JP/8/Head28
JP/8/Head28
1. 8KPUD -- 4 col, 2 lines 2 x 20
Council unearths more
irregularities in KPUD
The City Council revealed on Wednesday that it had discovered
ample evidence, which corroborate alleged irregularities in the
use of fund by the Jakarta Election Commission (KPUD) during the
2004 election.
"We have discovered significant evidence of alleged
irregularities in the use of city budget, including the
commission's failure to submit tax payment receipts on the use of
state and city funds," said chairman of the Council's commission
A on legal and administrative affairs, Ahmad Suaidy.
Citing prevailing regulations, Suaidy said that any spending
of state or city funds is subject to 15 percent tax.
Referring to the regulations, Suaidy added, KPUD had to show
the tax payment receipts worth at least Rp 25 billion, or 15
percent of the total Rp 168 billion received by the KPUD during
the 2004 elections.
Since last Wednesday, the council has asked the KPUD to submit
necessary documents, including the tax payment receipts. But, as
of Wednesday, the KPUD only submitted other financial reports
except the tax receipts.
Another councillor, Rois Hadayana Syaugie, also discovered
alleged mark-up in the procurement of 250,000 jackets for
officers involved in the 2004 election process.
"We have checked the price of sewing a jacket with the same
quality and material to a big tailor in Senen, Central Jakarta
and we found that the price is much cheaper than the jackets
bought by the KPUD," Rois said.
Rois added that the tailor offered him Rp 25,000 per jacket
for 1,000 pieces he ordered, or half of Rp 50,000 per jacket
reported by the KPUD in the procurement of around 250,000
jackets.
Councillors also carried out an impromptu visit on Tuesday and
discovered another irregularity in the fee of branch office in
the Thousand Islands Regency, rented by the KPUD
KPUD's financial report shows that it has spent Rp 170 million
to rent three houses for the KPUD branch office there, but in
reality, the councillors found that the rental fee for the office
for two years only hovered at Rp 18 million.
Rois said the commission would urge relevant law enforcers,
including the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to pursue
the alleged irregularities.
"We also discovered that several agencies with the
administration have been implicated in the irregularities since
they were supposed to have provided a clear guideline for the
KPUD to carry out the procurement processes, but they didn't,"
said the councillor of the Prosperous Justice Party.
He added that the commission would also recommend the
dismissal of KPUD members over such glaring irregularities.
"With such flawed credibility, we could no longer rely on the
same KPUD to carry out their jobs," he asserted.
Unfortunately, KPUD chairman Mohamad Taufik could not be
reached for comment on Wednesday.
The commission has scheduled another hearing with the KPUD on
Friday.
The commission has started to trace the use of state and city
budgets by the KPUD on the wake of the finding of alleged high
profile corruption case at the General Elections Commission
involving KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah.
2. 8Pakis -- 3 col, 2 lines 2 x 27
Foreign 'professor' arrested
for trying to cheat rector
A Pakistani claiming to be a professor was arrested by Bogor
police when he tried to hypnotize Bogor-based Ibnu Khaldum
University (UIK) rector Didin Saefudin on Wednesday.
Sawaran Singh, 63, who claimed to be a lecturer at the Gadjah
Mada University in Yogyakarta, arrived at the UIK Campus on Jl.
Soleh Iskandar, Bogor at around 10 a.m.
After introducing himself, Singh began demonstrating his skill
by asking his host Didin to write two names of flowers on a sheet
of paper. Singh clutched and pressed another sheet of paper in
his arm.
According to Didin, the names of flowers he wrote were exactly
same with the names of flower on paper clutched by Singh -- rose
and sunflower.
"I was amazed with his capability," Didin told the press at
the Bogor police precinct, after testifying to police on his
experience with the 'professor.'
Didin said that he was carried away by Singh's prediction that
Didin would become a rich and successful gentleman. Didin said he
was not aware that he always followed what was suggested by his
guest.
Singh told Didin that he would come again to the campus after
21 days from Wednesday.
Later, Didin was aware that Singh tried to hypnotize him after
Singh asked for US$200 from him by writing it on a sheet of
paper. Didin gave Singh Rp 50,000 (US$5.56), but the Pakistani
'professor' refused it.
Then Singh wrote out Rp 1 million on the paper.
UIK deputy rector Abdurrahman Abdullah, who spied on Singh
from outside the door of his boss' room, was suspicious about the
behavior of the Pakistani guest.
Knowing that Singh asked for money from Didin, Abdurrahman
entered the room and asked Singh to show his passport. Initially,
Singh refused to show it, but latter he gave his passport to
Abdurrahman.
As Singh insisted on asking for money from didin, Abdurrahmand
decided to report his guest to police.
Singh, who holds a Pakistani passport No. 2-1366399 with visa
from Singapore was, was then arrested by Bogor police for further
investigation.
3. Police -- 3 col, 1 line 1 x 27
Police transfer two directors,
four precinct chiefs
Jakarta police announced on Wednesday major resuffle involving
two directors from two elite divisions, and four police precinct
chiefs, including the chiefs of prestigious West Jakarta and
North Jakarta police precincts.
The general crime chief Sr. Comr. Matius Salempang and special
crime chief Sr. Comr. Edmon Ilyas were sent to join a training at
National Resilience Institute (Lemhamnas), and their posts were
given to West Jakarta police chief Sr. Comr. Suhardi Alius and
North Jakarta police chief Sr. Comr. Syahrul Mama respectively.
