Amid concerns that another delay to the 2013 national examinations could occur in some areas, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the Indonesian Military (TNI) to mobilize its resources to help the distribution of exam materials.

Yudhoyono issued the order on Tuesday in a meeting with Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh, TNI Commander Adm. Agus Suhartono and National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo who were summoned to deal with the situation due to problems in the distribution of exam materials, which resulted in the delay of the exam in 11 provinces. The 11 provinces are expected to commence the exams on Thursday.

'I take the highest responsibility for this problem. I offer my deepest apology to all the Indonesian people,' Nuh said before meeting with Yudhoyono.

The minister shrugged off the mounting call for his resignation. 'I am not a politician. The future of my position depends on God and the President, because I am his servant,' he said.

The minister said he could guarantee that high school students in the 11 provinces ' Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi ' could begin their exams on Thursday.

Nuh said that the ministry was confident because the Air Force agreed to loan six aircraft ' one Fokker 28, one Boeing 737 and four Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules ' to deliver the exam materials.

'The TNI and the National Police said they are ready to deploy more aircraft if necessary,' Nuh told a press briefing after the meeting.

In spite of Nuh's guarantees, local officials are prepared for the worst with some predicting that the national exams would not start until early next week.

Officials in some far-flung regions expected the exam materials three days before the test dates, confirmed that as of Tuesday afternoon none had been delivered.

In South Sulawesi as of Tuesday afternoon, most of the materials had yet to arrive in the provincial capital of Makassar.

'The printing firm promised that the materials would arrive tonight, so we would be able to begin distributing them to regencies and municipalities on Wednesday morning at the earliest,' head of South Sulawesi Education and Culture Agency, Abdullah Jabbar, said on Tuesday.

He said the provincial administration would use helicopters to distribute the materials to some remote regions like the Selayar Islands and North Luwu regencies.

'We will borrow some choppers belonging to Pak Jusuf Kalla,' Abdullah said referring to the former vice president, a respected figure in the province.

However, Abdullah said his office was prepared for the worst. 'If the materials fail to reach the regions by Thursday, I will ask the Education and Culture Ministry to make another schedule,' he said.

The situation in nearby Gorontalo was considered better with only seven of the 196 high schools in the province yet to receive the materials as of Tuesday.

The seven schools were scattered across the Gorontalo and Bone Bolanggo regencies, head of the province's Education, Youth and Sports Agency Arfan Arsyad said.

Exam materials had slowly trickled into Mataram, the provincial capital of West Nusa Tenggara, via Lombok International Airport since Monday night, West Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sukarman Husein said, but the distribution to all 10 regencies and municipalities in the province would have to wait until all the materials arrived.

On Tuesday in Langkat, North Sumatra, local education agencies had to photocopy materials for the exam because of low supplies.

Also on Tuesday, the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) filed a report at the KPK on alleged graft in the tender for the printing and distribution of the papers.

According to FITRA, PT Ghalia Indonesia Printing, which won the tender for the 11 provinces, offered the highest price for the project and should not have won the tender.

(Andi Hajramurni, Syamsul Huda M Suhari and Panca Nugraha contributed to this story from Makassar, Gorontalo and Mataram)

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