Why should the police lie?<\/p>\n
The sloppy arrest of Islamic terrorist suspects by the police
\nwon't help the country deal with terrorism. Instead, it will be
\ncounterproductive.<\/p>\n
During the past year the police have been vigorously showing
\nto the people how dangerous the terror threat is from Jamaah
\nIslamiyah (JI). They have also demonstrated their seriousness in
\ndealing with the threat. However, the fact is that the police are
\nnot that serious and they tend to lie to the public.<\/p>\n
The police announced they have arrested 15 (Islamic) activists
\nin Surakarta, Semarang (Central Java), Jakarta and Lampung
\n(southern Sumatra) over bomb blasts, including the JW Marriott
\nbombing.<\/p>\n
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar defended the arrests,
\nsaying that they were in-line with the new antiterrorism law. The
\nlaw allows the police to arrest terrorist suspects for not more
\nthan one week based on preliminary evidence gathered by the
\nintelligence agents and the court. This means that the arrests
\nmust be acknowledged by the court - through a warrant letter. The
\nfacts show that Da'i Bachtiar has lied to the public.<\/p>\n
We know that material evidence that was collected through
\nillegal procedures cannot be used in court, meaning that what the
\npolice have done is nothing. The police must be aware of their
\nactions, but why have they done that? Why should Da'i lie?<\/p>\n
If such malpractice by the police continues, what we are doing
\nis not eradicating terrorism. The police move is apparently
\ntriggering suspicion that antiterror campaigns are identical to
\nantiIslam campaigns. This could trigger unnecessary radicalism
\nand inter-religious tension.<\/p>\n
-- Koran Tempo, Jakarta<\/p>\n
It is indeed difficult
\nto manage the country<\/p>\n
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri has several times
\ncomplained about how heavy her duty is as head of state.<\/p>\n
She has already expressed dissatisfaction over government
\nbureaucracy and the performance of cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n
This daily has long reminded that the structure of our
\nbureaucracy is no longer fit to be used in the present situation.
\nThe president should thus take concrete steps to build a new
\nstructure of bureaucracy, which can support national development.<\/p>\n
We appreciate people who have chosen to become politicians and
\ndevote their lives to the nation's interests. A politician
\nshould know that setting up democracy could not be done in one
\nnight. It is a long-term investment, the returns of which will
\nbe enjoyed only by the next generations.<\/p>\n
Consequently, we should not become hopeless in bringing this
\nnation out of its many crises. We should be optimistic that
\nIndonesia could survive.<\/p>\n
We thus hope that the president could encourage all components
\nof the nation to do their best for the country.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has the chance to emerge out of its many crises as
\nit has a very good macroeconomic condition.<\/p>\n
We need a leader who does not easily become desperate -- a
\nleader who can raise the people's hopes for a better future.<\/p>\n
-- Kompas, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Do not ignore
\nmacroeconomic stability<\/p>\n
Meeting with a number of media leaders last Tuesday, central
\nbank Bank Indonesia Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said the
\nstability of the macroeconomy should not be ignored.<\/p>\n
He invited all parties to prevent unemployment and poverty in
\nparticular, by keeping the macroeconomic stability that has been
\nachieved.<\/p>\n
Burhanuddin said macroeconomic stability should by no means be
\nneglected because it was not achieved arbitrarily and that
\nmacroeconomy is never static.<\/p>\n
Thus, all of us should make use of this stability, especially
\nthose from the banking and business sectors.<\/p>\n
Once again, we have successfully kept our economic stability
\nby being able to lower the budget deficit from 4.8 percent
\nagainst the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000 to 2 percent in
\n2003.<\/p>\n
We have also pushed down government debts from 100 percent in
\n2000 to about 70 percent in 2003, and pressed inflation from 60
\npercent in 1998 to about 6 percent at present.<\/p>\n
However, we have to be aware that poverty rate is recorded at
\n16 percent and that some 40 million people remain jobless.<\/p>\n
If we can make use of the macroeconomic stability to combat
\npoverty and unemployment, we would all be lucky.<\/p>\n
-- Kompas, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The WTO summit<\/p>\n
Europeans had nothing to be proud of at Cancun. Our economic
\nsuperpower -- so rich that it can pay every farmer 17,000 a year
\neach in public subsidies -- had a decisive role in the failure of
\nthe summit: we impeded an agreement with Third World countries
\nwhere the majority of the population lives on less than 2 a day.
\nOur negotiators brought back home intact the agricultural
\nprotectionism that is anachronistic and cause for global shame.<\/p>\n
An agreement (at the summit), it was calculated, could have
\nsaved an estimated 144 million people from poverty.<\/p>\n
From the disaster there is only one thing to celebrate: The
\nnew politics which manifested itself in the emergence of a
\ncoalition of 23 developing countries.<\/p>\n
The wrecking of the WTO is not a defeat for globalization, but
\nrather the victory of a more savage and less regulated
\nglobalization.<\/p>\n
Cancun was the occasion for showing what values we want to
\npresent to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
Europe failed the trial, and such an important test does not
\narise often.<\/p>\n
-- La Repubblica, Rome<\/p>\n
;;
\nANPAk..r..
\nOtherop-
\nWhy should the police lie?
