JAKARTA: The last annual session of the People's Consultative
JAKARTA: The last annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) for the 1999-2004 period is scheduled to take place from Sept. 23 to Sept. 26.
An Assembly working committee member, Baharuddin Aritonang, said on Thursday that during the session the body would hear progress reports from President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the heads of other state institutions.
The conclusion of the annual session will mark the end of the five-year term for the 700 members of the Assembly.
The 550 House members and 128 members of the Regional Representative Council who were elected in the April 5 general election will begin their terms on Oct. 1.
The two legislative bodies will form the new Assembly, which will convene to appoint its leaders and prepare for the inauguration of the elected president and vice president. -- Antara
;JP; ANPAa..r.. Scene-Muhammadiyah-book Muhammadiyah launches book JP/4/MUHAM
Muhammadiyah launches book
YOGYAKARTA: In a bid to help accelerate democratization in Indonesia, the country's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, launched on Thursday a civics textbook.
The book, titled Civic Education, will be mandatory for students at Muhammadiyah universities across the nation. It was launched by Muhammadiyah chairman Ahmad Syafii Maarif here.
The head of Muhammadiyah's education and research body, Zamroni, said the book would fill the gap in civic education for university students that was created when the government scrapped in 1999 the Pancasila state ideology course, which had been compulsory for new students.
One of the book's writers, Said Tuhuleley, said the textbook presented students with a dynamic learning process that would encourage them to uphold democratic values.
It took the writers three years to complete the textbook, during which time they held a series of workshops and conducted comparative studies to get input from experts in Indonesia and overseas. -- JP
;JP;ABDUL;CD; ANPAa..r.. Scene-bank-scandal Dossiers of bank scandal completed JP/4/BDB
Files on fraud suspects finished
JAKARTA: The National Police said on Thursday the case files on the eight suspects in the Rp 1.7 trillion Bank Dagang Bali (BDB) and Asiatic Bank scandal had been submitted to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.
The director of the National Police's fraud unit, Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, said prosecutors were now preparing charges against the suspects, who include FB Surendro and Made Budiana of Asiatic Bank, and I Gusti Ngurah Oka Budiana, I Gede Wibawa and I Nengah Suwardhana of BDB.
"The prosecutor's office has confirmed that the case files are sufficient enough to be presented to the court. We are just waiting for the trial to open," Ismoko said. -- JP