BANDA ACEH, 13 July 2002 - Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh joined forces with the provincial legislative council, clerics and non-governmental organizations to oppose the imposition of a civil emergency in Aceh, saying that conflict resolution should be entrusted to the provincial administration. Speaking before local officials and clerics in Montasik, Aceh Besar, on Saturday evening, Puteh revealed that 90 percent of the Acehnese people, including clerics playing a dominant role in the province were against the proposed imposition of a civil emergency to end the mounting conflict.
Puteh said he would inform President Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Acehnese people's wishes in his meeting with her in Jakarta on July 16. "It is necessary to enforce the law to restore security and order but this must be followed simultaneously with concrete actions to improve the people's social welfare because the prime problem here is not the war but the absence of social justice," he said, gaining a warm applause from his audience. Puteh made the statement only hours after Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his entourage left Langsa, East Aceh, for Jakarta through the North Sumatra provincial capital of Medan.

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