S'pore PM first in Bandung

S'pore PM first in Bandung

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday afternoon
became the first head of state to arrive in Bandung, West Java,
ahead of Sunday's golden jubilee of the 1955 Bandung Conference.

Loong arrived from Jakarta in a Fokker-50 jet. Most of the
other leaders will arrive early Sunday morning by special Garuda
Airways chartered flights.

The Singapore premier is staying at the Preanger Hotel, less than
a kilometer from the Merdeka Building, the venue of the
commemoration. No special engagements were planned for him
despite his early arrival. "He will have an early night," one
official remarked.

;JP;CD;
ANPAa..r..
Tidbit-Japan-speech
Koizumi speaks too short
JP//TIDBIT

Koizumi speech cut short

Coming from a country where every second of time is respected,
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi probably did not mind
having to shorten the length of his speech to the Asian-African
Summit heads of state and government on Friday.

The Deputy Director General of the Asian and Oceania Affairs
Bureau at the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sinichi
Nishimaya, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that the prime
minister's original speech had been shortened after the summit
organizers said that due to time constraints, each head of state
or government would be given no longer than seven minutes to
speak.

Nishimaya expressed discontent, however, with what he called
the discriminatory implementation of the ruling. Certain leaders,
he said, had been allowed to exceed their allotted times.-- JP

;JP;MDS;CD;
ANPAa..r..
Summit-brief-Bandung

Traffic cancels
antiterrorist drill

Police and the local military in Bandung cancelled on Friday a
planned antiterrorist drill around the venue of Sunday's
commemorative summit due to the large crowds and heavy traffic in
the vicinity.

Thousands of locals gathered to take photos of the Merdeka
Building, which has been completely renovated and was sporting a
variety of beautiful flower arrangements for the big event on
Sunday. The crowds created a day-long traffic jam around the
area.

"Security personnel will carry out their own simulation in
private," the head of the local organizing committee said.

The streets surrounding the Merdeka Building are due to be
completely blocked off to the public starting Saturday afternoon.

;JP;APS;CD;
ANPAa..r..
Continent-Hu-speech
Hu makes the difference
JP/13/TIDBIT

Hu makes a difference

Unlike other world leaders who spoke before the Asian-African
Summit here on Friday, Chinese President Hu Jintao preferred not
to strictly follow diplomatic practice when addressing his
audience.

Instead of addressing the heads of state and government as
"excellencies", Hu opted for "dear colleagues" when speaking to
the dignitaries.

China, the world's most populous country, is one of the
few surviving communist states, where the absence of social
stratification enables citizens to refer to each other as
comrades. - JP