2 x 18

2 x 18

Police put Ambon
city on top alert

Bracing for the self-proclaimed South Maluku Republic (RMS)'s
55th anniversary on Monday, security has been tightened in Ambon,
and the police have declared an alert to anticipate any
disturbances in the city.

"We're now on top alert and we've posted police personnel to
conflict-prone areas," Ambon and Lease Islands Police chief Adj.
Sr. Comr. Leonidas Braksan told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Some 745 police personnel have been deployed in Ambon and the
Lease islands as well as two antiterror police units and Mobile
Brigade (Brimob) troopers.

The police are also conducting helicopter patrols, especially in
the Kudamati area, one of the RMS strongholds in Nusaniwe district.

Leonidas said the air patrols were necessary since based on
last year's experience, RMS flags might be raised in more remote
areas.

"In order to avoid a repeat of last year's events, we are
setting up posts in areas where flags might be hoisted. And the
air patrols will help as the officers on the ground will not be
able to cover everywhere," he said.

At least 38 people died and hundreds were injured in four-days
of communal clashes in Ambon last year, allegedly triggered by a
rally held by members of the separatist Maluku Sovereignty Front
(FKM), who are mostly Christians, to mark the RMS anniversary.

The clashes last year were the worst since the inking of the
Malino II Peace Pact in 2002, which was signed after Ambon was
rocked by major sectarian clashes in 1999, in which thousands of
people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others were
forced to flee their homes.

This time around, the police have even occupied the houses of
RMS leaders, such as Alex Manuputty, who is in exile in the
United States, to prevent any incidents.

Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. (Pol.) Adityawaman requested
people to trust the police and military to provide security,
while Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu asked government and
private sector offices to continue working as usual on Monday.

On Saturday, two bomb scares occurred in the city at different
places and time. The first one took place at the Ambon Plaza
shopping center at 2 p.m. local time, or 12 noon Jakarta time,
and the second took place at a Bank Central Asia branch at 7:30
p.m. local time.

After conducting searches, the police bomb squad found
nothing.

Leonidas said the shopping center received an anonymous phone
call saying a bomb had been planted there, while in the case of
the bank, a suspicious cardboard box had been left on the
sidewalk in front of the bank. "Residents were suspicious and
reported the box to the police. It turned out the box contained a
dead cat," he said.

The police also arrested suspected RMS supporters in the
Batumeja area on Saturday, confiscating a number of pieces of
evidence, including two RMS flags, a documentary film on the
April 25 riots last year, and another on the group's activities
in Europe.

A married couple, Johny Rijoli and Rosanna, was also arrested
on the same day. The suspected RMS supporters were taken into
police custody for allegedly possessing a schedule of Alex
Manuputty's activities the day before he left for the United
States.

On Sunday, most people in the city appeared to be going about
their normal activities, including attending morning church
services.

JP/MALAYSIA

2 x 21

Malaysia, RI to limit
warships in Ambalat

Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed that only one warship from
each country should patrol a disputed oil-rich maritime area
following recent clashes, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said
on Sunday.

The withdrawal of all other naval vessels from the Ambalat
area in the Sulawesi Sea off the coast of Borneo island would be
carried out simultaneously, Najib, who is also defense minister,
was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

He said Malaysia welcomed the agreement, which was reached at
last week's meeting between Malaysian Navy chief Adm. Mohamad
Anwar Mohamad Nor and his Indonesian counterpart Rear Adm. Slamet
Soebiyanto.

The move should prevent a repeat of a recent near collision of
navy ships from the two countries, the New Straits Times quoted
Malaysian Navy chief Adm. Mohamad Anwar Mohamad Nor as saying.

The admiral did not disclose how many ships were patrolling
the area at the moment.

"The agreement is not only about avoiding collisions but the
way the navies of the two countries should carry out their duties
without getting into conflicts," Mohamad Anwar was quoted as
saying by the Star newspaper.

Navy ships from the two countries "brushed against each other"
on April 8 due to a "judgment error", he said without
elaborating.

Earlier this month warships from the two countries brushed
sides near the Karang Unarang reef east of Borneo island, where
Indonesia is building a lighthouse to strengthen its territorial
claims in the disputed region.

Both countries have lodged official protests with each other
over the incident.

