Separatist rebels disrupt election in Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Troops repulsed suspected Free Aceh Movement separatist rebels approaching a polling station in Pidie regency yesterday, the police said.

Pidie police chief Lt. Col. Teuku Keumala said troops were engaged in a brief shootout with rebels in army-like uniforms at 10:30 a.m. near the polling station.

A resident was killed and the subdistrict head injured, he said. He declined to identify the resident or whether any of the attackers were wounded or captured.

Police on duty then loaded the ballot boxes onto a military truck bound for Bandar Baru subdistrict where the ballots were counted.

Also transported to Bandar Baru were the polling station's chief and the United Development Party's, Golkar's and the Indonesian Democratic Party's scrutineers.

Keumala said the authorities believed the suspected rebels were the same people involved in the burning of a base camp of logging concessionaire PT Tri Jasa Mas Karya Inti in Pidie at 2 a.m. yesterday.

"The burning of the base camp was reported to a nearby police station by two of the company's employees who managed to escape the fire and the attackers," he said.

The rebels had been spotted Wednesday; apparently they surveyed the area, he said.

Pidie residents did not seem to be affected by the incident. People thronged polling stations throughout the day.

Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud said yesterday that people's participation in the general election was heartening.

"As you can see, people crowded the polling stations. It shows that their political awareness has improved," he told reporters, who accompanied him in an inspection to several polling stations in the Banda Aceh mayoralty and nearby Aceh Besar regency.

In the past, he said, turnout was not as high as expected.

Most of the shops, government and private offices, intercity bus and domestic public transportation terminals were closed in the morning as voters thronged the available 7,352 polling stations in the province. Eligible voters in the province number 2,204,994.

The governor denied reports that he would dismiss village chiefs in areas where Golkar lost. (imn)