Banda Aceh – On Monday May 17, demonstrations calling for the governor of Aceh, Abdullah Puteh, to resign from his post took place in three separate locations in Aceh.

Starting at 9am, thousands of students from government and private schools of higher education as well as the general public held demonstrations at the Simpang Limong roundabout, at the offices of the Attorney General and at the provincial parliament.

Students from the Syiah Kuala University, the Ar-Raniry Darussalam State Institute of Islamic Studies and the Muhammadyah University demanded that President Megawati Sukarnoputri immediately remove Puteh from his post as the governor of Aceh in order to investigate claims of his involvement in a number of corruption cases.

According to the students, there are suspicions that Puteh has been involved in a number of corruption cases in Aceh including the procurement of a used printing machine and electricity, helicopters, moneys from the People’s Economic Empowerment fund, the Ladia Galaska road project, PT Seulawah Aceh, Gema Assalam and the misuse of funds from the regional state budget.

“By acting to deactivate Abdullah Puteh the president can accelerate the process of the investigation and a decision by the courts whether [Puteh] is guilty or not, so that Aceh is no longer led by an individual who’s integrity is still questionable”, said the students.

Demonstrators also unfurled a length of white cloth 30 metres long on the main road and called on the public to put their signatures to it as an agreement rejecting government corruption in Aceh.

Students said that after the cloth had been filled with signatures it would be presented to Megawati as a sign of the Acehnese people’s opposition to corruption in Aceh.

Meanwhile, a group of students who went to the Aceh Attorney General’s offices called on law enforcement officials to immediately investigate a number of corruption claims within the government administration.

Hundreds of people from a number of sub-districts in Greater Aceh also held a demonstration at the provincial parliament urging Puteh to resign from his post because of government corruption. The demands for Puteh to resign and the calls for an extension to martial law in Aceh were made because the security is yet to be restored and no action has been taken against corrupt officials.

In front of the parliamentary gates on Jalan Tgk Daud Beureueh in Banda Aceh, the demonstrators unfurled a number of banners and posters with messages opposing [reducing the status of Aceh to] a state civil emergency, supporting an extension of martial law in Aceh and calling for Puteh to resign from his post. The demonstrations at the three different location were tightly guarded by fully armed police.

The students, as the “motor” to uphold national reform, including in Aceh, hope that the province of 4.2 million people will not be led by a corrupt administration or corrupt individuals. The students also urged the Acehnese Attorney General, Andi Amir Achmad, to immediately arrest the corrupters who have brought misery to the lives of the Acehnese people.

Achmad told the students that he supports efforts to eliminate corruption in Aceh. “I ask that students support our work in investigating claims of corruption in Aceh. I will stake my job on upholding the supremacy of law in Aceh. I will arrest all of the corrupters in Aceh, no one will be exempted”, he said. (Ant/nik)

[Translated by James Balowski.]