From Okinawa with tears

From Okinawa with tears

No doubt many Indonesians were honestly, and perhaps a bit
naively, expecting to get some benefit from the just-concluded
summit of industrialized countries on the Japanese island of
Okinawa.

However, there was no (more) writing off of the debts of poor
countries. Unbelievable though it may sound, Indonesia wants to
be seen as a country poor enough to be entitled to debt relief.
In reality, this is just wishful thinking, if one considers that
Indonesia has been classified as number three among the most
corrupt countries on the globe by the international community.

You do not offer gifts to swindlers and thieves "who do not
work hard and repent their sin". I have the impression that
Indonesians spend more time thinking hard how to violate
regulations than to abide by the law, which they see as only
valid for others and not for themselves.

Coming from the African continent, understandably UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has criticized the failure of the
major industrial powers to cancel more Third World debt at the
summit. Campaigners have complained of the failure of the group
to meet a year-old promise to write off US$100 billion of debt
held by the 41 poorest countries.

The Japanese constructed a press center on the occasion of the
summit at a cost of Y81.4 billion or $754 million -- enough
money, according to Oxfam charity spokesman Phil Twyford, to put
12 million children through school for a year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been the luckiest
man on that occasion, speaking on economic and political reform
in Russia, a country which still needs foreign aid. The ministers
agreed to talk later again about global free trade. Perhaps this
is another chance for Indonesia to press its views and get better
quotas. For trade is preferable than aid. Surprisingly, the
summit promised better educational facilities for the world's
children.

Bill Clinton seemed to have his mind more on the Camp David
meeting between Israeli and Arab leaders. My hope is that
Clinton, after the end of his presidential term, sets up a
similar humanitarian center like the Carter Center, but with more
emphasis on helping Indonesia solve its problems.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta