Victims' kin land civil service posts

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: At least 350 relatives of victims of violence allegedly committed by the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) in their decade-long military operation in the province have received accreditation certificates as new civil servants.

Diplomas were presented to them on Monday by the head of the Civil Servants Administration Agency (BAKN), Sofian Effendi.

According to Sofian, the measure was part of the government's actions following the recent visit of President B.J. Habibie to the area.

One of Habibie's promises was that relatives would receive promotion to the civil service.

"To follow up on the promise, we've allocated 2,188 posts for the families of the victims," Sofian said as quoted by Antara.

The documents were symbolically presented to eight people, representing the four regencies of Pidie, North Aceh, East Aceh and Central Aceh.

Also in attendance was Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud.

Syamsuddin contended the move was not an attempted payoff to coax the families into abandoning their grievances.

"It's not true that the policy is an attempt to bribe the people here. The policy is determined as a form of sympathy and healing for our people's disappointments," he said. (emf)