DENPASAR, Bali: Nine foreign performing art troupes and seven
DENPASAR, Bali: Nine foreign performing art troupes and seven others from various Indonesian provinces will join the 24th Bali Art Festival scheduled to take place on the tourist island from June 22 through July 20, 2002, a report said on Monday.
Wayan Rai, chairman of the Indonesian Arts College (STSI) in Denpasar, said President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Cabinet ministers were slated to attend the festival, which would present Bali's diverse classical and contemporary arts.
The college will present its latest creation for the opening ceremony at the Niti Mandala Renon Square in Denpasar, besides contemporary dances in the city's cultural center, where Bali's senior artists will receive awards for their outstanding achievements.
Balinese music in modern arrangements, choir performances and epic-based ballets are STSI's other highlights in the regional art event, which will also see the participation of six Japanese groups and others from Norway, South Korea and Singapore.
"Seven troupes from Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Central Java and Papua provinces will add color to the annual festival featuring elements of art and culture from eight regencies and a city in Bali," Wayan Rai said. --Antara
Villagers sue forest concessionaires
MUARA TEWEH, Central Kalimantan: Almost 200 people from three villages in Gunung Purei district of North Barito regency in Central Kalimantan, have sued forest concessionaires operating in the area for alleged exploitation of a protected forest.
The lawsuit, also signed by Muara Mea village chief Ngina Inkak, names PT Indexim and PT Sindo Lumber as concessionaires that have conducted logging in the protected forest of Gunung Lumut, considered a sacred place by local people.
Located in Muara Mea, Gunung Purei district, the Gunung Lumut forest is a ritual site for villagers embracing the mystical faith of Kaharingan, besides being hereditary land handed down to the Muara Mea people from generation to generation.
Three representatives of the village have urged the North Barito regency administration and the regional legislature to settle the case, after a meeting with executives of the companies ended in a deadlock.
Regency administration sources said on Monday North Barito Regent Badaruddin had instructed a special team comprising forestry officials and village figures to conduct a field survey and determine the extent of the encroachment into the disputed forest. --Antara
East Java high schools to join robot contest
SURABAYA, East Java: The State Polytechnic School of the Surabaya Institute of Technology, champion of last year's robot competition in Japan, will hold a line tracer robot contest for high school students throughout East Java on July 14, 2002.
The committee for the 15th anniversary of the Polytechnic School announced on Sunday that the participants would come in groups, each comprising two students and a teacher as mentor, to present their creations. Judging will be based on entries with the best appearance, highest speed and most sophisticated engineering.
The polytechnic school first organized the robot contest in 1993 and resumed the activity in 1999 after several years' absence. Its robot team, called B-Cak, joined the International Robot Contest in Fukushima, Japan, on March 4, 2001 and emerged as champion.
Other programs to mark the school's anniversary include website design by students, the launching of teleducation in cooperation with Malaysia's Tun Abdul Razak University, Oracle database training and various computer seminars. --Antara