Megawati to visit Japan in June

Megawati to visit Japan in June

TOKYO: President Megawati Soekarnoputri will make a state
visit to Japan from June 22 through June 25, the Japanese foreign
ministry said on Friday.

She will meet with Japanese Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko
and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the ministry said.

The visit will strengthen the friendly ties between the two
nations, the ministry said.

The visit was announced less than two weeks after Indonesia
and Aceh separatists met in Tokyo for two-day peace talks, which
failed to salvage a peace deal brokered by the Henry Dunant
Centre (HDC) in December.

Only hours after the talks collapsed, Megawati signed a decree
authorizing a military operation and imposed martial law in Aceh
province.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday he was
"deeply concerned" about what impact the renewed hostilities in
Aceh would have on the civilian population there. -- AFP

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Scene-election-voting rights
People told to use voting rights
JP/4/Scene

People told to use right to vote

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan: A member of the General Elections
Commission (KPU) Chusnul Mar'iyah called on the public on Friday
to exercise their right to vote in the 2004 election.

She said that abstaining from voting on election day would not
be an effective means of protest because the election results
would still be valid.

Voting helps bring about constitutional changes to national
leadership, she said.

Chusnul was in Pontianak disseminating information concerning
the preparation of the elections.

She said that people's right to vote was important as it would
ensure a change of leadership. -- Antara

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Scene-reaction-kontras
More groups condemn Kontras attack
JP/4/Scene

More groups condemn Kontras attack

JAKARTA: Mass organizations grouped in the Friends of Islam
Civil Society condemned a recent attack on the offices of a human
rights group in Jakarta.

Group coordinator Rizaldin Kurniawan said on Friday that the
attack was a serious threat to law enforcement and to people's
criticism of state violence.

The offices of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims
of Violence (Kontras) was attacked on May 27 by the Pemuda Panca
Marga, a nationalistic group of veteran soldiers' relatives.

The attack was believed to have links with Kontras' stance on
the ongoing military operation in Aceh.

The Friends of Islam Civil Society consists of some
organizations under the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah Muslim
groups. They are: the Muhammadiyah Youths, the Lakpesdam NU,
Ahimsa, Rahima, Nasyi'atul Aisyiyah, State Islamic University's
center for human resource development and the Institute for the
Free Flow of Information. -- Antara

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Palau-Indonesia
Three Indonesians aboard outrigger wash up in Palau
JP/PALAU

3 Indonesians stranded in Palau

KOROR, Palau: Three Indonesians in a narrow, seven-meter
outrigger canoe used to taxi people between islands in Indonesia
washed ashore here after 10 days in the open ocean with nothing
to eat or drink but a few drifting coconuts, authorities said on
Friday.

All three are recovering well at a hospital in Angaur, the
southernmost, sparsely populated main island of Palau, where they
washed ashore, more than 480 kilometers from their starting
point.

The eldest passenger, identified by authorities as 52-year-old
Mariones Sasoeng, was dehydrated and had to be given fluids
intravenously. A resident had found them wandering on the beach.

"They were in bad shape," said Jonathan Rafael, the husband of
the nurse caring for the three castaways.

Only planning to travel between islands, they had no fishing
gear, and they failed to get any rain, which they could have
caught for drinking.

According to the account relayed through a translator, the
canoe's makeshift engine failed while they were traveling from
the island of Raenes to the island of Tabang on May 16, typically
an hour-long trip.

The 31-year-old boat operator, identified as Kamurahan
Sasoeng, attempted to fix the engine but the wind soon pushed
them far out to sea. By the time the engine was repaired, no land
was in sight.

"They had one liter of gas left," said Joe Giramur, a senior
officer with the Palau Bureau of Immigration.

Coming strong from the southwest, the wind carried them to
Angaur, threading a nautical needle by finding a dot of land in
the ocean.

"They were very lucky," said Benito Thomas, Palau's director
of immigration.