Maryadi/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – Accused of corruption, incompetence and of being a remnant of the old regime, West Kalimantan Govenor, Aspar Aswin, only has to wait till 28 June when the provincial legislature will decide whether to accept his annual accountability speech.

Pontianak, the capital city of West Kalimantan was yesterday host to two groups of demonstrators. The anti-Aspin camp returned for the umptienth time to resume their protests demanding that the parliament reject the Govenor's speech and calling for the resignation of the West Kalimantan City Police Chief Atok Rismanto.

Students from the Joint Action of West Kalimantan Students gathered at the city's main roundabout and "long marched" waving banners and shouting slogans along Jl. Ahmaad Yani, heading towards the provincial parliament building.

As they entered the grounds, they met another group of students leaving the venue who had just held a demonstration in support for Aswin. Confrontation seemed inevitable but the two groups passed by each other without great incident.

The anti-Aswin group are rallying in support of a vote of no confidence which has been proposed and supported by all factions of the provincial legislature except for the Armed Forces and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

The vote of no confidence proposal was signed by 37 members of the legislature and will be submitted to the President before the parliament vote whether to accept or reject the Govenor's speech 28 June 2000.

A member of the West Kalimantan provincial parliament, Reza Munawar, stated that most of the provincial parliament members are sticking to their decision to propose the vote of no confidence. "This proposal is currently being discussed by all members of the parliament but there have been several delays due to demonstrations at the provincial parliament building," said Munawar.

The anti-Aswin camp are also demanding a thorough investigation into the death of a student protestor, Syafarudin, last week who was shot dead while returning from a peaceful protest at the parliament on 14 June. Their calls for Aswin's head have since then been joined with calls for the resignation of West Kalimantan City Police Chief Atok Rismanto.

Students accused security forces of killing the victim while doctors attributed the death to the penetration of a blunt object in the victim's head, a category that could also include a bullet.

Aswin is accused of being incapable of addressing the problems faced by the province and of being the product of the old regime because he was elected by the parliament in 1997 while former president Suharto was still in power.

Aswin is also denounced for failing to bring progress and peace to the province and critics point to the the bloody ethnic conflict that swept some districts in West Kalimantan in 1998 and left thousands dead and tens of thousands of refugees.