Trenggalek regent faces first test

Trenggalek regent faces first test

TRENGGALEK, East Java: Just moments after being sworn in by East Java Governor Imam Utomo on Monday, Trenggalek regent Soeharto and his deputy Machsun Ismail received their first test on the job, a student protest.

Protesting students from the Indonesian National Students Movement demanded that the regent help them fight against the fuel price hike.

"If our demand is ignored, we the students will ask public transportation drivers, civil servants and workers to join a strike," said Cokro, the protest's coordinator. He said the hike was inhuman and claimed that monthly aid of Rp 100,000 for each poor family was simply a strategy to prevent unrest.

Governor Imam Utomo did not respond to the protest but asked Soeharto to support poverty eradication because from 2.8 million poor families recorded in the province, 69,080 of them were listed in Trenggalek regency. "They will receive the aid on Oct. 8 and we want the regent and his deputy to monitor its distribution," Imam said. -- Antara