Tensions are high in the area after Malaysia granted an oil
concession in the region on Feb. 16 to Anglo-Dutch firm Shell.
Jakarta says the blocks awarded by state oil firm Petronas are
not in territory controlled by Malaysia.

Officials from both sides began negotiations to settle the
overlapping claims to the area last month and are due to meet
again in May.

The two countries have locked horns over the region before. A
dispute over the ownership of two islands ended in December 2002
with an International Court of Justice ruling that the islands
belong to Malaysia.

JP/4/TNI

1 x 33

Kostrad off-loads business units

As the government tries to draw up an inventory of the myriad
business interests of the Indonesian Military (TNI) as part of
the preparations to remove them from military control as required
by law, the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) claimed
that it now only has interests in three business units.

Kostrad Commander Lt. Gen. Hadi Waluyo said recently that the
force owned 100 percent of the shares in commercial aviation company PT
Mandala Airlines and healthcare group Darma Medika General
Hospital, and had a 25 percent stake in cargo company PT Darma
Mandala.

"We're now trying to revamp Mandala Airlines," he said,
pointing out that the company had not performed well due to
mismanagement.

Hadi said that part of the revenue from the three companies
had been used to help improve the welfare of soldiers and their
families, brushing aside criticism that the military businesses
had only benefited the generals as a result of rampant
corruption.

Hadi claimed that Kostrad had gotten out of the timber
business long ago. However, he did not provide any details on
why and when the force had divested its interest in the lucrative
timber sector.

He said that Kostrad had also unloaded its shares in "other
businesses", such as construction companies, as many of them had
not performed well.

He added that the stakes in the "other companies" had been
given to Kostrad by private investors for free. He failed,
however, to explain why private investors should gave Kostrad
shares in their companies.

He pointed as an example to a road construction company in
which Kostrad had shares, which won the contract to build the
Malang-Gempol highway in East Java.

"The project, however, did not proceed well, so of course we
didn't get any money," Hadi said.

Hadi's statement is the first explanation given by a senior
military officer on the state of the TNI's vast business
interests since the Indonesian Military Law passed last year
stipulated that the TNI must relinquish its business interests
within a five-year period to ensure improved professionalism.

TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has claimed that the
divestment of the military's business interests could be
completed within the next two years.

The once supremely powerful TNI obtained its various business
units under the 30-year authoritarian regime of former president
Soeharto. But critics have said that the military's involvement
in business has increased corruption and undermined military
professionalism, while the direct benefits to low ranking
soldiers and their families have been meager.

Hadi, however, rejected the criticism. He said that in the
case of Kostrad, profits from its business units had been partly
used to provide scholarships for soldiers' children and
compensation for the families of soldiers killed on active
service.

"Roughly, we spend Rp 300 million to Rp 400 million on
supporting the education of the children. We also provide Rp 25
million to families whose sons or husbands were killed during
operations," he said.

Other Kostrad spending took the form of housing allowances.

While the mechanism by which the TNI will divest its business
interests remains unclear, some government officials have floated
the idea that the government take over part of the businesses and
turned them into state-owned enterprises.

But a researcher with Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW),
Danang Widoyoko, has warned the government to be very careful
when acquiring the business units of the TNI since many of them
had been mismanaged.

He was worried that their acquisition would only increase the
burden on the state (and the taxpayers) as a result of the
propping up of loss-making firms.

JP/4/dpo

1 x 44

Another alleged illegal timber boss arrested

The National Police said they had arrested another Malaysian
citizen on Saturday for allegedly financing illegal logging in
the country's easternmost province of Papua.

The head of the government's anti-illegal logging task force,
Brig. Gen. Suharto, said that Tie Sing Yew, 54, was apprehended
near the Entikong border post in West Kalimantan province, where
he was attempting to cross into Malaysia's Sarawak state.

"Right now the suspect is still being detained by the East
Kalimantan Police. He will be brought to Jayapura on Sunday,"
Suharto said as quoted by Antara.

He said Tie was believed to be funding illegal logging and his
name had earlier been placed on the immigration blacklist.

Tie was suspected of masterminding the smuggling of illegally
logged timber from Papua to Malaysia, as well as running illegal
logging operations in Kalimantan.

Tie's arrest adds to a long list of Malaysian suspects being
detained by the Indonesian Police. Previously, the police
arrested nine other Malaysians and one South Korean citizen on
similar charges of financing illegal logging operations in Papua.

