People told to welcome new police chief

ANTARA, Mataram

West Nusa Tenggara governor Harun Al Rasyid appealed to all citizens in the province to welcome the new chief of the provincial police, Insp. Gen. Iman S. Haryatna, saying that the provincial administration had no right to interfere in the National Police's internal affairs.

"Every citizen should sincerely welcome the new provincial police official as National Police Gen. Suroyo Bimantoro has contacted me for this reason," he said in Mataram on Monday.

Several groups of locals have opposed the recent replacement of Farouk, who served only four months in the provincial police's top position, and called on the provincial administration to turn away his successor in line with the Law on regional autonomy.

The inauguration of Iman, the former deputy chief of the East Java Provincial Police, was conducted at the National Police Headquarters in Jakarta early this month due to protests over Farouk's replacement.

Farouk was originally from Lombok.

Harun explained that with full enforcement of the regional autonomy law in the future, provincial administrations would play an important role in the replacement of police and military officials in the province.

"We still need more time to fully enforce the law," he said.

He said that according to the National Police leadership, Farouk's appointment as new chief of the Maluku Provincial Police was a promotion and he was needed to restore security and order to the strife-torn province.

"It should make the people in West Nusa Tenggara proud that a police official who was born in Lombok is entrusted with an important mission in a restive province," he said.

He added that despite his short assignment, Farouk achieved significant progress in improving the local people's awareness in security and law enforcement.