\nJP\/6\/<\/p>\n
Israel's war against Hamas<\/p>\n
In one week, Palestinian resistance group Hamas lost a dozen
\nactivists slain in Israeli missile hits. Two senior leaders,
\nhowever, survived the Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n
No end looms in sight for this Israeli rampage, which dashes
\nany lingering hopes that the damage of the past two weeks would
\nbe repaired. Israeli officials have vowed to pursue their war
\nagainst what they brand as Palestinian terror groups.<\/p>\n
According to Israeli calculations, reducing Hamas to its knees
\nwould force the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table
\n-- but on Tel Aviv's terms. A recent decision by the European
\nUnion blacklisting Hamas as a terror group has undoubtedly
\nembolden Israel to press ahead with its bloody crackdown.<\/p>\n
The United States, the self-styled peace broker, has bought
\nIsrael's twisted logic and militarism, putting the blame squarely
\non the Palestinians for derailing an internationally backed peace
\nplan.<\/p>\n
Israel must expect deadly reprisals from the Palestinians, now
\nleft with no hope or option but to revenge. As the latest
\nPalestinian retaliatory hits must have demonstrated, Israel's
\nstringent security measures or the \"separating fence\" are not
\ndeterrent.<\/p>\n
-- The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt<\/p>\n
Sweden's rejection of the euro<\/p>\n
Deep down, even the most fanatical supporters of the euro must
\nnow recognize that it isn't going to happen. Their two main
\ncontentions -- that the euro is inevitable, and that Britain is
\ntoo small to go it alone -- have been blown away by Sweden's
\n\"nej.\"<\/p>\n
The British, Swedish and Danish opt-outs now look permanent.
\nThe question is no longer, \"Will Britain join the euro?\" or even,
\n\"Should Britain join the euro?\", but, \"Given that Britain is not
\njoining the euro, what kind of relationship should we forge with
\nour neighbors?\"<\/p>\n
All three parties need to do some muscular thinking about this
\nfor, at present, our foreign policy is built on a falsehood.
\nCentral to Britain's diplomacy is the notion that, by \"leading in
\nEurope,\" we can make the EU more receptive to our needs, and so
\namplify our power in the world. Yet, whatever the pretensions of
\nour successive leaders, it is clear that the British people have
\nno desire to \"lead in Europe\" if that means surrendering their
\ncurrency and diminishing their independence. The way in which
\nBritish Europhiles disregard this reality is, in its way,
\nawesome. What part of \"no\" don't they understand? ...<\/p>\n
-- Daily Telegraph, London<\/p>\n
The development of AIDS treatment<\/p>\n
The development of new treatments for AIDS represents a
\ntriumph of medical research, but this scientific miracle also has
\nproduced some unexpected pitfalls.<\/p>\n
It's wonderful that so many HIV-positive people are leading
\nhealthy lives thanks to complex drug regimens. But because some
\npeople perceive that AIDS is no longer a death sentence, they
\nfeel less motivated to avoid such risky behaviors as drug use and
\nunprotected sex.<\/p>\n
A new study conducted at Johns Hopkins University has given
\npublic health experts yet another reason to worry. Researchers
\ntold HealthDay News ... that intravenous drug users in Baltimore
\nwho think that AIDS is treatable are less likely to use condoms
\nduring sex and less likely to seek out sterile needles.<\/p>\n
The survey produced some other alarming statistics: Two-thirds
\nof sexually active participants in the Johns Hopkins study say
\nthey engage in unprotected sex, and half say they share needles
\nwith other users.<\/p>\n
These factors go a long way toward explaining why infection
\nrates among IV drug users have not declined, as they have for
\nsome other groups at risk of contracting HIV.<\/p>\n
The first priority is to increase opportunities for
\nrehabilitation so that IV drug users have the chance to break
\ntheir addictions. But it's also obvious that public health
\nofficials need to intensify efforts to inform IV drug users in
\nparticular of the continuing danger that HIV poses.<\/p>\n
-- Times-Picayune, New Orleans<\/p>\n
U.S. policy toward Arafat<\/p>\n
If he is sidelined, there is still at least a chance that a
\nmoderate leader may emerge to lead the Palestinian people on the
\nroad to peace. The Israeli policy of expelling him from the West
\nBank or, as some extremists urge, killing him will make matters
\nfar worse.<\/p>\n
That was demonstrated when thousands of Palestinians took to
\nthe streets in the West Bank and Gaza to declare that they would
\ngive their lives to prevent the expulsion of their longtime
\nleader. ...<\/p>\n
If Mr. Arafat is killed, as some extremists in Israeli Prime
\nMinister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet, including Mr. Mofaz and
\nTransportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman, have suggested, he
\nwill become a martyr. If he is forcibly taken into exile, Mr.
\nArafat will be center front on the international stage.<\/p>\n
Both possibilities alarmed Secretary of State Colin Powell so
\nmuch that both he and the White House openly criticized
\nIsrael. ...<\/p>\n
Israel's interests, as well as those of the Middle East and
\nthe world at large, would best be served by isolating Mr. Arafat
\nso that his leadership powers are weakened and his voice muffled.
\nThen rival, moderate voices could be heard by the Palestinian
\npeople.<\/p>\n
If Israel insists on a policy as dangerous as the expulsion or
\nassassination of President Arafat, the Jewish state would be
\nisolated from world opinion, never mind the possibility that
\nwhatever method may be chosen to \"remove\" him could set the
\nMiddle East ablaze.<\/p>\n
-- The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/why-should-the-police-lie-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }