Soemantri heads new commission

JAKARTA: The newly formed Constitutional Commission unanimously elected on Wednesday senior constitutional law expert Sri Soemantri as commission chairman at their first meeting.

The meeting also agreed to call a four-day break to allow commission members to prepare their schedules and subjects of discussion during their six-month term.

When resuming its work on Monday, the commission will discuss how to assess and harmonize inconsistencies in the amended Constitution.

Rights activist Albert Hasibuan and former legislator Ishak Latuconsina were elected Soemantri's deputies.

Economist Sri Adiningsih from Gadjah Mada University and communications expert NE Fatima from Padjajaran University were named secretary and deputy secretary respectively.

One commission member, Andi Muhammad Asrun, skipped the first meeting because he was in Germany. -- JP

;JP;AMD; ANPAa..r.. Scene-Algeria-president Algerian president to visit RI JP/4/SCENE

Algerian president to visit RI

JAKARTA: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will visit Indonesia from Oct. 12 through Oct. 15, aiming to boost bilateral ties between the two countries.

The Indonesian trip, the first to be made by an Algerian president since its independence, has been arranged at the invitation of Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who visited the North African country in September last year.

During his official visit, Bouteflika will hold talks with Megawati on mutual steps to improve ties between the two countries and on international and regional issues, Algerian Ambassador Soufiane Memouni said on Wednesday.

The two leaders will also discuss various matters regarding the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which will hold its summit in Malaysia later this month. Both Bouteflika and Megawati are scheduled to attend.

The Algerian President will bring with him 40 businesspeople during his visit and will witness the signing of three memorandums of understanding on small and medium scale entrepreneurship, fisheries and tourism.

Trade between Indonesia and Algeria stood at US$212 million last year, down from $480 million the previous year. -- Antara

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KPU boss gets black magic threat

JAKARTA: After receiving live bullets last week, General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said on Tuesday he recently heard from someone who had threatened to exercise black magic on him.

"So the threats to us are not only in the form of something physical or visible, but those that are intangible," he told a discussion with Forum Rektor, an alliance of rectors of private and state universities across the country that will carry out election monitoring.

Last week, Nazaruddin and KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah received a death threat when an unidentified man delivered a package of 11 live bullets to them.

The police have not yet named any suspects in the case so far. -- JP

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Feminist philosophy book launched

JAKARTA: University of Indonesia lecturer Gadis Arivia launched on Wednesday a book titled Filsafat Berperspektif Feminist (Philosophy with Feminist Perspective).

The launch of the book, which was based on the author's doctoral dissertation research at the university, was marked with a discussion featuring scholars Franz Magnis Suseno, Nurcholish Madjid and Nori Andriyani.

In her 335-page book, Gadis showed that so far philosophy was dominated by male philosophers, some of whom, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Frederick Nietzsche, underestimated women.

Gadis, who is also a cofounder of Jurnal Perempuan Foundation, said that many female philosophers such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir were never taken into account.

Magnis, of the Diryarkara School of Philosophy, praised the book, admitting that he had not included a female philosopher in his books.

"But in my next book on moral philosophy, I will include a female philosopher, Iris Murdoch. But it's not because she was a woman but because of her thoughts," he said. --JP