9 APRIL 2009
Dr Who actor David Tennant, whose portrayal of Hamlet proved a major draw when he appeared in a stage production as the tortured Danish prince at Stratford-upon-Avon last year, is to recreate the role on the silver screen.
Having been prevented by a back problem from completing the Royal Shakespeare Company run at the Novello Theatre – which cost him an Laurence Olivier nod as he didn't appear in enough performances to qualify – the 37-year-old is to join the rest of the RSC cast in recording the production for posterity.
Hamlet co-star Oliver Ford Davies, who played Polonius, reveals: "It won't be a full feature film as there isn't time, but it will certainly be more than just the filming of the stage."
In order to be able to able to participate in the theatre work David was given time off by the BBC from his Timelord role, having committed to four specials rather than a complete series.
He later underwent surgery for a prolapsed disc.
(taken from: hello magazine)
Saturday 11 April 2009
David Tennant to make film version of hit Hamlet production
RI wants Manado meeting to target carbon trading
Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Sat, 04/11/2009 10:26 AM | National
A month out from the World Ocean Conference, the terms of the Manado Ocean Declaration remain unclear with Indonesia hoping to “trade” millions of tons of carbon stored within the country’s marine environment.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said Indonesia hopes the Manado meeting will discuss carbon trading because the marine environment has contributed a lot to global warming.
“We want the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) alsoapplied to carbon stored in the ocean, not dissimilar to the forestry sector,” Freddy told a news conference Wednesday.
“With the oceans able to absorb around 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere, there is no reason to neglect the marine environment during climate talks.”
The CDM is one of several flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change that allow developing nations, including Indonesia, to carry out projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Under the binding mechanism, developed nations provide financial incentives based on the total amount of carbon cut under CDM projects.
A ton of carbon is currently valued between US$5 and $10.
The Kyoto protocol, which ends in 2012, currently only recognizes carbon projects from the energy and forestry sectors.
Freddy said the Indonesian delegation would be pushing global nations to consider emission cuts from ocean environments at the Copenhagen meeting in Denmark at the end of this year.
The Copenhagen climate conference is expected to produce a new binding mechanism to substitute commitments made through the Kyoto protocol.
Freddy said he was inspired to promote carbon trading efforts for the marine sector following the success of the UN-sponsored climate change conference in Bali in 2007. There, the mechanism aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) were discussed as an alternative to cutting emissions from the forestry sector.
Indonesia possesses the third largest forest area in the world, with 120 million hectares of rainforests. If the REDD is agreed upon in Copenhagen, developed nations will pay Indonesia incentives to protect forests.
The People’s Coalition for Equal Fisheries (KIARA), a grouping of environmental and social groups, criticized the government for promoting carbon trading at the upcoming Manado conference.
“This is a fatal mistake. Carbon trading mechanisms will not fix the real problems facing the marine environment,” KIARA secretary-general M. Riza Damanik said.
Indonesia hopes that by hosting the WOC in Manado, North Sulawesi, they will be able to push for a commitment to the sustainable management of marine environments and assist the fight against climate change.
Around 10,000 delegates, including ministers and scientists from 121 countries, are expected to attend the forum, scheduled for May 11-15.
Augy Syahailatua, a scientist from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said no scientific evidence had proven whether carbon could be absorbed or released by the marine environment.
A blue print for a national plan of action on climate change launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the 2007 climate change conference in Bali, states that Indonesia’s marine biodiversity can absorb around 67 million tons of carbon, equal to 245 million tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), every year.
CO2 is the main contributor to climate change. Indonesia has around 5.8 million square kilometers of marine territory.
Papuan students run amok in Yogyakarta
Fri, 04/10/2009 1:39 PM | Election 2009
YOGAYAKARTA: The Yogyakarta provincial general elections commission (KPUD) has decided to rerun the legislative elections for hundreds of Papuan students who rioted after not being allowed to vote Thursday.
The protesters launched an attack onpolice stationed at the KPUD building and damaged several flower vases after failing to find polling stations where they could vote. Several staff at the building fled after protesters aimed their arrows at them.
