Slum dwellers challenge eviction law in court

JAKARTA • Slum dwellers in Indonesia have launched a landmark legal case to challenge a decades-old law which has been used to forcibly remove thousands of families amid a wave of evictions in the country's capital, the media reported yesterday.

The case comes as the authorities ramp up efforts to clear houses along a main river bank in Jakarta, home to some 10 million people, to pave the way for an ambitious flood mitigation project.

Residents have asked the court to declare a law enacted in 1960 as unconstitutional as it "gives the government a great authority to take the land from the people" without due consultation, court documents show.

REUTERS

Man jailed for calling Myanmar leader 'crazy'

YANGON • A man has been jailed for nine months after calling Myanmar's president "crazy" in a Facebook post, his wife said yesterday. It is the latest use of a junta-era defamation law under the new civilian government.

Aung Win Hlaing was convicted under Myanmar's telecommunications law for calling President Htin Kyaw an "idiot" and "crazy" in online posts, his wife Hnin Hnin Win said.

Her husband had written the comments after a presidential order shut down a committee on which he worked, she added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Rotavirus outbreak in Malaysia spreads

IPOH • The number of suspected rotavirus cases believed to have originated in Bukit Merah Laketown Resort near Taiping, Malaysia, continues to rise.

Perak deputy health director Dr B. Venugopalan said that, as of Thursday, a total of 30 cases had been reported in three states - Perak, Kedah and Penang.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK