Indonesians overseas to vote only for DPR

Indonesians overseas to vote only for DPR

JAKARTA: The General Elections Commission (KPU) says some two
million Indonesians living overseas will lose their right to vote
for legislators at the provincial and regental level next year
due to technical reasons.

"Indonesians living overseas will only be able to elect
legislators at the national level. Their votes, equal to five
seats, will be given to Jakarta," KPU member Valina Singka
Subakti said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the first meeting
of regional KPUs.

There were only around 900,000 Indonesian overseas voters in
the 1999 elections.

"Such a high number of overseas voters is caused by the
increasing number of Indonesian workers in other countries," she
said.

Valina added that KPU would verify the data on Indonesian
voters living overseas next month.

Indonesia will hold its legislative election on April 5 and
direct presidential election between June and August 2004.

KPU has completed the calculation of eligible voters at home
with over 142 million people eligible to vote in the 2004 general
election.

The figure does not include those living overseas.

So far, KPU has not decided on electoral districts for
legislators at the national level due to problems related to the
establishment of new provinces. --JP

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Controversial Manulife judges moved
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Controversial Manulife judges moved

JAKARTA: Three judges who made a controversial ruling last
year declaring Canadian-based insurance company Manulife bankrupt
will be transferred to serve in district courts outside Jakarta.

Chief Justice Bagir Manan said on Thursday that both the
Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights agreed
that "the judges have been posted in Jakarta too long."

When asked whether the transfer was due to the judges'
involvement in the Manulife case, Bagir replied," Yes, for many
reasons".

The three judges -- Tjahyono, CH Kristi Purnamiwulan and Hasan
Basri -- were suspended last year for allegedly taking bribes to
declare Manulife bankrupt at the behest of the now-defunct PT
Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera.

However, President Megawati Soekarnoputri had lifted the
suspension of the three in consideration of the findings of the
Supreme Court's disciplinary committee that examined their cases,
Bagir said.

Justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra had earlier suggested
the judges be transferred out of Jakarta. The Jakarta Commercial
Court manages more high-profile commercial cases than other
commercials courts, including that in Medan, North Sumatra, and
Makassar in South Sulawesi.

The Manulife case affected bilateral ties between Indonesia
and Canada as the company was actually solvent. -- JP

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Dili upset by verdic on RI general
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Dili upset by verdict on RI general

BANGKOK: Dili said on Thursday it was upset by what it sees as
a lenient prison term for a top Indonesian general over the
bloodshed during its independence vote in 1999, but said it will
not press for an international tribunal.

East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta told Reuters
Indonesia's ad hoc human rights court should have jailed Maj.
Gen. Adam Damiri, the regional commander at the time of the
violence, for longer than the three year sentence it handed down.

"We are obviously thoroughly disappointed," Horta said during
a visit to Thailand.

"This issue is not just an East Timorese responsibility, it is
also the international community's. It's countries like the
United States, the European Union and others who should talk to
Indonesia and find other alternatives, short of a tribunal, that
will give justice to the people of East Timor."

Damiri was the last of 18 people to be tried by the court,
which has acquitted most other suspects and handed out light
sentences to those convicted, drawing widespread criticism from
international and domestic human rights groups. -- Reuters