KPUD chairwoman Any Rohyati said voting for the Papuan students was suspended until Friday morning, after getting approval from the General Elections Commission (KPU) in Jakarta.
The rioters dispersed after being informed that a special polling station would be set up at the KPUD compound to allow more than 520 Papuan students to vote. -JP
Be brave: Coaches encourage remaining Indonesian team before Sudirman Cup
gnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 04/09/2009 12:25 PM | Sports
With the departure of some top shuttlers from the training camp, the Indonesian badminton team has been left somewhat depleted, but its coaches are telling players not to lose hope.
"I'll keep telling them to *be brave'. After all, the opponents mostly eat rice too, just like us," coach Aryono told reporters recently at the national training camp in Cipayung, East Jakarta.
The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) hasannounced the 20 shuttlers it intends to send to the Sudirman Cup, which will run in Guangzhou, China from May 10 to 17.
The lineup misses 2004 Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and world's top mixed players Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa, who decided to quit the national team for individual reasons.
Indonesia's chances in winning back the trophy it won in 1989 for the first and only time so far may be slim, but Aryono, mixed doubles coach Richard Mainaky and men's doubles coach Sigit Pamungkas have all told players not to lose hope.
"Without Flandy, Vita in the mixed doubles and Taufik in the men's singles, it is true that our squad is now weaker compared to the previous Sudirman Cup squad," Aryono said.
"However, if players are fit and play well, we may have a hope of get ting into the final," Richard said.
PBSI had initially mulled recruiting veteran men's doubles specialist Alvent Yulianto as a stand-in for world No. 1 pair Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan, in case Kido could not recover from his injury. But they seem to have relied on what is left of the team, half of whose members are debutantes.
"We have to prepare the younger generation for the next international events, like the Thomas Cup," Sigit said. "They deserve this *Sudirman Cup championship* opportunity because their performances are coming close to their seniors."
Indonesian squad
Men's singles: Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Simon Santoso, Tommy Sugiarto Women's singles: Maria Kristin, Adriyanti Firdasari Men's doubles: Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan, Bona Septano/Muhammad Ahsan, Rian Sukmawan/Yonatan Suryatama Women's doubles: Shendy Puspa Irawati/Meliana Jauhari, Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishinda Mixed doubles: Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir, Devin Lahardi/Lita Nurlita, Fran Kurniawan (reserve).
Kido/Hendra continue reign despite change
Agnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 04/10/2009 1:39 PM | Sports
A position change for men's doubles pair Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan did not shake off their status as world No. 1 after they won their first two matches at the Suwon Asia Championship in South Korea.
The pair had been training in different positions in thepast weeks, with Kido, still recovering from a knee injury, now playing in front and Hendra honing his skills as a back player.
The change was drawn up around Kido's knee injury. Kido is a back player renowned for his jumping smashes, the direction of which are often unpredictable, which effectively contribute to points.
"Although Hendra doesn't jump that much, he has the same powerful smashes," said Sigit Pamungkas, the men's doubles coach.
After a grueling second-round match, Kido/Hendra defeated China's Tao Jiaming and Sun Junjie 21-15, 7-21, 22-20 in 39 minutes Thursday.
"I still feel a bit awkward, though," Kido said after the win.
"The opposition's defense was tough. In the second set, our physical condition dropped slightly," he said of the lost second set.
They next face Taiwanese sixth seeds Cheng Hung Ling and Lin Yu Lang on Friday. In the first round, they defeated Japanese pair Komiyama Hajime and Hirobe Yoshiteru, also three sets 21-12, 17-21, 21-10.
Kido and Hendra are the only men's doubles team fielded by the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) for the April 7-12 championship. The team's other players are currently preparing for the upcoming Sudirman Cup in May.
"The Asia Championship is their chance to get the feel of a championship atmosphere before the upcoming Sudirman Cup, and also a chance to evaluate the new formation strategy," Sigit said.
Due to the injury, the pair have been absent from championship events for the past month.
