Minister rapped over dredgers

Minister rapped over dredgers

JAKARTA: The House of Representatives criticized maritime
affairs and fisheries minister Rochmin Dahuri on Thursday for
releasing seven foreign dredgers impounded in Riau waters last
month, which had illegally taken sand from Indonesian maritime
territory.

Member of House Commission II Sayuti Rahawarin said Rochmin
had no authority to fine and release the dredgers, and that they
should have been handed over to the police or state prosecutors
for further investigation.

"What authority does he have? He has no right to fine and
release the dredgers. We suspect that there is something fishy
behind the action," Sayuti was quoted by Antara as saying.

Last month the Navy arrested seven foreign boats while
dredging sea sand in Riau waters. The Ministry of Maritime
Affairs and Fisheries later established a team to question
dredger crews but released them after they were fined. -- Antara

RI slow to act on gender studies

JAKARTA: Indonesia has produced many studies about gender
issues, but has fallen short of implementing them, a gender
analyst said on Thursday.

"We are OK in producing gender studies, but the implementation
is weak due to many social and cultural barriers," head of the
center for education and training at Bogor Institute of
Agriculture Aida Vitalaya was quoted by Antara as saying on the
sidelines of a seminar in Lampung on Thursday.

However, Aida said, local governments had now begun paying
more attention to gender issues than they did in the New Order
era.

Lampung and Central Java have been chosen by the Asian
Development Bank as pilot locations for gender-issue projects.
The bank has committed some US$40 million this year alone to the
projects. --Antara

Six Sri Lankans to be tried

JAKARTA: Six Sri Lankans, arrested recently in Lasiana Beach
in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara for illegally entering Indonesia,
will be taken to court soon.

"They have to be taken to court for falsifying immigration
documents in order to enter Indonesia illegally," East Nusa
Tenggara Police chief Brig. Gen. Pol. Jacki Uly told reporters on
Thursday.

According to Jacki, three of them had fake passports, while
three others entered Indonesia illegally without passing through
the immigration office.

The six Sri Lankans were reportedly planning to sneak into
Australia as illegal immigrants. -- Antara

Japan to aid RI over environment

JAKARTA: Japan will offer an aid package to help Indonesia and
six other Asian countries lower greenhouse gas emissions and stem
global warming over the next few years.

Environment ministry official Soichiro Seki said Tokyo's
proposal would mostly consist of training and joint research
projects in antipollution measures for Indonesia, China, India,
Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Details are to be worked out in talks with each country after
the plan is unveiled at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, later this month, Seki
said. He declined to say how much Tokyo planned to spend. --AFP