Regent election

Regent election
may be repeated

SURABAYA: East Java Governor Imam Utomo has entrusted the
prolonged dispute over the election of the Sampang regent in
Madura to the local legislative council, who will decide whether
or not to hold the elections again.

Imam said on Tuesday that the minister of home affairs had the
authority to settle the debate over the validity of regent-elect
Fadhilah Budiono.

"If the local legislative council plans to repeat the election
process, just go ahead. It's the council itself which has the
power to do it," the governor said.

Imam made the remarks in response to a demand by 300 Muslim
ulemas from Sampang, who agreed with the idea of repeating the
election process.

"The election should be held again to help end the dispute in
Sampang, thereby preventing it from hindering development of the
local social welfare programs," the ulemas said in a statement.

Fadhilah, who was elected Sampang regent last September, has
yet to be inaugurated following protests from several factions at
the local legislative council that the election result was not
valid because two councillors who had resigned from the council
had cast ballots. (nur)

;JP;32;02;
ANPAa..r..
across-haze-veep
Haze welcomes VP's visit
JP/2/ACROSS

Haze welcomes
Hamzah's visit

BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan: Haze blanketing the South
Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin welcomed Vice President Hamzah
Haz and his entourage when they arrived at Syamsuddin Noor
airport on Wednesday.

The haze was thicker than in previous days despite recent
rainfall.

"Indeed, the haze is thicker than in previous days," Nanang, a
tower monitoring staff member at the Syamsuddin Noor Airport told
The Jakarta Post.

Despite its density, however, the haze did not interfere with
flight schedules to and from the airport, Nanang said.

Monitoring results showed that Wednesday's thick haze was a
result of dried rice stalks being burned in northern, eastern and
southern parts of Banjarmasin.

"The farmers burned the stalks to clean up the rice fields
after the harvest season," he said.

During his visit to the province, Hamzah inaugurated an 18-
kilometer road heading to Trisakti Seaport in Banjarmasin.

He met several religious figures and members of his United
Development Party (PPP), and visited the grave of local religious
figure Syekh Arsyad Al Banjary. (32/02)

;ANTARA;
ANPAa..r..
Across-Surabaya-robbery
Marine deserter shot for robbery
JP/2/ACROSS

Marine deserter
shot for robbery

SURABAYA: The police have shot Mar San, a marine deserter, on
Jl. Sumoharjo here for his alleged involvement in a major robbery
in Bogor, West Java, East Java police chief Insp. Gen. Sutanto
said.

Sutanto explained that with the capture of Mar San, believed
to be the mastermind of the robbery, police have managed to
arrest five of the 10 suspects.

"We are still hunting down five other suspects," he was quoted
by Antara as saying on Wednesday.

Mar San and his accomplices managed steal Rp 1.8 billion
(US$195,600) from employees of garment manufacturing company PT
Great River Indonesia on Aug. 31.

The robbers were extremely vicious, killing a security guard
and a police officer safeguarding the cash.

Mar San, who used to be a marine company commander, was shot
on Tuesday in a joint operation between the East and West Java
police, Sutanto said, adding that the suspect is now being
treated at Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya.

;JP;
ANPAa..r..
Across-teacher-backpay
Teachers protest over back pay
JP/2/ACROSS

Teachers protest
over back pay

BANYUMAS, Central Java (JP): Teachers' protests continued on
Wednesday, with some 700 teachers rallying at the Banyumas
Regency Legislative Council to demand the disbursement of their
back pay dating back to January 2001 and allowances.

"We want the local administration pay our back pay since
January this year," the coordinator of the protesting teachers,
Gandang Panilih, said.

"We also want the local administration to pay the same
allowances as other school staff have received," he added.

He cited a Rp 180,000 (US$20) allowance received by a head of
an administrative department of a school, saying teachers should
be entitled to the same allowance from the government.

The teachers were eventually received by speaker of
legislative council Tri Waluyo Basuki. The meeting is still in
progress.

Previously, Banyumas Regent Aris Setiono told the teachers
that their back pay would be disbursed in mid October.

"The administration has allocated Rp 32 billion for the back
pay of some 7,000 teachers in Banyumas. (45)