RI to deport Abu Quassey to Egypt

RI to deport Abu Quassey to Egypt

JAKARTA: The government has decided to deport a suspected
people-smuggler to Egypt later this week, ignoring a request by
Australia authorities to extradite him to Australia.

Justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said
here on Tuesday that Mootaz Attia Mohammad Hasan, alias Abu
Quassey, would be flown to Egypt this week.

Immigration Director General Imam Santoso said Quassey would
be deported soon after the Egyptian Embassy here settled
administrative matters, including providing an airline ticket.

"They (the Egyptian Embassy) have promised us they will
prosecute him in Egypt," he told reporters.

Quassey, an Egyptian citizen, was arrested here on immigration
charges in November 2001, a month after 374 asylum seekers from
Afghanistan and Iraq drowned when their Australia-bound boat sank
off Australian waters.

Quassey, who is now in a detention center in Jakarta after
serving a six-month prison sentence for a visa violation, has
admitted organizing the voyage, but later said that he was only
hired as a translator for the asylum seekers.

Australia had earlier asked Indonesia to extradite Quassey to
be tried for the deaths of those migrants, but the absence of an
extradition treaty prevented Indonesia from granting the request.
--JP

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Scene-Hendra-assets
Govt to claim the assets of dead fraud convict
JP/4/20030128.C01

Assets of Hendra Rahardja sought

JAKARTA: The government filed a petition with an Australian
court last week to claim the assets of wanted Indonesian banking
and business magnate Hendra Rahardja who died in January in the
country, a Cabinet minister said.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said
on Tuesday that the government had asked the Australian
government to locate and freeze Hendra's assets there.

"We appeal to the court to pursue his assets as he had been
convicted here for corruption and he kept his wealth there," he
told reporters at his office, saying that the government did not
file a civilian lawsuit against Hendra as it would take longer.

Hendra was sentenced to life in prison in absentia last March
for corruption involving Rp 1.95 trillion (US$216.7million) in
taxpayers' money distributed to two of his banks under the Bank
Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) program during the economic
crisis in the late 1990s.

The tycoon, as well as son Eko Edi Putranto and subordinate
Sherny Kojongian, fled the country in 1997 to Australia. The
government, who had repeatedly sought Hendra's extradition after
his arrest in Sydney in 1999, has yet to decide over Eko and
Sherny.

"We don't extradite people without reason. We must know what
we will get in return" Yusril said, referring to the assets.

Hendra's lawyers have claimed that the government has sold
some of their client's assets.

The Australian government had offered Jakarta some US$120
million of Hendra's assets held in Australia following his death.

Jakarta's efforts to reclaim state losses over BLBI cases have
yet to bear fruit, although courts here have convicted some of
the perpetrators. Several wealthy bank owners, including Hendra,
have fled the country to avoid repaying their loans. -- JP

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scene-education
All schools to be accredited
JP/4/education

All schools to be accredited

JAKARTA: The Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar
swore in on Tuesday 23 members of the National School
Accreditation Body (BAS) whose main task is to appraise the
quality of schools at all levels nationwide.

"It's embarrassing but we have to be honest about our quality
of education. We may say that our education is growing in terms
of number of schools, but it's not innovative," he said to
reporters after the ceremony.

The problem, he said, had prompted the government to set up an
institution to ensure that schools met national standards
throughout the country.

Following the national BAS, provinces, regencies, and
municipalities will set up their own BAS. The BAS' offices in
regencies and municipalities will evaluate preschools to junior
high schools while BAS' provincial offices will evaluate senior
high schools.

They would then report to the national BAS, which will give
recommendations to improve the quality of education.

The accreditation body's members -- both national and local --
will be selected from communities, besides representatives from
the government.

"We cannot work alone. We expect the communities to
participate in the activity." said the minister.

The 23 BAS members include nine officials from the ministry,
Imam Prasodjo of the University of Indonesia, Yunan Yusuf, the
head of Muhammadiyah education council, Abdul Rahman Saleh of
Nadhlatul Ulama, Heribertus Sumarjo of the Catholic Education
Council, W.B.P. Simanjuntak of the Christian Education Council
and journalist Imam Prihadiyoko. --JP

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Udin-journalist-center
AJI Yogyakarta opens Udin Center
JP/4/scene

AJI opens Udin Center

YOGYAKARTA: The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) of
Yogyakarta officially announced on Monday night the establishment
of the Udin Center, named after murdered journalist Fuad Muhammad
Syafruddin. It was established as an information referral center
for Udin's case in particular and for violence against the media
and journalists in general.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, Yogyakarta AJI
chairman Masduki said that information, data and analysis on the
Udin's case were spread throughout numerous places and
institutions, making it difficult to access them for either news
or research needs.

"If nothing is done about it, they (information, data, and
analysis on Udin's case) will be just destroyed and not
recognized as important documents," said Masduki, explaining the
reason behind the decision to set up the Udin Center.

Udin was beaten by unidentified persons on Aug. 13, 1996 and
died three days later in Yogyakarta Bethesda Hospital without
regaining consciousness.

Yogyakarta Police have so far failed to name a suspect after
it brought to court suspect Dwi Sumadji alias Iwik who was later
acquitted by the Bantul District Court due to lack of evidence.

According to Masduki, the center was named after Udin because
Udin was considered a symbol of critical journalism. --JP

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JP/4/scen-15

PDI-P proposes Saddam street

JAKARTA: President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) plans to propose
that one of Jakarta's main roads be named after deposed Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein.

Senior party member Sabam Sirait disclosed here on Tuesday
that he had sent a letter to the secretary of the party's Jakarta
chapter Maringan Pangaribuan to pursue the idea.

Sabam said the idea was proposed to recognize the heroic
struggle of the Iraqi people against the invading forces of the
U.S. and its allies.

He acknowledged that he had also sent a letter to the governor
of Jakarta, speaker of Jakarta legislature, the Iraqi ambassador
to Indonesia, and the Indonesian ambassador to Iraq.

According to Sabam, Iraq was among the countries friendly to
Indonesia because it was the fourth state to recognize
Indonesia's independence in 1945. --JP

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Scene-Jakob-doctorate
Senior journalist to receive doctorate title
JP/4/SCENE

Senior journalist to receive honorary doctorate

YOGYAKARTA: Former Kompas chief editor Jakob Oetama is to
receive an honorary doctoral degree in communication from Gadjah
Mada University here on Thursday.

The university's rector Sofian Effendi said on Tuesday the
award would be given to Jakob for his outstanding achievement in
developing a peaceful, non-violent and humanist style of
journalism that greatly respects justice and takes sides with
ordinary people.

"We have seen that in the last 48 years since Kompas was
established, Pak Jakob has been consistently developing such a
style of journalism, a style that does not cause a headache to
readers," Sofian said.

He added UGM had considered awarding the academic title to
Jakob, who is an alumnus, two years ago, but technical problems
had hampered the plan.

Jakob, a Yogyakarta native, will be the 18th person to receive
an honorary doctorate from UGM. Last week the university
conferred a doctorate upon Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal
Bolkiah. -- JP