Ex-serviceman killed in Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: Marzuki Achmad, a retired Army first lieutenant was shot dead by two unidentified men in his house in Lamkruet Village, Lhoknya, Aceh Besar on Tuesday.

Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin, spokesman for the military operation in Aceh, blamed the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the murder.

He also said on Wednesday that the local military had shot dead two rebels in a raid on a GAM stronghold in Paya Baro Village in West Aceh.

One of those killed was named as Darmansyah, 26, while the other victim has yet to be identified.

In North Aceh, four civilians were injured after a hand grenade was thrown by a group of armed men in Simpang Empat, Krueng Geukuh.

Zaenal called on locals to cooperate with security personnel in opposing the violence being perpetrated by the rebels in the province. --Antara

Govt criticized over funds

YOGYAKARTA: Jarot Subyantoro, chairman of the Sleman regency legislature, criticized the central government on Wednesday, saying the way it had distributed general allocation funds (DAU) to regencies in the province for the 2002 fiscal year was unfair.

He cited the example of Sleman, which, with a payroll of 15,000 civil servants, received funds of just Rp 260 billion, compared to the Rp 268 billion given to Bantul, which has to pay fewer civil servants.

According to him, his regency should have received at least Rp 270 billion to allow it to use part of the general allocation funds to finance its development projects.

He said the central government should revise its criteria on the distribution of general allocation funds to provinces, mayoralties and regencies.

"The government must use objective criteria in distributing the general allocation funds to avoid any resentment among the regencies," he said.

Bantul was given more DAU funds than Sleman because it has fewer revenue sources. --Antara

Squatters ordered to leave national park

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: South East Sulawesi Governor La Ode Kaimoeddin called on forest squatters in Rawa Aopa Watuhomai National Park to leave the forest area prior to the end of his tenure this year.

"They must leave the national park before the end of my term in office," he said here on Wednesday.

Hundreds of locals have returned to cut down trees in the national park following their forced eviction in 1997, 1998 and 2000 after they turned down the local administration's offer of a resettlement program.

He accused a local nongovernmental organization of backing the squatters' return to the national park.

"The government will take firm measures against squatters who refuse to leave the forest area," he said.

The 105,000-hectare national park provides a habitat for rare and protected species such as dwarf buffaloes, deer and rare birds. --Antara

Kerosene crisis continues in Cirebon

CIREBON, West Java: The Cirebon authorities have set up a joint team consisting of representatives from the state-owned oil company Pertamina, the local attorney's office, the local administration and security authorities to handle the continued kerosene crisis in the region.

The team has been instructed to crack down on the alleged stockpiling of kerosene by Pertamina's local distributors in anticipation of the government's plan to raise fuel prices later this month.

Adj. Sr.Comr. Musyafak, chief of the Cirebon Police Precinct, admitted that the joint team had been established because of the worsening nature of the crisis.

He denied that the establishment of the joint team had come late, pointing out that the local police had yet to complete their investigation into the causes of the kerosene crisis.

He said that the police had uncovered the location of several bunkers where the fuel was being stockpiled.

He reported, for example, that the police had seized 20 tons of kerosene on Tuesday from a bunker belonging to Danto, a distributor in the regency in Gegesik subdistrict.

He said the suspect could face five years imprisonment and a fine of Rp 30 million in accordance with the law on oil and gas. --Antara

Serui lacks public transport

SERUI, Irian Jaya: The people of Serui in Yapen Waropen regency, Irian Jaya, lack the public transportation facilities needed to overcome their isolation.

Dominggus Aritababa, a tribal leader in Serui, said here on Wednesday that the remote subdistrict would continue to lag behind other parts of the province unless the government provided public transportation facilities, especially boats, to allow locals to transport their farm produce.

Most people in the subdistrict earned their livelihood from fishing and farming but there were no public transportation facilities to transport their products to traditional markets, he said.

He said that, as the regional autonomy era had now begun, the local administration should provide more boats, which were vital forms of public transportation in the subdistrict. --Antara

Six die in traffic accidents

CIREBON, West Java: At least six people died and three others were seriously injured in two separate traffic accidents in Indramayu and Jatibarang, Cirebon Regency on Tuesday.

In the first accident, a passenger bus, Luragung, collided head-on with a minibus in Jatibarang, killing four people instantly and leaving three others seriously injured.

The dead were identified as Indra Setiawan, 23, Toto, 22, Endang, 50, and Dani, 53 while the injured were Daryoto, 54, Rastri, 26, and Adam, 6, all of whom were taken to the Arjowinangun General Hospital in Cirebon for treatment.

All the victims were members of a single family from Purbalingga, Central Java.

Witnesses said the collision occurred as the bus tried to overtake a car and then struck the minibus, which was coming from the opposite direction.

The second accident occurred when another passenger bus, Dedi Jaya, collided with a motorcycle on the Balongan highway, killing the rider and passenger instantly.

The two victims --Musanif, 40, and Rudi, 41-- were brought to Indramayu General Hospital before their bodies were collected by relatives.

Witnesses said the bus driver, who was believed to be fatigued, was unable to stop his vehicle, which was traveling at high speed when the accident occurred. --Antara

Banten governor to be installed

SERANG, West Java: Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno was scheduled to swear in Djoko Munandar as the maiden governor of Banten and Atut Chosiah as his deputy some time in the next few days, following President Megawati Soekarnoputri's acceptance of the results of the Banten gubernatorial election.

Muslim Djamaluddin, deputy chairman of the Banten provincial legislative council, said on Tuesday that the president's recommendation the two be sworn in had been issued on Monday and that the swearing-in ceremony was expected to take place in Serang on Saturday or Monday.

The pairing of Djoko and Atut, both from the United Development Party (PPP), won votes from 37 of the 45 legislators in the gubernatorial election held on Dec. 3, 2001 in the town. --Antara