Karawang farmers refuse to repay loans

TASIKMALAYA, West Java: Farmers in Karawang, West Jawa, have refused to repay their loans to the local cooperative office, citing a speech last year by then-president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid who said that they did not have to repay their borrowings.

Karawang's cooperatives office head Asep Ahmad Jaelani said on Thursday that they have had a hard time getting the loans back, as the farmers said that Gus Dur promised to write off the loans.

Asep explained that the farmers firmly believed that the central government had written off the debts which had amounted to billions of rupiah.

Asep urged the local government to issue a notice to clarify the write-off policy.--Antara

Two criminals lynched in Central Java

SEMARANG: At least two more people were killed in separate cases of vigilante violence and mob beatings in the towns of Pekalongan and Brebes in Central Java, the provincial police said on Friday.

Kasirun, 35, a resident of Songgom village in Brebes regency -- who was known as a hoodlum --- died after being beaten and set on fire by villagers.

Locals said the victim had stabbed Darsono, a local resident, with a knife.

After capturing Kasirun, the villagers beat him severely before dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire while he was still alive.

Another victim was Timbul, a 30-year old from Ponowalen Kulon village in Pekalongan. He was lynched after being caught stealing a TV set belonging to Sukirno, a local resident.

Central Java police are investigating into the two cases.--antara Talc mistakenly taken for Putau

BANDUNG: A 16-year-old student at the Pasundan Cijerah senior high school in Bandung was in a panic when an anti-drug police team found an envelop containing white powder in her school bag.

Santi panicked on Thursday when she failed to convince the police, who searched her bag that the content of the envelope was not putau, a type of low grade heroin.

Crying, the student had to wait for the result of the test. The police eventually declared that the white powder was purely a harmless facial cosmetics after it was tested.

Spitting out the powder, one of the police said: "It aroused suspicion, so we had to check it out."

During the anti-drug raid, however, the police found a small knife from another student. --Antara