The posts left by Suhardi and Syahrul were filled by Tangerang
police chief Sr. Comr. I Ketut Untung Yoga and West Java general
crime deputy chief Sr. Comr. Dede Sunarya respectively.
Depok police chief Sr. Comr. Raja Erisman was appointed
Tangerang police chief, and woman police Adj. Comr. Ratnawati
Hadiwidjaja of the East Jakarta police precinct took
up the post left by Raja.
Several women police had achieved ranks as high or higher than
Ratnawati's but she became the first woman ever to be appointed
police precinct chief in Jakarta police.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said the resuffle
aimed at enhancing effectiveness of Jakarta police as well as
providing career paths to several promising officers to fill the
vacancies left by more senior officers who pursue advanced
training.
"This is part of our efforts to make our service to public
better. Nothing is extraordinary as we have planned it before,"
said Tjiptono.
However, the resuffle seemed surprising as no earlier
indication from Jakarta police chief Insp. Firman Gani that he
intended to replace his senior officers, especially the two most
prestigious posts -- general crime and special crime chiefs.
Even more surprising was the appointment of Suhardi Alius, who
has been accused of turning a blind eye to gambling activities in
West Jakarta, as the general crime chief.
He was roundly criticized by public and several members of the
House Representatives when an alleged shooting incident occurred
between his officers, police officers from city police and
officers from national police headquarters in a gambling house
raid in Taman Palem in West Jakarta.
4. Library -- 2 col, 2 lines 2 x 16
Libraries fail to
attract students
Librarians working at highschools in Greater Jakarta agreed on
Tuesday that school libraries in the city failed to attract more
students to use their collections, because their services failed
to turn their facilities into "fun" and "relaxing" places.
Aisyah Abdur Rahman, a librarian at the SMUN 66 high school in
South Jakarta, said that out of the 700 students studying in the
school, only 20 of them used the facility regularly, while others
were reluctant to even visit the place as its services were
inadequate.
"We haven't had a catalog for our collection and there is no
multimedia equipment provided yet," Aisyah said, adding that the
library only had 40 seats and still focussed on the upgrading of
its physical condition.
Another librarian, Umar, who is in charge of the SMU 5
highschool library in Depok, West Java, said that his school's
library should have internet connection to attract more students
to come and spend valuable time there.
"Spending time in the library should also be fun and relaxing.
VCD collection is as important as the book collection, but we're
short of money," he said.
Fuad Gani, the head of the Library Science Department at the
University of Indonesia, supported Umar's statement saying that
according to his research students' low interests in using school
libraries was highly related to the bad management of the
facilities.
"The conditions of many school libraries in the city are
distressing. My research showed that many principals considered
good library management as not of a priority and having no impact
on students' intellectual capacity," he told The Jakarta Post.
Out of 500 Jakarta elementary school students that he
interviewed last year, the majority felt that they did not need
to use libraries because buying books was easier to do than
browsing in libraries.
To help school librarians to turn libraries into comfortable
places to seek knowledge, his department, along with Program
Bimbingan Anak Sampoerna (cigarette manufacturer PT HM
Sampoerna's children development program) held a three-day
library management training in the university's campus, inviting
20 schools from Jakarta, Depok and Bogor.
The program launched a campaign called Pustaka Kita (Our
Libraries) to train school librarians in motivating students to
come to libraries by formulating catalog, adding multimedia
facilities and alternative readings, such as comic books.
Fuad said the utilization of libraries was an indicator of
intellectual capacity and wisdom of the next generation students.
" Therefore, we hope to encourage these librarians to improve
their libraries' conditions and to attract more students to
explore the place." (006)
5. Speakup -- 3 col, 1 line 1 x 27
'Why didn't FPI accuse parties?'
Popular rock group Dewa has been reported to city police by a
number of Muslim organizations led by the Islamic Defender Front
(FPI) for using the Arabic script of Allah on the cover of its
Laskar Cinta (Soldier of Love) album. FPI accused Dewa of
blasphemy and demanded for an apology. The Jakarta Post
interviewed residents here to get their comments on the issue.
Mala, 24, is a student of the University of Indonesia in
Depok, West Java. She lives with her parents in Ciputat, South
Jakarta.
I think FPI has gone too far in accusing Dewa of insulting and
exploiting Islamic symbols. I also wonder why the group din't say
anything when political parties exploited Islamic symbols for own
benefits in the elections? Why FPF treats Dewa differently?
I am a Muslim, but not a fan of Dewa. I see reasons behind why
Dewa chose that kind of cover. I think Dewa wants to introduce
Islamic symbols to a wider public. Not many people know about
such Islamic art writing.
For instance, previously I didn't know anything about such
symbols. With the dispute, I am interested in learning about
Islamic writing. So, Dewa actually introduces Islamic symbol to
the public. Why can't FPI see it this way?
Tri Budiarti, 29, is a secretary at a foreign company in
Central Jakarta. She lives with her parents in Pasar Minggu,
South Jakarta.
I am afraid the conflict is deliberately created by both Dewa
and FPI to boost Dewa's popularity, which has dropped lately, or
to increase the sales of Dewa's latest record album. Also, FPI
can have a good name by showing to Muslims that they are the true
defenders of Islam once again.
What I see is that many people have started looking for the
album since the dispute emerged several days ago just to know the
songs and the cover. Even people who are not fans of Dewa are now
talking about the album.
If this is the case, I urge both of them to stop acting to
fool people. I suggest Dewa to create a better album so that they
shouldn't have to exploit similar case to boost the sales of
their album.