JP/5/D02

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