Street vendors protest planned eviction

Street vendors protest planned eviction

YOGYAKARTA: More than 300 street vendors, who live along the
banks of Mataram River in Sleman regency here, rejected on
Thursday a plan by the Sleman government to evict them.

Riding a truck, five cars and dozens of motorcycles, the
street vendors descended on the official residence of Yogyakarta
Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X here to solicit support from
him to cancel the plan.

But, the protesters went home disappointed, as Suwarno, an
official with the Yogyakarta governor's office, told the
protesters that the governor was out of town.

Meanwhile, despite the protest, Sleman regent Ibnu Subiyanto
pledged that he would stick to his plan to evict the street
vendors. -- JP

Rote Ndao gets new regent

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: Rote Ndao regency legislative
council elected on Thursday running mates Christian Nehemia
Dillak and Bernard E. Pelle as regent and deputy regent of the
Rote Ndao regency for the 2003-2008 term.

The pair, who contested the election on the Golkar Party
ticket, defeated a rival pair from the ruling party Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle, Melkianus Adoe and Frids Fanggidae.

In the election on Thursday, held in the Rote Ndao capital of
Baa, Dillak-Pelle grabbed 11 votes out of a total 20 votes, while
rival pair Adoe-Fanggidae only got eight votes.

Another vote was declared invalid due to an error found in the
ballot paper. A legislator apparently misspelled the name of a
candidate. -- JP

East Barito to get reforestation fund

PALANGKARAYA, Central Kalimantan: The central government has
handed over a Rp 3.29 billion (US$411,250) fund to the newly
established East Barito regency administration here, to finance
a reforestation program in the area, an official said.

Suharto, the project leader for the reforestation program,
said that the reforestation program, which just started, would
cover 449 hectares of land. Among the trees that had been
selected to be planted in the area are super teak and rubber
trees.

East Barito was established earlier this year, after a split
with the South Barito administration. -- Antara