1. WATER: 2 col 4 lines (4 x 12)

1. WATER: 2 col 4 lines (4 x 12)

'Public access
to water
a basic
human right'

A non-governmental organization has asked the House to make a
fundamental change to the water resource bill by stating that
access to water is a basic human right, saying the principle will
prevent discrimination against people regarding water services.

Nila Ardhianie of the Indonesian Forum on Globalization
(Infog) said water as a basic human right had been recognized by
the United Nations since November 2002 as stipulated in the
international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights.

"But this country's policy on water contradicts the covenant
as it will give a greater role to private firms to manage water,"
she said on Friday after a discussion to mark World Environment
Day.

World Environment Day, which fell on Thursday, was themed:
"Water, two billion people are dying for it!"

Infog has long criticized the government's plan to privatize
water management, which is justified by the water resource bill.

Infog said that water privatization would only allow the rich
to enjoy water services as they have the money to pay for the
service.

The NGO also said that private companies would not place
public interests as their main goal.

The House is currently deliberating the water resource bill,
but it does not expect to complete the debate during the current
sitting period, which will end in mid-July.

According to Nila, water as a human right should be treated
with non-profit principles, without having to inflict losses to
water management.

"I think the government should tackle water services to ensure
that all people have equal access to water," she said.

Besides, with the government managing water, people would
still have the authority to control the service. If private firms
take over the management, shareholders instead of the public will
be in control, she said.

Some 95 percent of water management around the world is run by
the government, including that of developed countries except for
England and France.

"Therefore there is no solid grounds for the government to
give a greater role to private firms in managing water," she
said.

Business Watch Indonesia (BWI) also agreed with Infog.

It said in its report that water, along with non-manufactured
goods or public goods like education, health and electricity,
should be provided by the state and the service should reach as
many people as possible without discrimination.

Consequently, the management of the public goods must be
conducted under a non-profit principle, it said.

Nila further said the bill must also clearly stipulate that
water services would reach the poor.

The use of water resource, Nila added, should not harm the
ecosystem.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri admitted on Thursday that
despite scarcity and poor access to water, people had failed to
show consistency and discipline to help improve conditions.

The country's report on water said at least 80 percent of
Indonesia's 215 million people have no access to safe and clean
piped water.

Many fear that the water problem would serve as a pretext for
the government to allow private companies to provide tap water to
people, by giving them a greater role to manage water.

2. KONSTI: 3 cols 2 lines (2 x 24)

Bills contain conflicting
solutions to election rows

A lack of coordination among legislators has resulted in
conflicting articles on the resolution of disputes over vote
counting in a presidential election.

Possible disputes are provided for in the presidential
elections bill and the constitutional court bill, both of which
are currently being deliberated by the House of Representatives.

Regarding possible disputes over the results of ballot
counting, the presidential elections bill states that only
presidential candidates and their running mates will be allowed
to lodge complaints.

But the bill on the constitutional court opens the chance for
political parties or coalitions of parties, as well as
presidential candidates, to challenge the results of the count.

Firman Jaya Daeli, a member of the House committee
deliberating the presidential elections bill, asserted on Friday
that the constitutional court bill should follow the presidential
elections bill in this matter.

"All factions (on the special committee) have reached an
agreement on the issue. Therefore, the constitutional court bill
must follow suit," Firman said.

The constitutional court bill was initiated by the House,
while the presidential elections bill was sponsored by the
government.

The House committee deliberating the presidential elections
bill agreed to allow only presidential candidates and their
running mates to file complaints with the Constitutional Court
for the sake of efficiency and the quick resolution of disputes.

Another legislator, Baharuddin Aritonang, who helped draft the
constitutional court bill, suggested that the two special
committees deliberating the presidential elections and
constitutional court bills should arrange a meeting to
synchronize the provisions of the two bills.

"Laws must not clash with each other. There must be a meeting
to iron out the differences before endorsement," Aritonang told
The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The two bills are scheduled for endorsement at the end of this
month.

The establishment of the Constitutional Court is mandated by
the amended Constitution. It says the court should be set up by
Aug. 17, 2003.

Unlike the existing Supreme Court, which oversees the
religious, public, military and administrative courts, the
Constitutional Court will deal with election-related disputes and
disputes between state institutions.

The Constitutional Court will have the authority to settle
disputes over ballot counts and conflicts among state
institutions, to dissolve political parties and to give final
judgment over violations committed by the president as complained
of by House legislators. The latter could lead to the impeachment
of the President.

Pressure has mounted for the President, the House and Supreme
Court to select the nine members to sit on the Constitutional
Court in a transparent manner as the positions are highly
strategic.

3. NURSES: 5 col 1 line (1 x 40)

Nurses need proper management skills: Survey

Indonesian nurses need better management systems and more
education to improve both their knowledge and service, according
to a survey jointly conducted by the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the Ministry of Health.

"(For) the research -- we actually interviewed nearly a
thousand people (nurses) from all levels of the district of
health system -- and everybody was offering ways to improve
through all the regencies and provinces," a WHO consultant on
nursing and midwifery, Deborah Hennessy, told The Jakarta Post at
the sidelines of the International Nursing Conference 2003 here
on Friday.

"Everybody needs to know exactly what they are expected to do
and have to do it well. And evaluating the quality is actually by
monitoring ... and encourage people, give good feedback and help
them if they are not achieving that standard. That's the
management's responsibility," she said.

Indonesian nurses generally work without good management, with
the result that they rarely improve their knowledge or skills.

For example, Budi Anna Keliat, the chairperson of the
conference's organizing committee, said that in the mental
hospital Marzuki Mahdi, Bogor, West Java, the average length of
treatment was 115 days.

