Students urge JSC to probe shooting
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh
About 200 students picketed the office of the Joint Security Committee (JSC) here on Tuesday to demand that the monitors overseeing the truce in troubled Aceh province investigate the shooting of two of their friends.
Unidentified gunmen shot the two students, who were riding a motorcycle, on Saturday night in Lamreng in Kreung Barona Jaya subdistrict, Aceh Besar district.
The incident killed Hardinal Kesuma, a 26-year-old student at Muhammadiyah University, and critically wounded his younger brother, Asmar Ferdinan, 23.
The protesters, activists of the Student Executive Board at the University of Serambi Mekah, arrived at the JSC office in Kuala Tripa Hotel in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh at about 11 a.m.
They gave one week for the peace monitoring team to investigate the shooting and reveal the perpetrators of the attack.
"If within seven days the case remains unexplained, it would be better for the committee to be dissolved," a demonstrator shouted.
The rally proceeded peacefully amid tight guard from local Mobile Brigade police personnel.
Before the protesters dispersed, two of their representatives were received by executives of the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), which brokered peace talks between the government and the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) since 2000.
The HDC, part of the committee that includes the Indonesian government and GAM, pledged to soon launch a probe into the shooting of the two brothers.
"JSC members will investigate the incident at the scene and announce the culprits soon through the media," said Steve Daly, spokesman for the HDC.
The security committee was set up following the signing of a cease-fire agreement between the government and GAM on Dec. 9 to end 26 years of hostility in Aceh, which killed more than 10,000 people.
Meanwhile, Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh said on Tuesday the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) would distribute 10,000 tons of rice to victims of the fighting, which first erupted in 1976.
"The humanitarian assistance will begin being distributed early next month in conjunction with the visit of Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla and other Cabinet members," he said.
The governor said victims in Meureudu subdistrict, Pidie regency, would be the first to receive aid.
Puteh said his provincial administration had set up a task force at the subdistrict level to take charge of the distribution of the food aid.
The assistance follows the signing of last month's truce in Geneva, Switzerland.
Donor countries pledged to extend humanitarian aid for Aceh as agreed upon during their conference in Tokyo on Dec. 3 and the meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia in Bali on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22.