Meanwhile, fifth seed Indonesian mixed doubles pair Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa were stopped in the second round by Koreans Kim Ki Jung and Eom Hye Won 21-12, 23-21 in only 22 minutes. They had previously defeated Vietnam's Pham Cao Hieu and Nguyen Thi Sen in a rubber set match in the first round.
The fall of the twin towers - and old media
Mon, 03/23/2009 1:23 PM | Sci-Tech
I don't wish to belittle the tragedy that was 9/11 but it shaped this decade, not only in political terms, but also in something else.
Where we looked for information. Cast your mind back to that day. Where were you?
I was walking with my mother through the English countryside when I heard about it via SMS from a friend back in Indonesia.
By the time I got home and dialed into the Net none of the main news websites was accessible.
Everyone was trying to do what I was doing, and that jammed all the big news websites: CNN.com, MSNBC.com, Time.com and NYTtimes.com. At 8:49 a.m. East Coast time, three minutes after the first plane hit, both CNN's and MSNBC's servers collapsed.
It was the news website's big day in the sun, and they failed. In those days there were very few other ways of finding out time-sensitive information. So like everyone else we huddled around the television and gawped in disbelief.
This didn't stop people searching. And of course most of them went to Google. So much so Google ended up caching - saving copies of - news websites where they could.
But, somehow, 9/11 caused something of a sea change in the way that people looked for information.
An event of such proportions fed an appetite that TV and mainstream media could not satisfy, sending people online to use search engines to look for more information.
They looked for things like twin towers, bin laden, nostradamus, and they found them on sites that weren't by any stretch of the imagination news sites.
In the wake of 9/11, therefore, something rather odd happened.
Traffic to the big websites dropped off back to their pre-9/11 levels. CNN fell 27 percent, MSNBC 45 percent, New York Times 23 percent. But traffic to Google rose in the same period, by 12 percent.
Over the next few years traffic to Google - which, remember, was just a search engine - climbed until, in 2006, it had more or less caught up with the content giants Microsoft and Yahoo.
Google had been smart. On the day of 9/11 it figured out something important: That searching didn't have to be just - was no longer - about searching for old, historical stuff.
It wasn't just about looking for things that had happened. It was also about things that were happening. In other words, the distinction between news and everything else had blurred.
As the twin towers fell, we needed to know everything we could about this new threat.
Within a day of 9/11, Google had included a news link on its front page - the beginning of its Google News site which has now, for many, replaced the visit to CNN or New York Times.
Google was, in effect, saying: Find your news here.
The impact was clear. By 2004 Internet users were quite used to going to non-news sites to see material not covered by the mainstream media.
The Pew Internet Survey found that 24% of users in the US said "they have searched on the Internet for news stories, photographs or videos that other media outlets have decided not to publish or broadcast."
The era of mainstream media monopolizing current information was gone, because people had the means and know-how to find it elsewhere. Blogs blossomed, giving everyone a voice - not only for commentary, but also for muckraking and quality reporting.
In 1999 a Google crawler - little slices of code that wander around the Internet checking to see whether web pages have been updated - would take a month to detect a change to a web page. Now, 10 years on, it takes a few minutes.
All information is new, and all information is, potentially, news.
This is probably the biggest threat to traditional media, and yet, for the most part, it's gone unnoticed.
I've talked in this column previously about how Twitter - the link-sharing, status-sharing service - has challenged traditional ideas of media.
We're now just as likely to trust a well-informed acquaintance to keep us informed about developments in the world as we are a major news site.
On my Twitter feed I have both BBC news and the eccentric musings of Stephen Fry, the comedian. Twitter gives them equal weight.
But that change wouldn't have happened if this earlier sea change had not occurred: that we as users would not slavishly visit a mainstream news site to find out what was happening.
The downfall of big media would probably have happened anyway. But 9/11 pushed ordinary folk into looking elsewhere.
And once we'd done it, there was no turning back.
