New Kampar councillors installed

New Kampar councillors installed

Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Pekanbaru

A student protest marred the induction of 45 councillors at the
Kampar regental council on Friday.

In the noisy protest, hundreds of students demanded the
councillors step up the fight against corruption and prevent the
reinstatement of Kampar Regent Jefri Noer.

Grouped under the Kampar Students' Solidarity Forum (Formasi),
they unfurled banners urging the new legislative members to have
the courage to voice the aspirations of the Kampar people.

The leader of Formasi, Zulfahmi, said it was imperative that
those being sworn in on Friday fight for the interests of the
people they represented. "We urge the council members not to
become involved in corrupt practices by misusing the people's
money or misappropriating funds from the budget, and to uphold
the supremacy of the law," he said.

The new members were also called upon to allot 20 percent of
the regental budget for education, in line with the 1945
Constitution.

The inauguration of the new councillors, who were elected in
the April 5 legislative election, was tarnished by corruption
charges leveled against former Kampar councillors.

Thirteen of the 45 former Kampar councillors, who are being
investigated in connection with a Rp 1.125 billion (US$125,000)
graft case, were among the 45 new Kampar councillors installed on
Friday.

But according to the head of the Kampar General Elections
Commission (KPU), Nurhamin Nahar, the commission could not
postpone or prevent the swearing in of the 13 councillors under
investigation because they had yet to be tried in a court of law.
"Only if they are pronounced guilty will their positions as
councillors be considered legally void," he said.

The installation of the new members to the Kampar regental
council was also colored by rumors that the Ministry of Home
Affairs planned to reinstate Regent Jefri Noer and Vice Regent A.
Zakir. Jefri Noer was fired as Kampar regent early this year to
prevent unrest in the region, following his infamous slapping of
a local teacher. The teacher was thrown out of a meeting by Jefri
at Jefri's office early this year for questioning Jefri's policy
on education, which resulted in a massive protest by teachers and
students seeking the ousting of Jefri.

Jefri was eventually dismissed, but during a meeting recently
in Jakarta with local Kampar leaders, officials at the ministry
hinted that Jefri could be reinstated.

Anticipating Jefri's possible return to power, the students
demanded in their protest that the newly elected councillors
prevent his reinstatement.