Tension continues in Kampar, nine arrested
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau
Hundreds of civil servants staged a rally in the town of Bangkinang in Kampar regency on Tuesday to express their lack of confidence in regent Jefri Noer and his deputy A. Zakir. The regency council had recommended that the central government dismiss the two over the weekend.
Meanwhile, school activities in the province have returned to normal after thousands of teachers and students took to the streets for two weeks to demand the dismissal of the regent.
Many government offices were also closed on Tuesday due to the protest.
Chief of the local education office Basrun confirmed that all teachers and students who had participated in the rally last week had resumed regular classes.
He explained that civil servant participating in the rally were demanding that the council's decision be upheld and urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri to dismiss the regency's top officials.
He added that no teachers had participated in the rally.
After two weeks with no classes, teachers and students returned to schools in the regency on Tuesday.
"All schools that deployed their students and teachers to the recent rally will be asked to supplement teaching hours to reach the target set in the curriculum," he said.
The council had dismissed Jefri and Zakir in a plenary session on Saturday due to what students and teachers had called an insult to the teaching profession.
The tension emerged two weeks ago when the regent held a meeting with representatives of teachers in the regency. A school principal had been asked to leave the meeting after he questioned the regent on the low budget for education in the regency.
So far, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno has not yet responded to the council's recommendation but said recently that he would send a team to Riau to investigate the case.
According to Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy, a regency council lacks the authority to dismiss a regent. The authority rests in the hands of the home minister representing the President.
Meanwhile, Kampar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdul Hasyim Gani said that the nine demonstrators detained by the police had violated Law No. 9/1999, on the freedom to express an opinion that required them to inform the police at least one day before the rally.
He asked civil servants not to strike in the future over the case as the council had met their demand for the regent's ouster.
"We have called on civil servants not to go down to the streets anymore and to resume their service to the public," he said.
The 12 councillors who opposed Jefri's dismissal have asked the National Commission of Human Rights in Jakarta for protection. They claimed they had been threatened by unidentified people on Sunday and Monday.
Zapri Harun, along with several other councillors, said he had left for Jakarta after receiving threats over the telephone and via short-messaging system (SMS) that his relatives would be killed. The group of councillors had been accused of supporting Jefri and Zakir who "oppressed the people".
Of 45 members of the council, 33 supported Jefri's dismissal while 12 others opposed it.