New senior official under fire in Palu

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Dozens of residents staged a rally here on Monday to protest the swearing-in of Gumyadi as the new secretary of the Central Sulawesi provincial administration, complaining that he did not represent the local people.

The protest, which began around 11 a.m. when Gumyadi was being inaugurated, focused on his status as a non-active military officer originally from Bandung. The rally forced police to tighten security near the ceremony in Palu as the people demanded a career bureaucrat and someone from Sulawesi.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Deputy Central Sulawesi Governor Rully Lamadjido also opposed the appointment of Gumyadi, the current head of the people's protection agency in the province.

To express his objection to the Gumyadi appointment, Governor Rully refused to attend the inauguration ceremony. --JP