Standoff over Riau congress funding continues

The standoff between the organizing committee of the second congress of the Riau people and PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) over the latter's refusal to finance the gathering continues.

Caltex said on Thursday that giving a contribution to a political gathering was against the company's policy and that it had never made any promise to finance the c was recently held in Pekanbaru to hammerout the demand for the establishment an independent state out of Indonesia.

Anwar Saleh and H Asman Yunus, both senior members of the organizing team, said they regretted the company's denial.

"It is certainly not true if the company did not make any promise, especially regarding for the funding of the consumption for congress participants," Anwar said, adding that two officials from Caltex had came to him before the opening of the congress and offered a financial support.

Communication and Media Relations of the company Poedyo Oetomo said the company sticked to its earlier commitment not to involve in any political activities.

"That's is our policy and we don't want to change it," he said. "It does not mean that we don't care about the people's needs. We remain committed to providing any help for the welfare of the people but not for political activities." (*)