GAM excluded from drafting Aceh law

GAM excluded from drafting Aceh law

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: The drafting of a bill on Aceh's governance
has excluded representatives from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),
which demanded self-rule in the province.

"Formally, GAM is not involved in formulating the draft law on
governance in Aceh. But they (its leaders) have often taken part
in discussions and seminars," Acting Aceh governor Azwar Abubakar
said on Sunday.

The Aceh administration set up a team to draft the bill by
mid-September, including academics from three universities in
Aceh -- the Syiah Kuala University, the Ar-Raniry State Institute
of Islamic Studies and the Malikussaleh University.

The team is expected to complete the draft on Oct. 11.

The bill will regulate, among other things, relations between
the central government and the Aceh administration, GAM's
political role and economic empowerment as well as law
enforcement.

GAM spokesman Kamaruzzaman said his group was separately
drafting a similar bill.

"We hope that in the final stage, there will intensive
discussions on the two bills drafted respectively by GAM and the
government," he added. --JP

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Scene-Padang-Graft-Probe
Mentawai official a graft suspect
JP/4/scene

Mentawai official a graft suspect

PADANG, West Sumatra: Prosecutors here have named Roy
Tjahjoko, head of the resettlement and regional infrastructure
office in Mentawai Islands regency, as a suspect in a graft case
in connection with the creation of a website for the local
administration.

West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office head Antasari Azhar said Roy
led a working unit in the website project worth Rp 1.95 billion
(US$190,000) when he served as the regency's development planning
agency head until the end of 2004.

"Roy is suspected of being a key player in the case," Antasari
said on Saturday. "We are preparing to summons him for
questioning soon."

The chief prosecutor said the number of suspects in the
www.mentawaionline.com project could increase as the
investigation continued into at least 11 witnesses.

Antasari said investigators had seized only Rp 25 million in
connection with the case and a number of documents including that
on working contracts. --JP

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Scene-education-Susilo
Education budget criticized
JP/4/Scene

Education budget criticized

JAKARTA: An educationist has criticized the administration of
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for lacking the commitment to boost the
country's education sector.

Chairman of the Indonesian Pedagogy Association Sudiyarto said
that the administration had failed to boost funding for the
education sector to at least 20 percent of the state budget as
stipulated under the country's amended Constitution and Law No.
20/2003 on education.

Speaking at a discussion held on Saturday to evaluate the
performance of Susilo and his Vice President Jusuf Kalla after
one year in office, Sudiyarto said that the government had
instead decided to take a gradual approach to meet the target.

For this year, the government has only allocated 8.2 percent
of the state budget for the education sector, an amount that
would gradually increase during the next couple of years to reach
the 20 percent target by 2009.

He said that increasing the budget allocation for the
education sector was urgent and should have become the
government's top priority in order for the country to catch up
with its neighboring countries. --Antara