(c) 2009 Loose Wire Pte Ltd
This story cannot be reproduced without written permission from the writer. Jeremy Wagstaff is a commentator on technology and appears regularly on the BBC World Service. He can be found online at jeremywagstaff.com
Government surprise on Australian broadband plan
The Associated Press , Sydney, Australia | Tue, 04/07/2009 8:04 AM | Sci-Tech
Shunning private tenders, the Australian government announced Tuesday it would start a new company to build a long-awaited super-fast national broadband network for up to 43 billion Australian dollars ($30 billion).
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saidthe plan to supply 90 percent of Australian homes with Internet connections of up to 100 megabits per second and the rest with 12 megabits per second was the country's largest-ever infrastructure project.
"It is the most ambitious, far-reaching and long-term nation-building infrastructure project ever undertaken by an Australian government," Rudd told a news conference the national capital, Canberra.
The government said none of the private tenders received from various telecommunications companies including SingTel Optus and groups of private investors had met the government's requirements for the network. Australia's largest telecommunications company, Telstra, was already out of the running because it failed to meet tender guidelines.
But Rudd said it was open to anyone to invest in the new company.
Replacing Australia's ad-hoc, technologically antiquated broadband services with a national network has proved a difficult task for successive governments, in part because of Australia's geography - cities clustered on the coast and separated by vast distances of the sparsely-populated Outback.
Rudd made a comprehensive network that would serve city dwellers as well as farmers and those living in the Outback a key plank of his campaign strategy at 2007 elections that brought him to power.
The tender process has proved tricky, however, including a dispute with Telstra about the guidelines.
Tuesday's decision appeared to be a bid to cut through the difficulties and get the project moving.
Rudd told a news conference in the capital, Canberra, that the government would hold a majority stake in the new company with the rest to be privately-owned.
Under the plan, the government will spend AU$43 billion ($30 billion) on the project over eight years, and will then sell its stake in the company gradually over five years after it is completed.
Rudd linked the project to his plans to help Australia stave off the worst effects of the global financial downturn, saying it would create 25,000 jobs a year during construction and was essential to boosting long-term economic growth in Australia.
Recreational sites crowded, city deserted
The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Sat, 04/11/2009 10:48 AM | City
As legislative candidates kept their eyes on the quick count results of the general elections, city residents spent their long weekend after election day flocking to the city’s recreational sites.
More than 40,000 people visited the Ancol leisure complex, also known as Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, in North Jakarta on Friday, which wasalso the Christian Good Friday holy day.
“We had 35 percent more visitors than during weekdays. We are hoping to see 80,000 to 100,000 more visitors come over the weekend,” Budi Karya Sumadi, the president director of PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol that runs the Ancol leisure complex, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
To reward city residents who participated in the elections, Ancol management offered visitors with ink-stained fingers a 50 percent discount on entrance tickets to three theme parks – Dunia Fantasi, Atlantis Water Adventure and Gelanggang Samudera.
“In the last two days, some 40 percent of our visitors showed us their ink-stained fingers,” Budi said, adding Ancol would repeat the two-day promotion during the upcoming presidential elections.
Elsewhere in the city, more than 10,000 visitors flocked to Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta.
“We hope the weather will stay fine like today, so more visitors come,” Wahyudi Bambang, Ragunan PR officer, told the Post, adding the zoo operator expected to see more than 20,000 visitors on Saturday and Sunday.
Established in 1966, the 135-hectare Ragunan Zoo is home to more than 3,000 animals from 260 species. At Rp 2,000 (18 US cents) to Rp 3,000 a ticket, the zoo has become one of the city’s cheapest recreational sites.
Meanwhile in East Jakarta, the operator of the Indonesian Miniature Park (TMII) said they saw no significant increase in the number of visitors after the elections. On Friday, the park recorded more than 7,000 visitors.
“The numbers are the same as during the week. Maybe because we didn’t offer any special discounts or organize a special event this weekend,” said TMII PR officer Jerimias.
The normally crowded city of Jakarta was eerily quiet after the election day, as many residents from out of town left the city earlier to vote in their hometowns and many other permanent residents left the city soon after voting.
