'Separatism in NTT no threat'

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: The military commander overseeing East Nusa Tenggara, Col. Inf. Moeswarno Moesanip, has dismissed plans to unite the Indonesian side of West Timor with the independent East Timor, saying the threat was not serious.

"Plans to establish a Great Timor nation will never work," he said on Wednesday.

Talk of the possibility of uniting West Timor in East Nusa Tenggara with the independent East Timor has been making the rounds among students and non-governmental organizations here.

Moeswarno said he was aware that people had been talking about secession, but he was not taking it seriously.

"If serious action is taken to provoke people into conspiring against Indonesia, then the TNI (Indonesian Military) will respond," he said. -- JP

;JP;bkm; ANPAa..r.. Across-Ambon-state-emergency State of emergency retained JP/5/Across

State of emergency retained

AMBON, Maluku: Maj. Gen. Agustadi, the chief of the Pattimura Military Command, which oversees Maluku, said on Wednesday that recent security improvements in the province were not enough reason to lift the state of civil emergency.

Agustadi said he was not considering lifting the state of emergency just yet, reasoning that much work needed to be done to ensure that violence would not return.

"So for this year, the state of civil emergency might not be lifted. However we are moving in that direction," he said.

A state of civil emergency has been in force in Maluku since 2000, after sectarian clashes erupted in the province.

Fighting between Muslims and Christians abated after the signing of the Malino peace agreement last year.

However, sporadic violence continues, which some suspect is aimed at reigniting the three-year sectarian conflict.

Separatism sentiment among the mainly Christian community in Maluku has also flared because of the conflict. -- Antara

;JP;bkm; ANPAa..r.. Across-Medan-graft-suspect Doctor named graft suspect JP/ /Across

Doctor named graft suspect

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Prosecutors have named a doctor from a local hospital a suspect in the embezzlement of money earmarked for health projects last year.

Head of the Medan Prosecutor's Office Nawir Anas said on Wednesday that the suspect, identified only as 45-year-old Dr. DN, had illegally taken a 30 percent commission from hospital projects funded by the fuel subsidy.

Nawir did not mention the value of the projects. Last year, Medan received a Rp 21.9 billion (about US$2.4 million) fuel subsidy.

The central government disbursed the funds to alleviate the impact of higher fuel prices on the poor, after its move to gradually eliminate fuel subsidies for the general public.

Nawir said the suspect worked at the Adam Malik General Hospital in Medan. Prosecutors, he added, had so far questioned 25 witnesses in connection with the case.

"In the near future we will question him (Dr. DN) again, but this time as a suspect and not as a witness," he said. -- Antara