In whom should we trust?
In whom should we trust?
Indonesia remains perched on the upper part of the list of the world's most corrupt countries.
According to the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI), Indonesia is the sixth most corrupt country out of 133 countries it has observed in 2003.
Due to widespread graft in the public sector and the judicial system, it is no surprise that Indonesia ranks again as one of the world's most corrupt nations.
Transparency International listed Indonesia near the same level as Kenya but ahead of Myanmar, Angola, Cameroon, Paraguay, Nigeria and Haiti.
It seems that we have run out of words to describe the epidemic of corruption in our own country.
Various recommendations and regulations issued to eradicate this terrible disease have ended in vain.
Following the collapse of the New Order government, we were all elated, hoping that corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) would soon be wiped out, but in fact it even got worse.
In the reform government since the reign of presidents B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and now Megawati Soekarnoputri, the practice of KKN has remained the same.
The political corruption under President Megawati's current term is even frighteningly worse than that during the time of former dictator, Soeharto, who resigned in 1998.
Thus, it would be a big mistake for us to trust in the power of the present government, in President Megawati, to combat corruption.
-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta
The California recall results
This is not a bad movie. It's the reality of what happens when a bland and unpopular governor meets a Hollywood action hero promising to blow up a corrupt and aloof culture in Sacramento.
In the 1972 film, The Candidate, Robert Redford, playing Senate candidate Bill McKay, delivered the memorable election- night line, "What do we do now?"
Many Californians may be waking up this morning with a similar blend of amazement and uncertainty about their new governor. Schwarzenegger cloaked himself in generalities throughout the campaign. He talked broadly about creating an administration more receptive to business concerns -- as a way to keep jobs in the state -- while fending off other special interests who are draining the state budget. Much of his agenda remains a blank slate.
While Schwarzenegger ran against the status quo, his effectiveness as governor may depend on how well he can work with legislators of both parties. He need look no further than the history of another outsider-actor, Ronald Reagan, in mastering Sacramento more than three decades ago. -- San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco
A new newspaper
The launch (on Oct. 7) of a new daily newspaper in the South African market is testament to the power of optimism. Without it, there would be no media, newspapers or otherwise, anywhere, other than organs created and financed by governments.
The Nigerian -- owned This Day bears all the hallmarks of the passions that regularly drive journalists and rich men into each other's arms -- a desire to do something better, to change the world, even a little bit, or to be heard.
Indeed, contrary to conventional wisdom among the many "experts" on the press, a newcomer is, if it is any good, more likely to have a positive effect on existing newspapers than on any other thing. So the Nigerian attempt is welcomed.
The Nigerians may or may not succeed with their newspaper -- only time will tell. But, yes, welcome aboard. -- Business Day, Johannesburg, South Africa
Haifa suicide bombing
To render the invasion of Iraq acceptable to Europe and the moderate Arab world, George W. Bush, solicited by Tony Blair and a distressed Europe, promised us that regime change in Iraq would make peace possible between Israelis and Arabs.
But in Palestine, here is the result of six months without Saddam Hussein: Terrorism continues and the war has now spread beyond Syria's borders.
Nobody believes in the Road Map anymore, assuming that someone once took it seriously.
The ideologies that have convinced Bush to invade Iraq have always warned that the root of the infection is in Iran and Saudi Arabia ... as well as in Syria.
The calls are for an ever harder and more explicit condemnation of the Syrian regime.
The accusations are predictably against Europe, which lets off Arafat and does not cut the financial and political ties with Hamas.
The reprimands are for everyone, Arabs, Europeans, the United Nations -- everybody apart from American power that must be, in blind faith, considered infallible.
-- La Repubblica, Rome
On Iraq aid
The diplomats squiring US$20.3 billion through Congress for reconstruction in Iraq make a sobering case for the money: Without dollars to get electricity flowing and factories open, there will be more job riots. Without billions in oil-field upgrades, oil earnings will fall short again next year. Without the money to train Iraqi security forces, more Americans will have to fight and die.
Now they have to try just as hard to retool the process of spending that money, to avoid further cronyism and to reassure Americans and others that their aid money will be spent fairly. ... All contributors want to know that Iraqi aid doesn't equate to the Halliburton Rescue Act. There's reason to believe otherwise.
In July, Vice President Dick Cheney's old firm Halliburton reported an 11 percent leap in quarterly revenues tied to "government services work in the Middle East," an unbid $7 billion contract. It was one of several such deals that U.S. officials say were premised on the need for pre-war secrecy and post-war speed.
Such arrangements are too cozy for comfort or credibility. The Bush administration must bar its cronies at the door.
-- The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
The Israeli attack on Syria
Amidst widespread condemnation of the Israeli air raid on Syria, Israel continues to defend its attack as a form of legitimate self-defense. Israel claims that the camp that it attacked is a training ground for Islamic Jihad.
Israel is therefore once again pinned against the entire international community but hopes to escape condemnation by having Washington veto the Syrian-sponsored resolution condemning the attack and calling on Israel to cease and desist from perpetrating acts of aggression against Syria.
What is needed now is de-escalation and not escalation in the area. The declaration of emergency in the Palestinian territories by President Yasser Arafat could be the start of a more determined Palestinian effort to reign in Palestinian militants, who continue to take the law into their hands and compromise the supreme Palestinian National interests.
The Palestinian militants need to be controlled and brought under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority. It is the only way to give peace a chance on condition that Israel will reciprocate this Palestinian determination to bring order to its ranks with a similar move to de-escalate the spiral of violence raging in the area.
-- The Jordan Times, Amman, Jordan
The leaking of a CIA operative's identity
It is not an exaggeration to suggest that lives were endangered when someone told a newspaper columnist the name of a woman who was a covert employee of the Central Intelligence Agency.
