West Kalimantan governor faces no-confidence motion

West Kalimantan governor faces no-confidence motion

JAKARTA (JP): The West Kalimantan provincial legislative
council is set to vote this week on the future of governor Aspar
Aswin following increasing student demonstrations demanding his
dismissal.

Silvanus Sungkalang, deputy chairman of the provincial
legislative council, said the council had no other choice than to
hold a plenary session to debate a no-confidence motion proposed
by 38 of 55 members of the five factions at the council.

"Only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) and the Indonesian Military/National Police factions
oppose the motion," he said after meeting with House of
Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung here on Monday.

Silvanus, who was accompanied by six council members, said
that over the last three months, Aspar's administration had been
under fire because of alleged corruption and failure to settle
long-running bloody conflicts between ethnic Malays and Madurese,
and Dayaks and Madurese, in the province.

"There has not been a single day without student
demonstrations over the past three months. The students have
demanded that Aspar resign over his alleged corruption and
collusion with local businessmen since his installment for a
second consecutive term in 1997," he said.

He said students were also disappointed with the way he had
handled ethnic conflicts.

"So far, there have been no settlements to the conflicts," he
said.

Dozens of people were killed and thousands of Madurese migrant
families were forced to return to East Java when vicious fighting
broke out between Malays and Madurese in Feb. 1999.

He said Akbar supported the provincial council's plan to hold
a plenary session to decide Aspar's fate. He also said he backed
a police investigation into his alleged corruption and collusion.

In a separate development, more than 180 village heads from
Sampang regency in Madura staged a protest at the DPR building on
Monday, demanding that President Abdurrahman accept Fadhillah
Budhiono's election as new regent.

"We come here to channel the aspirations of local people in
Sampang that the government swear in Fadhillah as new regent.
Otherwise, we will all resign," Nurun Tajalla, a spokesman for
the local village heads delegation, said.

Fadhillah's installment has been delayed after alleged vote
rigging by two former councillors of the Sampang legislative
council during the regent's election.

Sampang was tense earlier this month, when around 5,000 local
people occupied the regent's office to protest the delay of the
installment of Fadhillah.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) faction, which dominates
the legislative council, has also protested Fadhillah's election
victory, after allegations that he was involved in swindling food
aid destined for Madurese refugees from Sambas, West Kalimantan.

Akbar, who met the village heads, vowed to discuss the matter
with the President and the home affairs minister.

He said that Fadhillah, a police senior superintendent, should
be sworn in while investigations into the allegations were
carried out.

"If he is proven guilty, the regency legislative council could
make a decision on his fate," he said. (rms)