NU joins public policy network
JAKARTA: The country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has joined the Indonesian Public Policy Network (JAJAKI), which aims to help find a new model of development in Indonesia following the reform movement in 1998.
The inclusion of the NU brings the number of major government and non-governmental organizations supporting the network to 30.
Other signatories include Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, the National Commission on Human Rights, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, noted state universities and provincial governments in West Sumatra and Sulawesi.
NU deputy chairman Rozy Munir and Satish Mishra, representing the United Nations Support Facility for Indonesian Recovery (UNSFIR) which sponsors the network, signed a memorandum of understanding last week to mark the cooperation.
Major media organizations such as Tempo, The Jakarta Post and Sinar Harapan also support JAJAKI.
The network intends to help policymakers cope with a host of issues including developing democracy, decentralization and global concerns such as the threat of terrorism. -- JP
;JP;KHS; ANPAa..r.. Scene-election-women People urged to watch nomination JP/4/scen23
People urged to watch nomination
JAKARTA: The Indonesian Women's Movement for Politics urged the public on Wednesday to mount pressure on political parties to allow women to make up 30 percent of their legislative candidates for the 2004 elections.
Francisia Seda of the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) suggested that pressure be applied during the candidate selection period between November and December.
"That will be a crucial period and we will increase pressure on political parties," she said after a meeting at the office of the National Mandate Party (PAN) here.
Also present at the meeting were, among others, women activists Debra Yatim, Yeni Rosa Damayanti and Titi Sumbung.
Meanwhile, PAN executive Dewi Coryati said party members who intended to contest the elections would be required to win support from the party's regental offices in the provinces they represent.
To win the support, the candidates will have to promote the party's platform, Dewi said. - JP
;JP;KHS; ANPAa..r.. Scene-MPR-constitution Inconsistency found in Constitution JP/4/scen23
Inconsistency found in Constitution
JAKARTA: The Constitutional Commission held a meeting on Wednesday to hear the opinions of its members on the four constitutional amendments conducted by the People's Consultative Assembly between 1999 and 2003.
During the meeting presided over by commission chairman Sri Sumantri, commission member Dahlan Thaib said he found some conflicting articles in the amended Constitution.
Dahlan said the Constitution states the president and vice president are elected by the people, but the Constitution does not specify the same for governors and other heads of lower regional administrations.
Direct presidential elections were approved in the second amendment to the Constitution in 2000, but the third amendment a year later failed to agree on the direct election of governors, regents and mayors only because Law No. 22/1999 on regional administration had not been revised. The law stipulates that heads of regional administrations are elected by local legislatures.-- JP
;JP;IWA; ANPAa..r.. Scene-KPU-tender PT Integrasi win IT tender JP/4/KPU
PT Integrasi wins IT tender
JAKARTA: The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Wednesday that PT Integrasi Technology had been awarded a tender to provide information technology (IT) infrastructure for next year's elections.
The final result was announced after the five days given to the public to lodge objections to the company winning the tender after the KPU announced it as the preliminary winner.
KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah said the commission had delayed the announcement for one day as the KPU needed time to respond to a number of objections.
Chusnul, who is in charge of the IT tender, just returned from Morocco on Wednesday. --JP
;JP;IWA; ANPAa..r.. Coast-development-community Coastal development needs locals JP/4/COAST
Coastal development needs locals
JAKARTA: Coastal and maritime development in the coming 10 years must empower local communities to manage their natural resources in a sustainable manner, an expert said on Tuesday.
Tridoyo Kusumastanto of the Bogor Agriculture Institute said coastal and maritime development had so far neglected the role of local communities.
"We have produced rulings and implemented projects to develop our coastal and maritime resources over the past decade, but failed to encourage public participation," he said during a national workshop.
Attendants at the workshop included Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Rokhmin Dahuri and former environment minister Emil Salim.
Tridoyo urged the use of foreign loans for coastal and maritime development to help improve the prosperity of local communities.
"We lack pro-coastal community, non-elitist and participatory- based policies," Tridoyo said.-JP