be disbursed after a verification team, which is still gathering data on the refugees, most of whom were believed to actually be Javanese transmigrants, finished its job.
"We don't have any intention to hold the funds any longer, but we want the funds to be enjoyed by the appropriate people (those who forced out of Aceh by Acehnese nationalists (GAM)) not by some groups of people who pretend to be refugees," Rizal told The Jakarta Post.
He revealed that some groups had claimed that there were 24,000 refugee families, while temporary data of the verification team showed that there were only 10,000 families who had fled the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam due to prolonged conflict in the troubled province.
Rizal admitted that the North Sumatra administration had received the funds from the Ministry of Social Affairs two months ago. He, however, said that the ministry only disbursed Rp 70 billion for 8,000 families.
The governor's statement, however contradicted statements made by the refugees themselves, who said that the ministry had agreed to distribute Rp 100.5 billion as an allowance in an agreement made between the refugees and the ministry on Aug. 8.
Rizal, however, said the ministry had vowed to also disburse funds for 4,000 other families. He denied that there would be a set limit for fund recipients.
He said that every family would be given a voucher to get their money which would be arranged by state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).
Rizal said he had cooperated with the police to move thousands of Acehnese refugees, who had been taking shelter at the compound of the gubernatorial office since Monday, to the Merdeka stadium area.
"They have no option but to leave because their presence in the past three days has disrupted the working atmosphere and activities in the office compound," he said.