JP/4/scene4
Govt should encourage English fluency: Seminar
JAKARTA: A one-day seminar recommended on Wednesday that the government declare English a second language in an effort to encourage fluency in English among Indonesians.
The seminar, organized by PT Offistarindo Adhiprima, said the government should take such a step because Indonesians trailed far behind Malaysians, Singaporeans and Filipinos in spoken English abilities.
Legislator Taufikurrahman Saleh, who chairs the House of Representatives commission for educational affairs, opened the event, and speakers included Donald B. Gibb of the U.S.-based Rosetta Stone Software Inc. and Duque Hong of Hong Kong-based Media International Inc. -- JP
;JP;MTR; ANPAa..r.. Scene-Sampoerna
Sampoerna vows to fund 6,000 students
JAKARTA: The Sampoerna Foundation has pledged to provide scholarships for 6,000 middle school and high school students across the country over the next three years.
The foundation's director of operations, Elan Merdy, said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the scholarship program was part of the cigarette maker's commitment to make education accessible to youths, especially those from poor families.
By the end of 2003, the Sampoerna Foundation had disbursed Rp 8.5 billion (US$890,000) to the country's most needy students, a dramatic increase from Rp 2.6 billion in the previous year. -- JP
JP;MTR; ANPAa..r.. Scene-TVRI
'TVRI' staffer protests unfair treatment
JAKARTA: An employee of state-run television station TVRI has staged a hunger strike to protest what he considered unfair treatment by the firm's top executives.
Sjamsurridjal Irooth said on Tuesday that although it had been a year since the television station changed a from state-owned to a limited company, its top executives had not improved the livelihood of its employees.
"Instead, they lead extravagant lives, compared to ordinary staffers," he said.
He said a regular employee was paid Rp 1.5 million per month, a pale comparison to the up to Rp 40 million received by directors in monthly salaries and allowances. -- JP
;JP;Naommy; ANPAa..r.. Human-trafficking-Dumai Police bring 33 human trafficking victims home JP/4/Dumai
Human trafficking victims brought home to testify
JAKARTA: The National Police said on Wednesday they had transported 10 women victims of human trafficking from their temporary homes in Dumai, Riau, to Jakarta to serve as key witnesses in their cases.
The 10 were among the 33 women who arrived on Tuesday in Dumai after they were repatriated from Kuala Lumpur. At least 108 other Indonesian workers were also deported.
The majority had faced work-related problems in the neighboring country.
"The police will handle the cases of 33 women, while the others will be dealt with by the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration," said a senior police officer. -- JP