Jakob to receive honorary doctorate

Jakob to receive honorary doctorate

YOGYAKARTA: Former Kompas chief editor Jakob Oetama is to
receive an honorary doctoral degree in communication from Gadjah
Mada University here on Thursday.

The university's rector Sofian Effendi said on Tuesday the
award would be given to Jakob for his outstanding achievement in
developing a peaceful, non-violent and humanist style of
journalism that greatly respects justice and takes sides with
ordinary people.

"We have seen that in the last 48 years since Kompas was
established, Pak Jakob has been consistently developing such a
style of journalism, a style that does not cause a headache to
readers," Sofian said.

He added UGM had considered awarding the academic title to
Jakob, who is an alumnus, two years ago, but technical problems
had hampered the plan.

Jakob, a Yogyakarta native, will be the 18th person to receive
an honorary doctorate from UGM. Last week the university
conferred a doctorate upon Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal
Bolkiah. -- JP

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Scene-Hendra-assets
Assets of Hendra Rahardja sought
JP/4/20030128.C01

Assets of Hendra Rahardja sought

JAKARTA: The government filed a petition with an Australian
court last week to claim the assets of wanted Indonesian banking
and business magnate Hendra Rahardja who died in January in the
country, a Cabinet minister said.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said
on Tuesday that the government had asked the Australian
government to locate and freeze Hendra's assets there.

"We appeal to the court to pursue his assets as he had been
convicted here for corruption and he kept his wealth there," he
told reporters at his office, saying that the government did not
file a civilian lawsuit against Hendra as it would take longer.

Hendra was sentenced to life in prison in absentia last March
for corruption involving Rp 1.95 trillion (US$216.7million) in
taxpayers' money distributed to two of his banks under the Bank
Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) program during the economic
crisis in the late 1990s.

The tycoon, as well as son Eko Edi Putranto and subordinate
Sherny Kojongian, fled the country in 1997 to Australia.

The Australian government had offered Jakarta some US$120
million of Hendra's assets held in Australia following his death.
-- JP

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All schools to be accredited
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All schools to be accredited

JAKARTA: The Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar
swore in on Tuesday 23 members of the National School
Accreditation Body (BAS) whose main task is to appraise the
quality of schools at all levels nationwide.

"It's embarrassing but we have to be honest about our quality
of education. We may say that our education is growing in terms
of number of schools, but it's not innovative," he said to
reporters after the ceremony.

The problem, he said, had prompted the government to set up an
institution to ensure that schools met national standards
throughout the country.

Following the national BAS, provinces, regencies, and
municipalities will set up their own BAS. The BAS' offices in
regencies and municipalities will evaluate preschools to junior
high schools while BAS' provincial offices will evaluate senior
high schools.

They would then report to the national BAS, which will give
recommendations to improve the quality of education.

The accreditation body's members -- both national and local --
will be selected from communities, besides representatives from
the government. --JP

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Scene-Udin-journalist-center
AJI opens Udin Center
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AJI opens Udin Center

YOGYAKARTA: The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) of
Yogyakarta officially announced on Monday night the establishment
of the Udin Center, named after murdered journalist Fuad Muhammad
Syafruddin. It was established as an information referral center
for Udin's case in particular and for violence against the media
and journalists in general.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, Yogyakarta AJI
chairman Masduki said that information, data and analysis on the
Udin's case were spread throughout numerous places and
institutions, making it difficult to access them for either news
or research needs.

"If nothing is done about it, they (information, data, and
analysis on Udin's case) will be just destroyed and not
recognized as important documents," said Masduki, explaining the
reason behind the decision to set up the Udin Center.

Udin was beaten by unidentified persons on Aug. 13, 1996 and
died three days later in Yogyakarta Bethesda Hospital without
regaining consciousness. --JP