Residents urge village head to quit

Residents urge village head to quit

TANGERANG (JP): About 70 residents of Sawah Lama village in
Ciputat district here went to the Tangerang regency inspectorate
office, demanding that their village head, Rusdi Ali, resign his
position.

They claimed that the village head, who had served for two
periods, had deviated from his original position. "Besides
personally appointing heads of both neighborhood units and
neighborhood communities without any consultation with local
residents, he also once sold a plot of land belonging to a local
resident," Sobur, one of the protesters, said.

The land sold by the village head covered 370 square meters
and was worth about Rp 37 million (US$4,000), he said.

The protesters also questioned a donation from the central
government amounting to Rp 6 million as there had been no signs
of progress since the donation was received.

"We asked the regency inspector to take action as soon as
possible. We will come here in bigger numbers if our complaint is
not heeded," one of the protesters who asked not to be named
said.

Sudirman, the inspector, urged the protesters to be patient.
"Handling such a case will take time," he said. (41/hhr)