I see the same key bindings as you do. While it does seem strange (the bindings you suggest seem more logical), it may be done this way to save finger fatigue. Or it may be done to avoid tying up the 'n' key (used for "no" responses to prompts, etc.).

At any rate, although this doesn't fix the default bindings, you can manually edit them yourself using an ordinary text editor. On Vista, the file to edit is at %userprofile%\.jade\cfg\keymap.cfg. Change the value of "move.s" to read "2 \D n" to get the binding you want.

I'd actually suggest y k u for nw, n, ne; h for w and l for e; b j n for sw, s, se; and . for wait (oddly missing)
This is how crawl implements it, and it's incredibly convenient to be able to move with just your right hand while doing such things as casting spells with the left (assuming that's implemented the same as ADoM, of course!).

Fixed for JADE 0.1.1. Please send me your full name to creator(at)ancientdomainsofmystery.com for the credits.