"After a practical model management on professional nursery
under the International Standard Organization (ISO) was adopted
there, treatment was reduced to 13 days or 14 days for a similar
result," she said, "It is a big saving for patients and they are
happy with that."

Most nurses actually wanted to change, said Hennessy, but as
she found through the research that they did not know how to do
it.

"We need to change the system but for a big country like this
(Indonesia), it takes time," she said.

Dean of the Nursing School at the University of Indonesia Elly
Nurachmah T. said she was concerned over the quality of nurses
and midwives in the country.

"Nurses should give humane and holistic care to their
patients, including their physical, psychological and spiritual
conditions as well as their cultural background," she said.

She said that within a pluralistic society, particular
approaches would be necessary to treat patients according to
their own habits and culture, "And it will have positive impacts
for their recovery time."

She, however, said the fact that 75.65 percent of Indonesian
nurses had graduated from nursing schools (SPK) which were
equivalent to high school, was also of a great concern because
that is below international standards, in which an undergraduate
degree is the minimum requirement.

Out of a total of 180,000 nurses, only about 4,200 nurses have
an undergraduate degree, leaving Indonesia behind other countries
in the region which have more educated nurses.

"What's more is that nurses who have obtained their
undergraduate degrees are hired for managerial tasks, instead of
serving patients," said Elly.

4. MEGA: 5 cols 1 line (1 x 45)

Megawati, siblings mark father's anniversary

In celebrating the 102nd anniversary of founding president
Sukarno's birth, President Megawati Soekarnoputri held a
purifying ceremony for her father's amulets at the Bogor
Presidential Palace on Friday.

Clad in a kebaya (traditional blouse), Sukarno's eldest
daughter attended the ceremony, which was led by five preachers
from Karangasem and Gianyar, Bali.

Sukarno's mother was Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai Srimben, a Balinese
Hindu high priest's daughter, and Raden Mas Soekemi
Sosrodihardjoe, a Javanese school teacher.

The ceremony, titled Karya Agung Pasupati Pusakaning Bung
Karno in Indonesian, was also attended by Sukarno's sons Guruh
Soekarnoputra and Guntur Soekarnoputra.

The press were barred from covering the sacred ritual.

Purifying amulets such as traditional daggers and spears is
considered sacred by most Indonesians who still believe in such
traditions.

Many believe that Megawati is among those Indonesians who
believe that keeping amulets will ensure the welfare of the
deceased and also maintain ties between the deceased and his
offspring.

But not all of Sukarno's children attended the ceremony. Local
newspapers reported that Rachmawati Soekarnoputri was against the
celebration.

"Even if I was asked to participate, I would have said no,"
she was quoted by the Rakyat Merdeka daily as saying on Friday.

She suspected that Megawati was trying to invoke supernatural
powers to maintain her presidency, which has come under sharp
criticism recently.

Rachmawati has always been Megawati's staunchest critic and
has allied herself with Megawati's political opponents, such as
former president Abdurrahman Wahid and National Mandate Party
(PAN) chairman Amien Rais.

Instead of attending the ceremony, Rachmawati staged a large
ceremony attended by 1,000 supporters of her newly-founded
Pioneer Party (Partai Pelopor).

In Bandung, Sukarno's anniversary was celebrated by dedicating
an Indonesia Menggugat (Indonesia Demands) plaque at the former
Dutch Landraad (District Court) building.

The plaque was signed by Megawati on Dec. 30, 2002, when she
visited Bandung.

West Java Governor R. Nuriana said that the dedication marked
the renovation of the building, which was where Sukarno and three
of his colleagues, Gatot Mangkoepradja, Maskoen Soemadiredja and
Soepriadinata, were tried by the Netherlands Indies
administration on Dec. 22, 1930 for attempting to subvert the
lawfully established government.

At the trial, Sukarno read out his own defense, which later
came to be known as Indonesia Menggugat. He was convicted and
sentenced to four years in Sukamiskin jail.

5. PARTY: 2 col, 2 lines (18 x 2)

Four parties pass
initial screening

Of the nearly 240 political parties registered with the Ministry
of Justice and Human Rights, only four have passed preliminary
screening to be deemed legal entities.

The four parties are: the Prosperous Justice Party (PK
Sejahtera), the Indonesian Catholic-Democratic Party (PKD), the
Indonesian Union Party (PSI) and the Indonesian Justice and Unity
Party (PKP Indonesia).

Ramly Hutabarat, the ministry's director of state
administrative affairs, said preliminary screening was needed to
check whether a political party's central board met the
administrative requirements set by the ministry.

The requirements include the presence of a party secretariat
at the national level, the submission of names of party
executives and the party's ownership of secretariat stationary,
including computers and fax machines.

Obtaining legal entity status is mandatory for political
parties before they undergo another round of verification
conducted by the General Elections Commission (KPU). The latter
stage will determine whether a political party is eligible to
contest the general election in 2004.

The preliminary screening will last until the end of
September, before the verification by the KPU.

Ramly, who heads the screening team, said the ministry would
further examine whether parties that had obtained legal entity
status fulfilled the ministry's requirements in their respective
chapters and branches.

Five more parties will be examined later this month.

The nine parties were screened first because they had
confirmed their participation in the elections to the ministry
and completed administrative requirements.

Two more parties that have reregistered but not yet met the
requirements are the Golkar Party and the Nation Unity Party
(PPB). The will be screened for a second time in July.

There are 237 political parties listed in Indonesia, but only
50 have registered for the 2004 general election.

Political parties have until the end of September to register
for the 2004 election and meet the requirements.

The KPU will announce the eligible parties in December this
year.