BP builds 125 houses for evicted Papuans

BP builds 125 houses for evicted Papuans

MANOKWARI, Irian Jaya: British Petroleum (BP) has pledged to
build 125 homes for Papuans in Tanah Merah Village, Manokwari
Regency, who are evicted from its gas mining area this year.

Erwin Maryoto, a spokesman for BP, said that the houses would
be constructed after the government approved an environmental
impact analysis (Amdal) proposed for the Tangguh liquefied
natural gas (LNG) project.

He added that the company, in cooperation with Papua
University in Manokwari, has completed a feasibility study in
which local villagers said that they were ready to move
elsewhere.

"Of utmost importance is that the people can live humanely,
and are ready to develop harmonious relationships with the
company," he said here on Wednesday.

Maryoto also said that the company would undertake a social
development program to help improve local people's social
welfare. --Antara

Program to fight illiteracy in West Lombok

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: Officials in West Lombok,
responding to the illiteracy among 160,000 of the area's 700,000
residents, will carry out a special education program, a local
administrator said.

Lalu Fadlullah, a spokesman for the local West Lombok
administration, said that programs would be held in the evenings
so as not to affect people's daily business.

He said that the illiterate were mostly made up of school-age
children, and some parents.

"The educational programs are being offered to help make the
nine-year education program already in existence even more
successful," he said. --Antara

Cirata dam contaminated

CIANJUR, West Java: Indonesian Green Foundation Chairman Cevy
T. Mulyana said on Wednesday that the pollution on the Cirata dam
near the city has reached alarming levels, threatening untold
thousands of fish farmed in the dam.

"The waste water's chemical contents harm the fish in the
dam," he said, adding that the pollution was caused by fish feed
residue in the dam.

He said that the dam would not be a feasible place for fish
farming in the next 20 years, if the pollution was not handled
properly.

Cecep, a fish farmer, said that untold thousands of fish,
which were ready to be harvested, have died for unclear reasons
over the last three months, and that no farmers could identify a
cause.

"Dead fish, which were not generally abandoned in the dam's
waters, also contributed to the pollution," he said. --Antara

Prosecutor seeks seven years for rapist

JAMBI: Two government prosecutors, Baza Talaumbanua and
Bambang, have sought a seven-year jail sentence for 60-year-old
Selamat bin Karta, who was found guilty of raping a 14-year-old
girl identified as SZ.

"The defendant was found guilty of raping an under-age girl, a
crime violating Article 287 of the Criminal Code. Therefore, we
appeal to the justice to hand down a seven-year jail sentence on
him," Talaumbanua said in a court session presided over by Barita
Hutabarat in the city on Tuesday.

The prosecutor said the defendant raped the victim, a daughter
of the defendant's neighbor, in his house in Jeluntung
subdistrict in May, 2001

The girl is six months pregnant.

The trial was adjourned until next week to hear the
defendant's legal defense. --Antara

Govt to demolish refugee camps

ATAMBUA, East Nusa Tenggara: The Belu regency administration
is still making preparations to demolish by force hundreds of
camps housing more than 100,000 East Timorese refugees in the
regency between April and May, says a local official.

Belu Deputy Regent Bria Yohannes said here on Tuesday that the
local administration had cooperated closely with the local police
and military to seek an effective way of evicting the refugees
from their camps.

"In principle, we are ready to implement the government's
policy to evict the refugees from the camps in the coming
months," he said here on Tuesday.

The government has given refugees the choice of returning to
East Timor or remaining in Indonesia and joining the resettlement
program. So far, none of the refugees have made their decision,
for reasons which remain unclear.

The refugees are part of a group of 295,000 who took refuge in
the province following the Sept. 1999 violence in East Timor.
Some of them have gone back to East Timor while others have
joined the resettlement program.

The government has stopped humanitarian assistance to the
refugees in the hope it will encourage them to make a decision
about the future. --Antara

57 escape police detention

SERANG, Banten: A total of 57 women and men, who were netted
in a drug operation, escaped Cilegon Police detention on Sunday
before they were due to be interrogated.

However, the local police interrogated 89 others; three of
them were found in possession of banned drugs while 59 others did
not have identity cards.

Betti Indiani, 31, Anani Syarif, 31, and Djoko, 39, were
detained for further investigation when the police confiscated a
number of inex pills from them.

They were taken to the police detention center after being
picked up at Bojong Village, close to Anyer tourist resort, which
has become well-known for its drug parties at weekends.

The 59 who did not have identity cards were fined Rp 10,000
each.

Deputy chief of Cilegon Police Precinct Sr. Comr. Syamsuddin
said the operation had been carried out after the police had
received many tip-offs and complaints from local people about
frequent weekend drug parties at the coastal resort.

In addition, the police also confiscated 14 cars and 21
motorcycles, which were suspected to have been used to conceal
the drugs. --Antara