Helicopter needed to lift wreckage

Helicopter needed to lift wreckage

PEKANBARU, Riau: The Air Force needs a helicopter to lift the
wreckage of a historic warplane found last month in a forest in
Pelalawan regency, Riau province, an officer said on Wednesday.

Spokesman for the Pekanbaru Air Force Base Capt. Soetrisno
said evacuation of the wreckage was impossible at present due to
the difficult terrain. The AVRO Ason plane was discovered in a
peat bog, which is surrounded by a swamp to a depth of one meter.

Soetrisno said a team of officers had been sent to evacuate
the wreckage from Sept. 2 through Sept. 6, but only some
ammunition had been lifted. The airplane was broken into eight
pieces, scattered around the area.

"Given the difficult terrain, in order to recover parts of the
warplane we'll need a powerful helicopter," he said.

The warplane was being flown home from Thailand by then Air
Commodore Halim Perdanakusuma and his aide Iswahyudi on Dec. 14,
1947, when it crashed near Tanjung Hantu, Malacca Straits, due to
bad weather.

Halim's body was found in the nearby coastal area and buried
in Jakarta's Kalibata Heroes Cemetery, but Iswahyudi's body
remains undiscovered. -- Antara

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Scene-editor-trial
Year in jail demanded for editor
JP/4/editor

Year in jail demanded for editor

JAKARTA: Prosecutors demanded on Wednesday a one-year jail
sentence for the executive editor of Rakyat Merdeka daily for
insulting President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Chief prosecutor Wahab Arief told the South Jakarta District
Court the editor was found guilty of violating Article 134 of the
Criminal Code on defamation of the president and vice president,
punishable by a maximum six years in jail.

The defendant, according to prosecutors, was responsible for a
number of articles that had libeled the head of state, including
one titled, "Mega in the same league as a regent," published on
Jan. 4, 2003, "Mega's mouth smells of diesel fuel," on Jan. 6,
2003, and "Mega the profiteer," on Jan. 8, 2003.

Wahab insisted the headlines came from facts collected in the
field and were in line with the Press Code of Ethics.

The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced last week the
daily's chief editor, Karim Paputungan, to five months in jail,
suspended for 10 months, for insulting House of Representatives
Speaker Akbar Tandjung. -- Antara

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Scene-NU-meeting
NU leaders hold four-day crisis meeting
JP/4/NU

NU leaders hold four-day crisis meeting

JAKARTA: The country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU), began on Wednesday a four-day leadership meeting here
to respond to various issues, including an internal dispute
within the party it founded, the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Influential clerics, such as Sahal Mahfudz, Fachrudin Masturo,
Said Aqil Siradj, Mustofa Bisri, Masdar M. Mas'udi, Chotibul Umam
and Muchit Muzadi, who all sit on the NU Syuriah (law-making
body), and chairman Hasyim Muzadi, are attending the meeting.

Hasyim said the meeting was discussing strategic issues that
would affect the interests of NU followers, but the results of
the discussion would only be disclosed to the public on Saturday.

The clerics have threatened to withdraw support for PKB and
set up a new party after party chief patron Abdurrahman Wahid led
a move to dismiss the secretary-general, Syaifullah Yusuf, for
allegedly violating the party's rules.

The clerics said the dismissal would wreak havoc with party
preparations for the 2004 general election.

NU has some 40 million followers across the nation. PKB is one
of several parties that claim to represent NU's interests. -- JP