JP/4/scen9
JP/4/scen9
New party offers free education
SURABAYA: The newly established United Regional Party (PPD) is
offering free education and health services in a campaign to
attract recruits and to lure voters in the general elections next
year.
Party chairman Oesman Sapta said on Friday that his party
would be an instrument for regions to convey their aspirations.
Oesman, who is a deputy speaker of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), promised his party's executive board would never
intervene in decisions made by its regional chapters.
He said the PPD was ready to be verified to be legible to
contest the 2004 elections, claiming that it had 28 provincial
chapters across the country.
Oesman, who was accompanied by PPD's East Java chapter
chairman Andi Matulessi, was speaking during his visit to
Surabaya to meet party cadres and disclose the party's programs.
He refused to say how many votes the party was targeting in
the elections. --Antara
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ANPAa..r..
Borobudur-ship-
Ten Indonesian ship crew passed the Borobudur expedition
selection
JP/4/scen9b
Shipmates chosen for historic journey
JAKARTA: The Borobudur ship expedition team has selected 10
people out of hundreds of applicants to join an historic journey
tracing the cinnamon trade route.
"Indonesians interested in joining the selection is very high.
We have received a total of about 800 applicants," committee
chairman Sapta Nirwanda said on Friday.
Two of the selected candidates are women and they will join
the journey that is separated into four parts.
The expedition will start from the Ancol seaport in North
Jakarta on Aug. 15, and is expected to arrive in Ghana, Africa,
in December.
The reconstruction of the Borobudur boat was designed by
Australian marine archaeologist Nick Burningham. --Antara
Irregularities found in seven provinces
BANDUNG: The General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Home
Affairs has said it had found at lest 674 cases of irregularities
in the use of state funds in seven provinces.
The largest number were found in West Sumatra with 131 cases.
Of the 674 cases, at least 94 involved corruption (14
percent), while others respectively were violations of internal
regulations (326 cases) and job shirking (88 cases), ministry
deputy inspector-general Bambang T said.
He said the irregularities had caused losses of Rp 1.7 billion
to the state. -- Antara
RI among the worst for birth record
BANDUNG: The United Nations has rated Indonesia among the
worst countries in the world for keeping birth records, which has
contributed to massive child exploitation in the country.
"Indonesian birth records is also among the worst in ASEAN,"
head of the Banten and West Java chapter of the United Nations
Childrens Fund (Unicef) Hilda Winarta said on Thursday.
The national census in 2001 revealed that 11 million children
were born without birth records, or only four out of 10 children
in the country had birth certificates.
Hilda said the low rate of birth certificate possession
stemmed from people's inability to pay fees to obtain such
documents, lack of awareness and complicated procedures.
"Without birth certificates, children have no citizenship.
Therefore they will get no protection from the state," Hilda
said. --Antara.