Legislators vowed on Friday to reject any move to obligate

Legislators vowed on Friday to reject any move to obligate
farmers to pay for irrigation water as stipulated in the water
resources bill now being deliberated at the House of
Representatives (DPR).

Erman Suparno of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and
Karimun Usman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) said they would lobby other factions to reject the
controversial plan, as it would only worsen farmers' already
straitened circumstances.

"We will absolutely refuse the plan. We do not want to burden
farmers with any water charges. This is a promise," Erman told
The Jakarta Post.

According to Erman, asking farmers to pay for water from
state-owned irrigation projects was inappropriate due to their
low financial means.

"If the government prepares such an article in the draft
government regulation, they must drop it," Erman said.

The draft regulation, which is to be issued after the water
resource bill is endorsed, stipulates that water charges for
farmland will be decided based on irrigation fees farmers paid to
their associations.

Karimun concurred with Erman, and said that any plan to charge
farmers for irrigation water would violate the amended 1945
Constitution.

"It is crazy if anyone intends to charge farmers for
irrigation water. Most of our population are farmers, and a free
water supply must be ensured for their farms," he said.

The draft confirmed earlier concerns voiced by non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and farmers associations, that
the water resource bill would force farmers to pay for irrigation
water, in keeping with the concept of full-cost recovery for any
irrigation developments.

The government has repeatedly denied such allegations.

Their debate centers on Article 41.1 and 41.2. Article 41.1
stipulates that water for farmland managed by farmers
associations would be given the right to use water without any
charges; but Article 42.2 states that the farming business,
including plantations, fish farms, fishery firms and animal
husbandry outfits must pay water charges.

At present, farmers only pay an irrigation fee for
infrastructure maintenance, but they do not pay water charges.

Of the country's 11 million hectares of total farmland, 7.1
million hectares are irrigated farmland.

2. (2x 24)
Offices can be penalized
of concealing information

The freedom of information bill currently in process of
deliberation in the House of Representatives (DPR) will provide
chance for the people to take legal measure should the public
offices refuse to give information, a legislator says.

Tumbu Saraswati, a member of committee deliberating the bill,
emphasized that the bill carries penalty between one to five
years in jail to any violators.

"We adopt the spirit of transparency from other countries,"
Tumbu of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) said at an international seminar on freedom of
information here on Friday.

She cited article 28 of the bill which says that information
users can complain to the public offices should the offices
cannot provide regular information, ignore people's request, take
levies, or give insufficient information.

Based on the bill, all public offices have a mandatory to
provide information to the public.

Mukelani Dimba of South Africa and Nakorn Serirak of Thailand
who also spoke at the seminar meantime shared experiences of the
implementation of the freedom of information law in their
respective countries.

Dimba revealed that in South Africa the freedom of information
law does not apply on some state offices, including the Cabinet
and its committees, the judicial functions, and individual member
of Parliament or of a provincial legislature.

The ruling party, the African National Congress, argued that
Cabinet exclusion was an internationally accepted norm, said
Dimba.

3. SCHOOL ( 1 x 45)

Schools reluctant to comply with education bill

Evi Mariani
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Although born to a Muslim family, Hari, 25, spent six years of
his studying time at a Catholic school. His parents enrolled him
and signed agreements with the school, accepting several
conditions, including the requirement to attend Catholic
religious instruction during his time there.

"My parents thought the school was the best in town," he says.
"Unlike these days, Catholic schools did not have any competition
from state or other private schools back then."

Hari is just one of perhaps thousands of Indonesian Muslims
who studied at a Catholic school, which for many years had the
highest reputation for a good education.

Catholic schools require students of other religions to attend
classes on Catholic instruction only.

At Tarakanita Catholic school, for example, students have to
attend Catholic lessons, pray before and after class, participate
in school retreats and several other spiritual activities.

"I think every citizen has the right to choose where to study.
So we do not restrict our schools to Catholic students only.
However, as our schools are special, we provide only Catholic
classes for religious instruction," Sarta Ketut, head of the
education department of the Jakarta-based Tarakanita Foundation,
told The Jakarta Post.

The Tarakanita Foundation manages several Catholic schools in
seven regions in the country.

Islamic schools are also doing the same thing. The Al Azhar
High School in South Jakarta, one of the best schools in town,
requires non-Muslim students to attend Islamic lessons, including
Koran recitals.

"At present, we don't have any non-Muslim students. But
several years ago, we had two Christian students," Edy Junaedi,
the principal of the school, said.

"Before they enrolled we explained that Al Azhar was a special
school that did not provide lessons on any religion other than
Islam. We asked them to sign an agreement, and they accepted it."

