PLN plans blackouts for Palangka Raya

PLN plans blackouts for Palangka Raya

PALANGKA RAYA, Central Kalimantan: State electricity company PLN
said on Monday it would cut power alternately to parts of the
provincial capital Palangka Raya for the next three months,
saying it needed to carry out maintenance at its power plant.

PLN Palangka Raya branch manager Bagus Setiawan said parts of
the city would be subject to day-long blackouts every seven days
from April until June.

He said the temporary power outages were necessary, as PLN's
65-megawatt, coal-fired Asam Asam power plant was due for a
routine overhaul of its machines.

Maintenance was needed every 14 months or 10,000 hours of non-
stop operation, he said. With power consumption in Palangka Raya
growing, the plant could no longer serve the entire city while
maintenance was underway, he said.

"Maintaining and overhauling our plants is a form of service
that most of our customers have difficulties to understand,"
Bagus said.

Indonesia is facing power shortages in many provinces due to
increasing demand and few new power plant projects. PLN is still
renegotiating a number of existing power plant contracts to
reflect the impact of the 1997 economic crisis. -- Antara

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Bali-tourist-death
Danish drowns while snorkling in Bali
JP/5/Across

Dane drowns while snorkling in Bali

DENPASAR, Bali: Danish tourist Lars Boubjery, 49, died while
snorkling off Jemeluk Beach in eastern Bali on Saturday -- the
eighth foreign tourist to die on the resort island this year.

Boubjery went snorkling alone near Purwakerti village, around
75-kilometers east of the provincial capital Denpasar. His body
is at the city's Sanglah Hospital.

A friend, Nils Oehgerich, and two fishermen recovered the
body, after seeing it floating lifeless in the calm sea.

If the death is confirmed as a drowning, it would bring to
five the number of foreign tourists who have drowned in Bali this
year, Gus Sumastra, a hospital official responsible for handling
deaths involving foreign tourists, said.

He said another tourist had been killed in a traffic accident,
another from a heart attack and another had hanged himself.

The last tourist drowning was 63-year-old German national
Jurgen Kramer. He died off Mandira Beach in east Bali on March
21.

The hospital had not been able to contact his relatives and
his body was at the morgue, Gus said. -- Antara

Officials appeal for aid for 2,000 families

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: Officials here have called on
Jakarta to disburse aid to 2,000 families who fled strife-torn
Ambon and East Timor but arrived too late to receive government
aid.

The families were part of 9,000 families of refugees in the
provincial town of Baubau, said Mayor Amirul Tamim on Monday.

He said his office had called on Jakarta to send funds to
refugees who had not yet received any aid. Each family is
entitled to receive between Rp 2 million (about US$224) and Rp 4
million in aid, depending on the size of the family, he said.

Amirul said the 2,000 families were unable to receive
assistance as they had been living in other areas not covered by
the aid program.

He also suggested to refugees to return to their home villages
as security had improved.

The province of Maluku has been ravaged by three years of
sectarian clashes, however, the signing of last year's peace
agreement has helped curb violence there.

Violence in East Timor broke out when locals voted
overwhelmingly for independence in 1999, forcing thousands to
flee to neighboring provinces.

Although pro-Jakarta militias sporadically attack East
Timorese, the country has been relatively peaceful. -- Antara

Candidates to vie for Sukabumi mayoralty

SUKABUMI, West Java: Councillors of the West Java town of
Sukabumi short-listed on Monday three pairs of candidates to run
in the upcoming election for Sukabumi's mayor and deputy mayor.

The city's 30 councillors will elect a new mayor and deputy
mayor from the nominated pairs of Molly Mulhayati Djubaedi and
Munandi Saleh, Mohammad Muslikh and Abdusyukur Iwan Kustiawan and
Mohammad Kusoy and Sulaeman Mukhtar, during a plenary session.
However, an election date has not been announced yet.

The United Development Party faction (PPP) and the National
Mandate faction (PAN) nominated Molly and Munandi.

The factions of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party nominated Muslikh and Iwan.

Kusoy and Sulaeman were nominated by the National Awakening
Party faction (PKB).

Analysts have predicted that the prevailing vote would go to
the first and second pairs because they had the support of the
council's factions. --Antara

Filipino deported from Palu

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The immigration office of Palu, Central
Sulawesi, deported on Sunday a Philippine citizen for violating
immigration laws by overstaying his visa and temporary residence
permit.

Filipino Manuel Alario Santos, who is married to an
Indonesian, was sent back to Davao, the Philippines by way of the
Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado, North Sulawesi.

Palu immigration chief Mahadi Utama said that Santos' visa
expired on December 31, 2002. He was found last month in his
wife's village in Baubau, Southeast Sulawesi.

Santos said he was sad to leave behind his pregnant wife and
children. He did not say how many children he had or how old they
were.

"I hope I can return to Indonesia some day on a six-month visa
to see my family in the village," Santos said. --Antara