'Antara-Lusa' pact hoped to help bilateral ties

JAKARTA (JP): Official news agency, Antara expects a cooperation agreement with its Portuguese counterpart will improve the sometimes strained relations between the two countries.

Antara managing director Parni Hadi said on Friday he hoped the cooperation with the Lusa agency, announced in conjunction with the former's 61st founding anniversary which falls Saturday, could help the settlement of the East Timor problem.

"The cooperation will hopefully help efforts by the Indonesian and Portuguese governments to settle the East Timor question through dialog held under the aegis of the UN secretary- general," Parni was quoted as saying by Antara.

The cooperation agreement will be signed during a ceremony marking the anniversary at the State Palace on Saturday.

Under the agreement, Antara and Lusa will exchange news and place correspondents respectively in Lisbon and Jakarta, Parni said after closing a journalism course for military officers at the Antara building here on Friday.

Indonesia declared East Timor its 27th province in 1976. However, the United Nations has not recognized the move and considers Lisbon the official administrator in the former Portuguese colony.

Also to be signed Saturday are cooperation agreements for marketing real time economic data to Indonesian business circles with Bridge of the United States, and in public relations with the Australian news agency, AAP.

The agency also reported that Reuters will transfer the marketing of Reuters Business Briefing (RBB) to Antara on the same day. RBB will be marketed in Indonesia's major cities outside Jakarta.

At the closing of the journalism course, the Armed Forces deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Sutan Iskandar emphasized the need for officers to have good journalistic skills. "In the information age, the country's military faces a war of information."

Meanwhile, Parni was quoted as saying he was sure that the beating of an Antara photojournalist by military personnel during last month's Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly would be brought before a military tribunal.

Three photojournalists from Antara, Kompas daily and Gatra newsmagazine were beaten during a clash between hundreds of student demonstrators and security forces on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta. (anr)