N. Sumatra to disburse funds to Aceh refugees
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.