However, many malls were packed with holiday makers.
The Jakarta Police’s traffic management centre (TMC) reported no congestion in the city’s thoroughfares and seven inner turnpikes on Friday.
Less than a dozen police officers supervised Good Friday’s mass at the Cathedral, which was attended by some 2,500 city Christians.
“Road access to the city’s recreational sites is also undersupervised,” TMC coordinator Comr. Indra Jafar told the Post.
Although more people will visit those sites at the weekend, Indra said there would be little traffic in the city. (hwa/iwp)
Underage drinking
SHAMOKIN — Timothy Lee Jeremiah, 19, of 326 S. Coal St., Shamokin, was cited by Patrolman Raymond Siko for underage drinking and public drunkenness relating to an incident that occurred at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the skatepark on North Rock Street.
Property Damage
COAL TOWNSHIP — William Korbich, of 1100 E. Kase St., Coal Township, reportedsomeone drove a vehicle over his front lawn between 6:40 and 8:20 p.m. Thursday, causing $72 damage to six solar lights and four Easter eggs.
Anyone with information about the incident should call Coal Township police at 644-0333.
Property Damage
COAL TOWNSHIP — William Korbich, of 1100 E. Kase St., Coal Township, reportedsomeone drove a vehicle over his front lawn between 6:40 and 8:20 p.m. Thursday, causing $72 damage to six solar lights and four Easter eggs.
Anyone with information about the incident should call Coal Township police at 644-0333.
'Proclaiming The Message'
BY RACHEL CARTA
STAFF WRITER
rachel_c@newsitem.com
Published: Saturday, April 11, 2009 11:09 AM EDT
MOUNT CARMEL — A tradition, long forgotten by many, is to remain in silent reflection during the hours of noon and 3 p.m., on Good Friday.
It was during that time — more than 2,000 years ago — that Jesus, nailed to a large wooden cross, was drawing his last breaths as blood and sweat ran down his face.
“By this time, it was noon and darkness fell across the whole land until 3 o’clock,” the Bible states in Luke 23:44, just before Jesus said, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands.”
To recall those last hours, believers walked through the streets of Mount Carmel, stopping at eight locations symbolizing the eight Stations of the Cross. This walk, sponsored by the Mount Carmel Ministerium, is called the Way of the Cross, and was led by the reverends Ron Lausch and Jim McNair, beginning and ending at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Fourth and Maple streets.
The small crowd carried a large wooden cross, just as Jesus once did.
Susan Horan, who joined the walk with her daughter and large tawny dog, said with “so much going on in the world, people aren’t concerned,” with the true meaning of Easter.
“This is what it is all about — not in church — it’s all about God,” she said of the walk, regarding the fact that all denominations were welcome.
Horan remembered growing up in a home where no talking or any electronics of any kind were allowed during that three-hour span on Good Friday. The time was to be spent meditating on Christ’s sacrifice, she said.
Horan said she wanted her own daughter to realize the importance of the day, like she did as a young girl.
“This is not like any other day,” she said, while walking at Market and Second streets. “It’s just not.”
Easter baskets and egg hunts
Rose Marquardt, president of the Mount Carmel Ministerium, said remembering the importance of this Holy Week has been forgotten by many. Most are caught up with the Easter baskets and egg hunts, and forget the reason Easter is celebrated.
The message of the crucifixion and Jesus’ resurrection is not always conveyed, Marquardt said on Good Friday.
“Easter is a happy day with chocolate and sun, but we have to stop and think for one minute that because of the resurrection, we have eternal life,” she said.
Those on the Way of the Cross walk took time to remember the sacrifice of Jesus.
The cross carried was heavy, as was the Teacher’s from Nazareth. This time, it was shouldered by a young woman, her daughter clad in green by her side, tugging on her coat. Later, an older woman took up the cross and carried it through the streets.
Followers walked on in silence, behind the cross, from station to station, each with their own thoughts in remembrance of this Holy day. When singing ceased, only the clicking of a heel and the acceleration of a car could be heard.
The sky was clouded, rain impending.
