Poso has new district military commander

Poso has new district military commander

POSO, Central Sulawesi: Lt. Col. Kurnia Dewantara, the chief of
the 1307 district military command in Poso, has been replaced by
Lt. Col. IGK Ray Gunawan on Wednesday.

The replacement was made only a few days after attacks in
three villages in Poso claimed nine lives. The reasons for the
replacement are still unclear.

Kurnia will now assume the post of chief of the 1304 district
military command in Gorontalo, North Sulawesi.

The chief of the 132 Tadulako resort military command, Col.
Muh. Slamet, in his orders at the handover ceremony on Wednesday,
instructed the new chief to closely monitor the security
situation in the region, which includes Poso and Morowali,
following recent disturbances there.

Masked gunmen attacked three villages in Poso on Oct. 12 leav
ing nine people dead and 11 others injured. A similar incident
occurred earlier on Oct. 10 in the neighboring regency of Morowa
li, where three people were killed. He asserted that the
Indonesian military (TNI) had to support the police in
maintaining security in the region.

The ceremony was also attended by the chief of the Central
Sulawesi Provincial Police, Brig. Gen. Taufiq Ridha, and
officials from the local administration. -- Antara

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Across-jobless
20,000 people jobless in Pekalongan
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20,000 people jobless in Pekalongan

PEKALONGAN, Central Java: At least 20,000 people, or some 10
percent of the total population here, are now jobless due to
unfavorable economic conditions, an official has said.

Sofyan Adnan, the head of Pekalongan municipality's manpower
office, said on Wednesday that business in the municipality had
been slow since the economic crisis of 1997.

Due to the poor business environment, firms in Pekalongan were
unable to absorb school and university graduates, he said.

Several major textile and fish processing firms in the
municipality had laid off employees recently to avoid going
bankrupt, thus adding to the city's unemployment problem, he
said.

Adnan hoped that people would not rely only on the government
and formal sector for work, but would instead embrace
entrepreneurship and create job opportunities for themselves and
others.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that Pekalongan
had a population of 263,190 population in 2001. -- Antara

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Across-S'pore-tourism
Singapore to open promotion center
JP/5/ACRO

Singapore to open promotion center

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Singapore will soon open a tourism promo
tion center in the North Sumatra capital of Medan in order to
attract more Indonesians to visit the city state, a Singaporean
official said.

Ajit Singh, the Singapore Consul General to Indonesia for Riau
province, said that the center would provide information on
tourist attractions in Singapore.

Riau is the neighboring province to North Sumatra.

Ajit said that the tourism center would also serve as liaison
office for Singapore investors wishing to invest in North Sumatra
province.

"The tourism center can also be used by the Indonesian
government to provide potential Singapore investors with
information on business opportunities in North Sumatra," Ajit
said here. -- Antara