Legislators book hotel to discuss bill
JAKARTA: The House of Representatives (DPR) has decided to continue deliberations on the presidential election bill in secret.
Legislator Ferry Mursyidan Baldan said here on Monday that 12 closed-door sessions would be held at the DPR on Jl. Gatot Subroto and in an unnamed Jakarta hotel from May 23 to May 25.
Ferry said holding talks at the hotel was designed to provide legislators with more time to discuss the much-awaited bill.
In the course of discussing the bill, legislators have already met in at least three hotels -- Horison hotel in North Jakarta, Santika hotel in Central Jakarta, and a hotel in Bogor, West Java.
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Two students missing in long march
BOGOR, West Java: Two students were declared missing after joining a long march from Bandung, West Java, to Jakarta on Sunday to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the country's reform movement.
The students were last seen near a tea plantation in the resort area of Puncak after police attempted to disperse the group.
Jhoni, 20, a student from the Bandung Institute of Law, and Cakru, 20, from the Indonesian Muslim Students Association were among 2,000 students involved.
March field coordinator Syaiful Huda said the number of students was reduced to only 200 following intervention by police officers on a number of occasions.
The protesters were dispersed by force in Bogor, West Java on Monday.
Bogor police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Taufik said the march was illegal as the students had not notified police of their intentions and the activity disrupted traffic flows. -- JP
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NZ police set up liaison office
JAKARTA: New Zealand police opened on Monday a liaison office in Jakarta in a bid to boost cooperation in eradicating international terrorism and transnational crimes.
The ceremony was attended by New Zealand Ambassador to Indonesia Chris Elder, deputy chief of New Zealand Police Comr. Steve Long and National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Kadaryanto.
Spt. Hamish McCardle has been appointed as the country's liaison officer in Indonesia.
The office is located on the 23th floor of BRI II building on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Central Jakarta. The New Zealand embassy is also located in the same building.
The two countries, however, failed Monday to sign a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation as National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar was still in Aceh to monitor the situation there after the government declared a state of emergency in the troubled province, where the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting for independence since 1976. -- JP
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Saudi Arabia donates US$500,000
JAKARTA: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through its ambassador to Indonesia Abdullah Abdul Rahman Alim, donated US$500,000 (Rp 4.5 billion) on Monday to help Indonesia fight measles.
The donation, received by Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, would be used to buy about 79,000 bottles of measles vaccine worth Rp 1.09 billion and 608 disposable syringes worth Rp 1.13 billion.
Sujudi said the funds would be spent for school-based anti- measles drives in three high-risk provinces -- Central Sulawesi, Maluku and North Maluku.
"The (immunization) coverage in the country reached 94.2 percent last year, but is still low in several areas," the minister said.
He said the school-based, anti-measles campaign was the most cost-effective way of eradicating the disease.
Immunization injections should be given twice in someone's life, once when they are nine-months old and the other when they are in elementary school or before they reach the age of 14. --JP