Rulers must heed people: Analysts

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After a month of massive demonstrations by teachers and students, the central government has endorsed the decision of the Kampar Legislative Council to dismiss controversial Regent Jefri Noer.

The decision was welcomed by thousands of teachers, students and civil servants in the regency, who had united to oust Jefri. After hearing the decision, which was announced by Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno last Thursday, they paraded through the city of Bangkinang, the capital of Kampar regency, some 60 kilometers west of Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province.

Following the celebration of Jefri's dismissal, the situation in Kampar began to return to normal. Teachers and students said they would go back to class, while civil servants were ready to return to their jobs.

But the protests in Kampar, which some people have described as a "people's power" movement, leave us with two questions: What can we learn from this? And where do we go from here?

Political analyst Mochtar Pabottinggi said the protests "show that democracy works in Kampar. In democracy, people are sovereign. Having held a series of protests that involved large numbers of people, Kampar residents played their role as an effective pressure group, which is legitimate in a democracy," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Mochtar said there must have been something wrong with the regent to get teachers to protest repeatedly.

"The teachers, students and civil servants apparently were deeply disappointed with the regent, so they took to the streets to protest against him," said Mochtar, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Mochtar said he believed the demonstrations represented the true wishes of the people of Kampar and were not engineered. Kampar is home to 400,000 residents, and the protesters attracted tens of thousands of people.

Syamsuddin Harris, Mochtar's colleague at LIPI, said the country's leaders should learn from Kampar.

"I read reports in the media that the regent was authoritarian and arrogant. This could be a precedent to teach other leaders to be more careful in the future," he told the Post separately.

Regent Jefri could not be contacted on Saturday for comment.

The trouble in Kampar began last month when Jefri threw a school principal out of a meeting after the principal questioned him about the budget allocation for education.

The incident outraged teachers and students in the regency, who united in a major protest several days later. Thousands of teachers and students joined demonstrations over the course of 12 days, paralyzing education in the regency. The protests forced the Kampar Legislative Council to hold a plenary meeting that resulted in the decision to dismiss Jefri.

The regent had been the target of public anger before this incident, including over allegations he used a fake high school diploma when he ran for regent three years ago and his habit of repeatedly replacing senior civil servants.

Syamsuddin said all elected officials in the country should learn a lesson from the events in Kampar.

"This people's power movement would not have happened if the legislative council understood the wishes of the people. The massive protests happened because the council did not function properly," he said.