Such a practice, however, may soon come to an end. The House
of Representatives is currently deliberating a national education
bill that is expected to be endorsed in May. Article 13 of the
bill stipulates that all students have the right to receive
religious instruction according to their beliefs from teachers of
the same faith.

As a consequence, all religion-based schools that open their
classes to students of other faiths will have to provide
additional teachers of religion.

But religion-based schools like Tarakanita and Al Azhar are
reluctant to implement the stipulation, arguing the move would
obscure the original mission of the schools.

"Tarakanita school accepts the government-prescribed national
curriculum, but as a private school we have traditions and a
uniqueness. So we modify it according to our traditions," Ketut
said.

5. TNI (2 x 18)

Navy to purchase
22 new warships

Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The Indonesian Navy will spend most of its budget this year on
the purchase of 22 new warships in a bid to improve its defense
capability, chief of staff Adm. Bernard K. Sondakh said on
Friday.

Bernard said the purchase would be possible due to an increase
in the Navy budget to Rp 700 billion, the lion's share of the
state budget allocation to the Indonesian Military.

"The Navy will improve its performance in combating smuggling,
poaching and piracy in Indonesian waters," Bernard said after
swearing in Rear Adm. Mualimin Santoso as the new commander of
the Navy's Western Fleet, replacing Rear Adm. Djoko Sumaryono.

Djoko will have a new job as assistant to the TNI chief for
planning and budgetary affairs.

The warships on the shopping list include eight corvettes, two
submarines, three landing tank ships and four patrol ships.
Currently, the Navy has 117 ships, only 30 of which are
operational.

Bernard said that the Navy had received tenders from warship-
producing countries South Korea, the Netherlands and France.

"But the Navy will choose a foreign company that is willing to
help us develop our shipbuilding industry as we intend to produce
our own vessels in the future," he said.

5.aipo (2 X 27)
AIPO moves to fight against
illicit drugs, poverty

Sri Wahyuni
The Jakarta Post
Yogyakarta

The ASEAN Inter-Parliament Organization (AIPO) issued two
resolutions recommending that ASEAN governments cooperate to
combat illicit drugs and eradicate poverty in the region.

The resolutions on drugs and poverty were signed by all 10
delegations at the closing ceremony of a two-day AIPO meeting
here on Friday.

The drug resolution recommended that all ASEAN governments set
up a network for information exchange among its parliaments,
authorities and non-governmental organizations in their regional
cooperation to handle narcotics issues ranging from the spread of
drug syndicates and traffickers to drug abuse prevention and the
rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Surya Chandra Surapaty, chairman of the AIPO fact-finding
committee handling the drug menace, said that all delegations
agreed to harmonize legislation related to penalties for drug
trafficking and money-laundering, including the forging of an
ASEAN extradition treaty for drug offenses and money-laundering.

"We agree to harmonize our drug laws to impose harsher
sanctions on drug syndicates, since we are of the same opinion
that law enforcement is an effective way to help reduce drug
trafficking and producing.

"And that is why all delegations agree to enhance cooperation
in sea, land and air transportation and border security control
to stop drug trafficking in the region," he said after the
closing ceremony.

He added that the issuance of the drug resolution was part of
ASEAN's commitment to making the region free of illicit drugs by
2015.

ASEAN comprises Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia.

The poverty resolution recommends the establishment of a
financial institution, instead of a bank, to provide financial
assistance to the poor in the region.

Benny Pasaribu, chairman of the antipoverty committee at the
AIPO meeting, said all delegations were of the opinion that
poverty should be solved through regional and international
cooperation.

6. Irigasi ( 2 x 20)
EU supports Bali's
irrigation project

Ambassador/Head of the Delegation of the European Commission
Sabato Dela Monica and Bali Governor I Dewa Made Beratha
inaugurated an irrigation project worth 6.625 million Euro (Rp 58
billion) in several impoverished villages in Buleleng, North
Bali, and Karangasem in East Bali on Friday.

The project is the follow-up to the North Bali Ground Water
Irrigation and Water Supply Scheme, which was completed in l999.
It had to be redesigned, however, for a number of technical
reasons.

The first phase of the project, 15 ground water irrigation
systems, has already been completed and is now operational. For
the remaining 15 locations, the survey, investigation and design
(SID) stages have been completed and deep wells constructed.

The second-phase of the project will involve the construction
of piped irrigation distribution networks and pumping systems to
15 existing sub-project areas, and the rehabilitation and
upgrading of nine existing systems.

Governor Dewa Beratha expressed the hope that the projects
would benefit local people who are now living in dry and
infertile areas in northern and eastern parts of Bali.