Court urged to pursue Priok case

Court urged to pursue Priok case

JAKARTA: State prosecutors called on judges of the ad hoc
rights tribunal on Monday to proceed with the trial of 11
military personnel accused of gross rights violations in the 1984
Tanjung Priok shooting incident.

"We urge the court to put aside the lawyers' arguments,"
prosecutor Widodo Supriyadi told the court during the trial of
Capt. Sustrino Mascung and 10 other defendants here on Monday.

Widodo insisted that the indictment against the defendants was
clear and strong.

The defendants are charged with crimes against humanity for
their alleged roles in the bloody Tanjung Priok massacre in 1984.

According to the indictment, the 11 soldiers opened fire on a
crowd of Muslim protesters in front of the North Jakarta Police
station on the night of Sept. 12, 1984.

According to the charges, at least 14 people were killed and
11 others injured in the incident.

Under Law No. 26/2000 on human rights, the soldiers could face
a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of death if found
guilty. -- JP

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Scene-SARS-
Singapore donates SARS scanners
JP/4/SARS

Singapore donates SARS scanners

JAKARTA: The Singaporean government has donated two thermal
scanners to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali as part of
efforts to cooperate with Indonesia to ensure a successful ASEAN
Summit and keep ASEAN free of the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS).

The scanners were symbolically handed over by Singapore
Ambassador Edward Lee to foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda on
Saturday.

The latest contribution, in addition to four thermal scanners
donated to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta on
July 3, is testimony to the close relation between the two
countries, the Singapore Embassy said in a statement made
available to The Jakarta Post on Monday.

ASEAN groups Singapore, Indonesian, Malaysia, Thailand,
Brunei, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The SARS epidemic started in March this year and raged for
three months in Singapore, sending the city-state's economy into
a tailspin. -JP

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Scene-party-voters
Party vows to expand support base
JP/4/scene

Party vows to expand support base

JAKARTA: The Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has
vowed to enlarge its voter-base in the 2004 elections so that it
need not change its name again.

PKS is the new name of the Justice Party (PK), which in the
1999 elections gained only 1.36 percent of the vote.

A party must have garnered at least 2 percent of the 1999 vote
to be eligible to contest the 2004 elections, otherwise it must
its change name and start anew.

"We are targeting 10 percent of the vote, but possibly we will
only get 6 to 7 percent," said PKS chairman Hidayat Nurwahid here
on Monday.

PK was established just months before the 1999 elections.

The electoral threshold for the 2009 elections will increase
to 3 percent. The electoral threshold is designed to encourage
coalitions among parties. - Antara