Rap music screamed from a passing car, while the entourage walked at a steady cadence and sang “dying you destroyed our death/rising you restored our life.”
Those passing in cars or on foot simply stared, maybe remembering the holy day.
Houses adorned in Easter flair were passed unnoticed as the group continued in remembrance of the son of God who was in agony so long ago.
Proclaiming the message
Lausch, who led the walk, was clothed in white robes with a red overlay. A heavy cross depicting Jesus’ outstretched arms was around his neck.
The reverend said the walk was similar to the pilgrimages made to Jerusalem to honor the sites of Jesus’ “passion,” or the events leading to his resurrection.
The Stations of the Cross can be found in many churches and are in place for those who couldn’t make the trek to the Holy Land.
In this way, Lausch said, by going out into the community, believers are again making a pilgrimage.
“We, as Christians, needed to find a way to go outside of the church to proclaim the message,” Lausch said before the walk began.
Because the crucifixion may have taken place on a busy hillside with many people passing by, Lausch said he wanted the walk to take place on the busiest streets in the borough — Oak and Market streets and the Avenue.
It didn’t matter to Lausch and McNair how many people followed on the walk; they only wanted to be faithful to the gospel.
“If one person is reminded of the sacrifice Jesus made ... one family ... that is the meaning of Easter,” said McNair, pastor of the United Methodist Church in Mount Carmel.
The first station — Jesus is condemned to death — began outside of St. Stephen’s Church, with only one follower.
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head,” Lausch said.
While walking to the second station — Jesus takes up his cross — more people began to follow, helping with the heavy cross.
The group moved down Market Street and at the third station — The cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene — the group stood near Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
“Take up your cross,” the group sang, while walking to the fourth station — Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.
Ronnie Coleman, a Mount Carmel resident who had walked with the group for a while, said he hoped the walk would remind people about the meaning of the holiday season and the significance of Good Friday.
The group stopped at Hickory and the Avenue for the fifth station — Jesus is nailed to the cross.
“Then Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them; for they know not what they are doing,’” Lausch read.
Cars screamed by in front of the First United Methodist Church at the sixth station — Jesus promises redemption to the good thief.
“Truly I tell you, today, you will be with me in Paradise,” Lausch read.
As the group approached Third and Oak streets for the seventh station — Jesus dies on the cross — those in the cars stopped at the red light looked on. It was 2:30 p.m., a mere 30 minutes before Jesus took his last breath.
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” Lausch read while bowing his head.
While the group headed to the last station on the walk, down Oak Street, they sang “when I survey the wondrous cross.”
During the time of the walk, a traditional three-hour service was held at the First Presbyterian Church, at Fifth and Hickory streets, for those not able to walk through the borough, and others who wanted to reflect on the time Jesus spent on the cross. Seven members of the clergy took time to preach on the last seven “words” of Christ.
“Life does not end when we close our eyes in death,” Marquardt said, “because we have the gift of eternal life.”
The last station — Jesus is laid in the tomb — took place where the tour began, near St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The group sang, “Where you there when they crucified my Lord?”
The cross was taken back into the church and placed in the front. The followers took time for prayer and reflection before leaving the church in silence to continue their day.
Mega looks to team up with Wiranto, Prabowo
The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Sun, 04/12/2009 10:57 AM | Election 2009
The chief patron of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said Saturday the party was set to hold a coalition with two newcomers led by retired high ranking officers, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People’s Conscience (Hanura) Party.
“Coalition?Hanura [is] certain, Gerindra [is] certain,” Taufik Kiemas, chairman of PDI-P’s advisory board, said in reponse to journalists’ questions at his residence, as quoted by kompas.com.
When asked about the party’s coalition plan with the Golkar Party, he answered, “Let’s see later. The coalition is to be determined next Wednesday.”
Taufik said PDI-P would nominate its chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, his wife and former president, as its presidential candidate but had not yet decided on a vice-presidential candidate.
However Megawati, who met Gerindra’s leader Prabowo Subianto on Saturday, only said that a “duet” with the latter is “possible.”
