1. XANANA: 12 x 4 lines
1. XANANA: 12 x 4 lines
Gusmao
ends two-day
state visit
to Jakarta
Visiting East Timor President Xanana Gusmao wrapped up his two-
day state visit to Indonesia by paying tribute at the Kalibata
National Heroes cemetery in East Jakarta on Wednesday.
Gusmao was accompanied by Indonesian State Minister for
Acceleration of Eastern Indonesia Development Manuel Kaisiepo
during a wreath-laying ceremony.
Later in the day, the president flew back to Bali and would
spend the night on the island with his family before heading back
to Dili on Thursday.
Unlike previously stated, Gusmao would not be the key-note
speaker at an economic seminar at Makassar in South Sulawesi on
Thursday.
2. KOMNAS: 22 x 2 lines
Rights body urged to form regional chapters
A candidate for the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM), H.S. Dillon, expressed hope on Wednesday that in the future
the government would establish commission chapters in the
provinces to increase awareness of human rights.
"Commission chapters in provinces are badly needed to improve
our appreciation for the issue," Dillon said following a hearing
with House of Representatives Commission II for legal affairs and
human rights.
Dillon is among the 41 candidates for membership on the
commission expected to attend the hearings, which will end on
Thursday.
3. OTDA: 22 x 2 lines
Governors demand autonomy law revision
Demanding more authority in the decentralization era, governors
from across the country asked President Megawati Soekarnoputri on
Wednesday to revise the Regional Autonomy Law.
Speaking with the president on Wednesday, the governors said
the 18-month-old law had created internal conflicts between the
governors and the regents or mayors.
"The conflicts emerged because the law did not provide
authority for governors to give sanction or coordinate with the
regents or mayors," West Java Governor R. Nuriana said.
Nuriana, also chairman of the Association of Indonesian
Provinces (APINDO), was presenting the results of a three-day
governors' meeting in April to discuss the law.
4. HAM: 30 x 1 line
Public accountability needed for democratization
In a campaign to safeguard democracy, the country is in dire need
to develop a new system that ensures public accountability of the
politicians sitting at the House of Representatives, scholars
said on Wednesday.
They shared the same thought that the latest move by the House
to foil an inquiry into a corruption allegedly involving House
Speaker Akbar Tandjung has damaged the public's high hopes on
reform movement.
Azyumardi Azra of the Jakarta State Academy of Islamic Studies
(IAIN Jakarta) and noted Catholic scholar Mudji Sutrisno accused
that the ongoing trial on the misuse of Rp 40 million (US$4.4
million) in nonbudgetary funds of the State Logistics Agency
(Bulog) was merely a cruel joke.
5. MILISI: 30 x 1 line
Police chief backs banning of armed civilian groups
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar expressed support on
Wednesday for a policy to ban militant organizations, but said it
would be difficult to carry out in the absence of a legal
umbrella for its implementation.
Da'i said civilians had no authority to possess weapons and
anyone doing so would face stern sanctions.
"Civilians are not allowed to possess both firearms and
homemade weapons as it is against Emergency Law No. 12/1951.
Should the civilians use their weapons to fight against other
civilians, the police are authorized to seize them.
"But disbanding these groups is impossible, because we (the
police) can only dissolve an organization if the government
declares it unlawful," Da'i told The Jakarta Post after attending
a special meeting on political and security affairs in Jakarta.