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
;JP; ANPAa..r.. 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
;JP;CD; ANPAa..r.. 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