Mayor mad over costly ID cards TANGERANG (JP): Mayor Djakaria Machmud has threatened to fire subdistrict and village chiefs who inflate the cost of ID cards. The administration has set the cost of a national ID card at Rp 7,500 (almost US$1) but in some villages the price has reportedly been inflated to Rp 30,000.

On nepotism Our Minister of Social Services Siti Hardijanti Rukmana has flatly denied that there was a practice of nepotism in the recruitment of the Seventh Development Cabinet, as reported in The Jakarta Post, March 18. As a matter of fact, she had been asked by her father to hold the post five years earlier but she refused the offer. However, this time, she could not resist the order, as her father wanted her to assist him in a time of economic turbulence and hardship.

Kartini's spirit The commemoration of Kartini Day, April 21, reminds us of the great Indonesian lady Raden Adjeng Kartini, whose letters made her an important symbol for the Indonesian independence movement and for Indonesian feminists. In her letters, Kartini, who was a Javanese noblewoman, expressed concern over the plight of Indonesians under colonial rule and over the restricted roles open to Indonesian women. She also resolved to make her life a model for emancipation.