Taufik said a PDI-P coordination meeting would determine the vice-presidential candidate, adding that Prabowo, a former leader of the army’s special forces, was one of the candidates. Megawati’s meeting with Prabowo followed an earlier one with Hanura leader Wiranto, a former military chief.
According to unofficial quick count surveys, PDI-P is coming second after the Democratic Party, with around 14 percent of votes from Thursday’s legislative election. Gerindra and Hanura are so far ranked eight and ninth with around 5 and 3 percent of votes, respectively.
Both the PDI-P and the Gerindra Party say they make take their mutual concerns over alleged election fraud to the Constitutional Court and officially challenge the poll results.
PDI-P Secretary General Pramono Anung Wibowo said the two parties believed the voter list was rigged to benefit “a certain party.”
So far the Democratic Party, formed by President Susilo Bam-bang Yudhoyono is leading in quick count tallies at around 20 percent of votes.
They may be the only party to meet the required minimum of 20 percent of minimum seats won at the House of Representatives, or 25 percent of national votes, to be able to nominate a president for the July election.
Many voters have claimed to have not been included on the voters’ list.
“The fraud ... has inflicted losses on other parties. We plan to raise this issue to the Constitutional Court if it remains unresolved,” Pramono said.
“This year’s election was even worse than the 2004 polls. We have received many complaints,” Megawati said. The party leaders said the alleged fraud should be thoroughly investigated.
Both Megawati and Prabowo extended their apology to voters who could not cast their ballots because they were not registered. (dre/naf)
Papua calm after deadly incidents
The Jakarta Post , JAYAPURA | Sat, 04/11/2009 9:46 AM | Headlines
Papuans celebrated Good Friday peacefully, after a series of violent incidents in Abepura district, Jayapura, marred the previous day’s polling.
Public transportation services resumed operations as normal, while residents flocked to traditional markets, shops and grocery stores.
“This safe and conducive situation has allowed Christians here to conduct Easter mass freely, and followers of other faiths to go about their activities on peace,” local resident Maksimus Solo said as quoted by Antara.
He admitted most residents were gripped by fear Thursday after learning about attacks on security posts and the Abepura Police station, as well as a fire that razed state-run Cendrawasih University.
Unidentified gunmen assaulted the security post at the Skaw Wutung border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea at 1 a.m. No casualties were reported.
Half an hour later, the Abepura Police station was attacked by about 50 men armed with homemade bombs, spears, cleavers, bows and cassowary bones. Police officers shot into the crowd, killing one attacker and injuring eight others.
At daybreak, the rector’s building at Cendrawasih University, 5 kilometers from the police station, was set ablaze by unknown people. The fire razed documents and badly damaged the building, but claimed no fatalities.
On Wednesday evening, unknown assailants stabbed five ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers in Wamena, leaving four of them and the fifth in critical condition.
Two hours later, a fuel storage tank at state oil company PT Pertamina’s depot in Biak exploded, killing a bystander.
Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said the explosion was simply an accident, while the attacks were intended to disrupt the elections in Papua.
The Papuan Church Communion has sent a letter to the governor ahead of Easter to voice its concern over the dire security situation.
“Calamity, disease, accidents and violence never seem to leave our daily lives. Many people live in worry and fear,” the letter, dated April 8 and made available to The Jakarta Post, read.
The communion expressed concern over the arrests of youth activists charged with sedition.
It also questioned an April 3 raid on the Papua Customary Council office, claiming it was done without proper legal basis. Police seized and destroyed equipment from the office and arrested 15 activists over an issue of International Lawyers for West Papua (ILWP) abroad.
Police earlier said the men were arrested for their alleged involvement in a subversion movement.
The arrests continued on April 6 and 7, with dozens of West Papua National Committee activists detained for sedition.
The communion also pointed out the climate of fear spawned by the recent violence in the Tingginambut area, Puncak Jaya regency, which was reminiscent of similar violence around Christmas time in 2006 and 2007 that forced many people to seek refuge.
