Governor candidates present vision

SERANG, Banten: Some 12 pairs of candidates for the positions of governor and vice governor of Banten province presented their vision and mission before the provincial legislative council here on Monday.

All candidates put emphasis on religious and educational aspects in their development strategy in the predominantly Muslim province.

The governor candidates were, among others, Herman Haeruman, an expert staff member at the National Development Planning Board, Suhaimi, a prosecutor at the Attorney General's Office and Djoko Munandar, former mayor of Cilegon.

Herman said he wanted to free local people from poverty and uncertainty amid the prolonged economic crisis if he won the governor election, while Suhaimi wanted to continue developing industry to help create more job opportunities and improve local people's social welfare.

The meeting was disturbed by a bomb hoax, but an antiterrorist police squad deployed to examine all rooms in the legislative council building found no bombs.

Outside the legislative council building, hundreds of students staged a demonstration, opposing the planned elections for governor. The demonstrators demanded a direct election for governor in order to avoid money politics playing a part, which they said was still rife among members of the local elite. -- Antara