"He (Tie) almost escaped from our country, but the immigration
officials recognized him from the immigration blacklist," said
East Kalimantan Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Heru
Setiawan.

He said that Tie had attempted to return to Malaysia through
Entikong as he thought that the security there would not be so
tight.

After being questioned by the local police, Tie said he was
the president of CV Makmur Abadi Trading, based in Brunei
Darussalam, and owned 25 pieces of heavy equipment that was
suspected of being used in illegal logging.

Based on the results of police investigations, Tie is also
suspected of smuggling illegal timber from Papua to Malaysia
through Kalimantan.

However, Tie denied all the charges. He said he had not
realized that he had been placed on the immigration blacklist and
claimed to have away from Papua for around six months.

The government has said that illegal logging is causing the
country to lose over US$3 billion per year, with timber barons
now targeting Papua as the forests on Java and Sumatra islands
have already been plundered.

Rapid deforestation due to massive illegal logging has
produced devastating environmental consequences for both
Indonesia and the Southeast Asian region, causing floods and
landslides and shrouding nearby countries with haze from illegal
fires set to clear land.

JP/4/PKB

1 x 41

Gus Dur's daughter, actress join PKB board

(unchecked version)

The National Awakening Party (PKB) announced a new central
executive board here on Sunday, with party chief patron
Abdurrahman Wahid's daughter Zanuba Arifah Chafsoh Rahman and
actress-cum-women's activist Rieke "Oneng" Dyah Pitaloka being
members.

Zanuba, better known as Yenni, and Rieke, who is popular with
her serial movie Bajaj Bajuri, were named deputies to PKB
secretary-general Muhammad Lukman Edy.

The new lineup also included senior women's activists
Nursjahbani Katjasungkana and Maria Pakpahan as deputy PKB
chairpersons along with nine others, including legislator Effendy
Choirie and Maria Ulfa Anshori, a deputy chaiwoman of Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU)'s female wing Fatayat.

To embrace pluralism, the PKB, founded in 1999 by NU -- the
country's largest Muslim organization, accommodated several non-
Muslim figures in the new board, such as Christians Hermawi
Fransiscus Taslim and Jhon Wuwu, Catholic Alexius Gregoris Plate,
and Anak Agung Ngurah Agung and Krisna Bagus Oka, both from the
Hindu-predominantly province of Bali.

The lineup, comprising 55 members, was announced by newly
elected PKB tanfidziyah (executive) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar
and his uncle former president Abdurrahman, better known as Gus
Dur who retained his top post as the party's powerful syuro
(consultative) board chief during last week's congress in
Semarang, Central Java.

Muhaimin, however, failed to include in the new board four
senior PKB politicians former defense minister Mahfud M.D.,
former state minister for women's empowerment Khofifah Indar
Parawansa, former state minister for research and technology
Muhammad A.S. Hikam and chairman of its faction in the House of
Representatives Ali Masykur Moesa.

Mahfud, Ali and Hikam were Muhaimin's rival candidates who
withdrew their bids to contest the leadership race, just hours
before elections started. Nor did Khofifah vie for the race but
back Mahfud's nomination.

Muhaimin, also a deputy House speaker, said he would intensify
his personal approaches with Mahfud, Ali and Khofifah to appeal
to them to help his PKB leadership.

"But the three are free to choose as to whether they would
join in the board or not," added Muhaimin, as the post of his
deputy was left vacant.

As to Hikam who is a former Gus Dur's confidante, he had vowed
not to join Muhaimin's board, claiming that the Semarang congress
and its outcome were illegitimate.

He instead took side with PKB's rival camp led by chief
welfare minister Alwi Shihab and State Minister for the
Development of Disadvantaged Regions Saifullah Yusuf, who is Gus
Dur's rebellious nephew.

Alwi and Saifullah were suspended respectively as PKB chairman
and secretary-general after joining the Cabinet of President
Bambang Yudhoyono last October.

The two, backed a group of influential clerics that co-founded
the PKB, were planning to stage a breakaway congress in
Yogyakarta apparently to reinstate their party leadership.

They were also suing the PKB for the suspensions decided in a
plenary meeting of the party's central board, which they said
violated the party's statutes.

In response to the moves by his rivals, Muhaimin said the PKB
would punish Alwi, Saifullah and their colleagues opposed to the
recent congress.