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

;JP;bkm; ANPAa..r.. 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