Amien Rais meets Karawang farmers

RENGAS DENGKLOK, West Java: Presidential hopeful Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN), met hundreds of farmers in Rengas Dengklok, Karawang regency here on Monday.

Amien promised the farmers that if elected, he would stop importing rice and would raise the price of locally grown rice. "More than 60 percent of the country's population are farmers. But the government has often neglected them," he told the farmers. To impress the farmers, Amien took off his shoes and walked into the muddy paddy field to meet the farmers. --JP