JP/5/D02

Two Africans arrested in S. Sumatra

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: Police in Palembang, capital of South Sumatra, arrested Ghanaian Abale Goble Jules Olive Cesar, 29, and Cameroonian Teufak Bernard, 40, on counterfeiting charges.

Police said they seized from the two suspects equipment used to print fake US dollars.

The chief of detectives in Palembang, Sr. Comr. Wahyu Triwidodo, said the two men were arrested on Wednesday when officers raided a house where they were printing counterfeit money.

"We are coordinating with their embassies in Jakarta to conduct a further investigation," he said.

Abale denied that they were involved in counterfeiting, saying the pair were in Indonesia on business. --JP

Driver demo paralyzes Padang

PADANG, West Java: Thousands of workers and students trying to get to Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, were left stranded on Thursday when public transportation drivers went on strike.

The drivers called the strike to protest the mushrooming number of unofficial terminals on the city's outskirts.

Many workers and students were forced to walk to their offices and schools in the city.

The drivers held demonstrations in front of the provincial legislature building and the governor's office, promising to continue their strike unless the authorities shut down the unofficial terminals that were cutting into their income.

"All buses and other public transportation vehicles should be obliged to enter only the terminal in the city, where they should pick up their passengers," Eri, a driver, said.

Almost all public transportation vehicles, including intercity buses, have been reluctant to enter the terminal since it moved to the city's outskirts.

The head of the local transportation office, ANS Bukhari, said his office had no authority to prevent the drivers from striking, and would cooperate with the land transportation agency to phase out all unofficial terminals around the city. --JP

Conservation area converted into farmland

BANJARNAGARA, Central Java: Some 30 hectares of the 101- hectare Dieng Temple archaeological conservation area in Banjarnagara has been turned into farmland by local residents, an official said.

A staff member at the local education and culture office, Ngudi Utomo, said his office had tried to prevent locals from moving into the conservation area, which is protected by law, but to no avail.

"Locals have planted potatoes in the conservation area and have even threatened to ransack the temple if they are forced off the land," he said on Thursday.

Banjarnagara Regent Djasri S.T. said he had reported the matter to President Megawati Soekarnoputri, but had not yet heard back from her.

"We are also coordinating with the local police to monitor the temple, which has historical value," he said. --JP

Fire sweeps through Ciremai forest

KUNINGAN, West Java: A fire has burned some 25 hectares of four-year-old pine forest located at the foot of Mount Ciremai in Kuningan regency.

Tatang Sutisna, an employee of state-owned PT Perhutani's Unit III in the regency, said here on Thursday his company was having technical problems putting out the fire.

"Besides lacking human resources, PT Perhutani also has difficulty getting water to put out the fire because of the prolonged drought in the regency," he said, adding that local forest rangers were still investigating the cause of the blaze.

Tatang said the forest fire was a result of the prolonged drought, and that his company would deploy locals to help put out the blaze.

He estimated that the fire would cause the company more than Rp 58 million in losses. --JP

Two men arrested for smuggling bullets

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Police here arrested on Thursday morning two people who were allegedly attempting to smuggle thousands of bullets into the conflict-torn regency of Poso.

The suspects, identified only as Fah and Sis, were arrested aboard the KM Nggapulu as they were carrying a box of munitions from the ship.

The ship arrived at the Pantoloan seaport in Palu on Thursday, as it traveled from Jakarta to Balikpapan via Surabaya.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Zainal Abidin Ishak confirmed the two people had been declared suspects.

The munitions were all made by state-owned Pindad. They included 2,228 5.56-caliber bullets, 448 9-caliber bullets, 99 4.5-caliber bullets, 47 86-caliber bullets and 34 SS1 bullets.

Abidin said that Fah had previously spent a year in jail for his involvement in an attack on the village of Mapane. --Antara

Bengkulu faces deforestation

BENGKULU: Rampant logging around the protected forest of Kerinci Seblat is threatening the Kerinci Seblat National Park.

About 1,500 hectares of the total 203,000-hectare conservation area has been deforested.

An official with the North Bengkulu Forestry Office, Untung Pramono, said that 60,000 hectares of protected forest had been depleted, with 19,000 hectares being transformed into farmland.

Meanwhile, 37,000 hectares of the 219,000-hectare production forest has been exhausted. The deforestation has reached a level of 2 percent of the forest per year.

North Bengkulu deputy regent Imron Rosadi confirmed that the local administration was attempting to curb the deforestation, particularly with surprise inspections.

Bengkulu province covers an area of 920,000 hectares, most of which is protected and conservation forests. Bengkulu is known as an area of biodiversity conservation, not as a log producer. --Antara

Students skipping exams to get married

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: Teachers and education officials here have expressed concern over an increasing number of junior high school students who are skipping their final exams to get married.

The head of the province's office for education, youth and sports, Zaini Arony, has urged the local office for religious affairs not to issue marriage licenses to students.

"Usually, the students are getting married during final exam time," Zaini said on Thursday.

Seven junior high school students in East Lombok skipped their finals last year to get married.

According to Zaini, his office is collecting data about the problem from every school in the province.

Among the local Sasak tribe, it is common to "steal" school- age women for marriage. So most women who follow this tradition get married around the age of 13.

Zaini said he would monitor the situation and appeal to the students to delay getting married until they at least completed their exams. --Antara