Budi Sugiharto/Hendra & GB, Surabaya – 182 village heads from Sampang regency, on the island of Madura, East Java province, have occupied the office of the East Java Governor in the provincial capital Surabaya.
Accompanied by 11 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), they urged the Governor, Imam Utomo, to immediately inaugurate Fadhilah Budiono.
Fadhilah Budiono of the Indonesian Armed Forces/Police faction and backed by the United Development faction (F-PP) was reelected as regent on July 22, 2000 after obtaining 23 votes in the 45 seat assembly. He defeated his opponent from the National Awakening Party (PKB), the largest faction with 18 seats. President Wahid nominally heads of the PKB which is affiliated to the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation.
The election sparked massive unrest in the regency. On September 4, 2000, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest his election and the town of Sampang came to a complete standstill as government offices closed down and the town's entry and exit points were blocked by the angry mob.
The following day, they returned and destroyed around 85% of the local Regent's offices and government chambers. Many of those protesting were Madurese refugees forced to flee Sambas, West Kalimantan, and return to Madura because of ethnic unrest in the late 1990s. They accused Fadhilah of misappropriating rice supplies intended for refugees.
On Wednesday, Fadhilah's supporters demanded that the East Java Governor immediately inaugurate the elected regent without ignoring the legal process and investigations which are still ongoing. Orations were held and the demonstrators sang in Madurese.
The upshot of the demonstration was that if Fadhilah wasn't inaugurated immediately, Sampang would be ruined. Coordinator of the action and head of West Ketapan village, HM Nurun Tajela, said the East Java Governor must not neglect the people of Sampang represented by the 182 village heads. "Of 189 village heads in Sampang, there's only four not here so this represents the people of Sampang," he said.
Half threatening, Nurun said firmly that the key to whether Sampang would end up in ruins or not depended on the Governor, not Jakarta. He further said that Jakarta through the Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had ordered the Governor to inaugurate Fahdilah Budiono.
"The official letter to inaugurate Fadhilah had also been issued, so the legal case against him can just be left to proceed legally while the induction goes ahead," Nurun said.
In their oration, several village heads said they intended to stay over night at the governor's offices. Furthermore, they said that Sampang teachers and supporters of the United Development Party (PPP) would join their ongoing actions in Surabaya. Apparently, these PPP supporters are not intending to pay education fees or tax as long as Fadhilah is not in office. As of 14.15 Jakarta time, East Java Governor, Imam Utomo, has yet to meet the village heads.
In a recent report, Tempo magazine alleged that the regent elect and the campaign to have him inducted despite considerably violent protest from some quarters was being supported by the oldest daughter of former president Suharto, Siti 'Tutut' Hardiyanti Rukmana. It's a long way from Sampang to Surabaya and someone, if not Tutut or the PPP, must have paid the various costs involved with organising a demonstration of this size.