UK offers scholarships for RI officers

UK offers scholarships for RI officers

JAKARTA: The United Kingdom pledged on Thursday scholarships
for Indonesian security personnel as part of its support for
Indonesia's on-going antiterror drive.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the
scholarships would be made available as soon as possible.

"We are inviting 20 Indonesian security officials to take a
course on counter-terrorism crisis management, which will be held
at the UK emergency training college in Yorkshire," Straw said
during a joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart,
Hassan Wirayuda.

Straw also offered training in the UK for Indonesian Supreme
Court justices.

"We could provide training for five Supreme Court justices,"
Straw said, adding that Britain was ready to support Indonesia
for the long term to improve its security sector. --JP

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I am ready to step down constitutionally : Hamzah
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I am ready to step down: Hamzah

JAKARTA: Vice President Hamzah Haz said on Thursday he was
ready to step down as long as the process to oust him was
conducted according to the Constitution.

Reacting to nation-wide calls for President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Hamzah to resign over utility price hikes,
Hamzah said he was ready to relinquish his post if he violated
the 1945 Constitution.

"I will not keep my current position forever. (I will step
down) if the process is constitutional," the Vice President said.

He said that in a democratic country street rallies were
common, while also calling on the people not to resort to
violence to express their displeasure with the government. --JP

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Komnas HAM demands the ratification of UN conventions
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Mega told to sign rights conventions

JAKARTA: The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM)
urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Thursday to ratify
United Nations conventions on civil rights and on traditional
rights.

Addressing the press after a meeting with the President,
Komnas HAM chairman Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara said the
ratification of these conventions would provide a stronger legal
basis for the people to maintain their civil, economic and
political rights.

"It is important to provide such assurances for the public in
order to stop further violations of people's rights," Abdul Hakim
said at the State Palace.

Komnas HAM also urged the government to submit a truth and
reconciliation bill to the House of Representatives for
deliberation.

"We need a bill to settle the numerous human rights abuse
cases in the country, so we expect the government to take the
lead in the discussion of the draft," he said.

The bill is currently being discussed at the Ministry of
Justice and Juman Rights and is scheduled to be deliberated by
House this year.--JP

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First batch of Indonesian pilgrims leaves for hajj
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First batch of pilgrims leaves on haj

JAKARTA: The first group of Indonesians taking part in this
year's haj pilgrimage departed for Mecca from several points
across the country.

A group of pilgrims from West Java left from Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport early on Thursday, Antara said.

Other groups departed from Banda Aceh and Medan in Sumatra,
Makassar in South Sulawesi and Surakarta in Central Java.

Some 205,000 Indonesians are expected to perform the haj
pilgrimage this year.

Close to 90 percent of Indonesia's 214 million people are
followers of Islam.

The Indonesian government annually organizes pilgrimage
packages for its citizens. --AFP

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Jailed US nurse to be freed on Friday: lawyer
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Lawyer says U.S. nurse to be freed

BANDA ACEH: An American nurse jailed for visa violations will
be released on Friday after being detained for four months, one
of her lawyers said.

Joy Lee Sadler, 57, from Iowa, will be freed on Friday
"because her jail term has been served", lawyer Rufriadi Ramli
told AFP.

Sadler, who is ill with HIV-related conditions, ended on
Monday weeks of hunger strike to protest the slow legal process
against her and her companion, British academic Lesly McCullogh.

Ramli, who is also coordinator of the Banda Aceh chapter of
the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, said his client would most
likely fly to Kuala Lumpur upon her release.

The retired nurse, who has told reporters she is terminally
ill with an HIV-related condition, was sentenced by a court in
Aceh on Dec. 30 to four months in prison for violating her visa.
McCulloch, was jailed for five months for the same offense.

The pair were arrested on Sept. 11 last year after visiting a
separatist rebel camp. The time they spent in detention was
subtracted from their sentences. --AFP