... The FBI launched a probe of the incident several days into a controversy over accusations by the woman's husband, Joseph C. Wilson, that a White House official provided classified information about his wife to reporters.
Wilson believes the leak may have been retaliation for his role in embarrassing the Bush administration. Wilson, a former ambassador, undermined a claim made by the President during the state of the union address that Iraq had attempted to obtain weapons-grade uranium from the African nation of Niger.
... There is little chance an investigation -- either by the FBI or by a special counsel -- will be able to prove who leaked the information. Presidential administrations have, over the decades, perfected the art of the undetected leak. ... But an investigation is appropriate. And Ashcroft's Justice Department should be given the chance to prove itself before an independent counsel is called. Most of all, the Bush administration should examine its own house.
If this was an innocent slip of the tongue regarding an open secret ... we need to know that. If, however, it was inspired by political retaliation, it is in the president's best interests to find out who is responsible and let the legal system work. That's the only way to preserve what credibility his administration has left.
-- The Morning News, Springdale, Arkansas
California recall
You shouldn't mock Arnold Schwarzenegger; what California invents, America adopts and Europe ends up imitating.
You can laugh at the Terminator, running for governor of America's most populous state, stomping through his speeches with the strongest teutonic accent since Henry Kissinger.
You can denounce the populist wave (that supported) Schwarzenegger's candidacy as an example of a democracy gone mad. But this is the same kind of groundswell that made Ronald Reagan the first actor to be elected governor of California, and then president.
Celebrity isn't Schwarzenegger's only asset. He's in tune with a changing political map ... voters from Latin America ... represent 30 million Hispanic citizens nationwide.
Yet California can't just be reduced to the glitter of Hollywood; for the weak, the poor and blacks, it's a tough place to live. Schwarzenegger must not forget this truth: Like all promised lands, California is also a place of hardship. -- Le Figaro, Paris
Le Monde, Paris, on the California recall:
They have chosen. It's "Schwarzy." That's just the way it goes, in California. Politics has become about credits. After Reagan the cowboy, now we have Schwarzenegger the terror, huge ivory smile, "Terminator" armed with broom to sweep away the dreadful politicians that have ruined "the golden State."
... The casting is wicked. Just think about it. Take a film poster, and change it to an electoral poster. Beware your choice of hero. One does not become "calife" of California by producing Diane Keaton on a platform, as did the deposed Gray Davis. The bloody and brisk are needed, biceps instead of brains. Simple words, and especially not too many.
...We will wait and see whether he is competent. Modestly, he compares himself to Mandela who, similarly, "never has done any politics." With Arnold, his supporters believe, there is nothing more to worry about. Arnold, "as good as gold," Arnold, their God.
---
--- The Times, London, on the elections in Chechnya:
There was never any doubt that Akhmad Kadyrov, the former anti-Russian rebel, would win the presidential election in Chechnya. With all credible rivals already disqualified or forced to withdraw, the man accused of using his 7,000-strong private militia to intimidate any opposition could hardly fail. What is more, he had the endorsement of (Russian) President Vladimir Putin, who ordered a military alert in the turbulent Caucasus region to guard the polling stations, close markets and ban from the roads all lorries that could harbor suicide bombers. ...
Mr. Kadyrov is an unsavory character. Renouncing his decision to join the jihad against Russia in 1994, he has since used his support for the Kremlin not to curb the excesses of Russia's undisciplined troops or to push for more aid to bombed-out Chechen civilians, but to build up his own power, his private army and the wealth amassed by extortion. ...
Nevertheless, his flawed election is extremely important to President Putin. Chechnya brought the Russian leader to power; but it hobbles his dealings with the outside world and his efforts to push reform at home. ...
Yesterday's election will help to stabilize Chechnya only if it is followed by a real change in the Kremlin. First, Mr. Putin must get a grip on the Army, enforcing discipline, stamping out corruption and arms trading, and punishing human rights violators. Secondly, he must ensure that some of the money earmarked for reconstruction is paid out and used as intended, instead of disappearing into warlords' accounts. Finally, he must force the new president to administer the ruined rump of his country fairly and according to the law. As long as Chechnya remains a wasteland, abandoned to criminals and terrorists, there will never be peace for the Chechens or for Russia. --- Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm, Sweden, on Israel's strike against Syria:
If the Israeli raid can make Syria close the terrorists' battlefields Israel will have paid a small price for the international criticism which has been presented in the Security Council and other places (with the fight against global terrorism temporarily forgotten).
Unfortunately, however, the reaction is more likely to come in the shape of further Hizbollah attacks from the Lebanese side of the border.
The fact that Israel for the first time since the defensive Yom Kippur War in 1973 is carrying out military actions inside Syria means that a dangerous line has been crossed. Israel should have first put forward its opinion and proof of Syria's guilt to the United Nations. Not only because it would have affected the world's understanding of an attack, but also because it would have increased the international pressure on a militarily and economically weakened Syria to take the narrow road.
After the war in Iraq the fight against terrorism goes hand in hand with an aspiration for increased freedom in the Arab world. This is also at stake if the conflict between Israel and Syria escalates. --- Dagbladet, Oslo, Norway, on the elections in Chechnya:
The winner is clear: Akhmad Kadyrov. He supposedly got about 85 percent of the votes. His closest challenger got about 6.6 percent. According to Chechen authorities the voter turnout was over 80 percent. But no independent source could confirm the numbers. Nor were there any Western election observers. The reason was that they did not want to lend legitimacy to the election with their presence.
Among foreign commentators and independent Russian experts, the election was described as a farce. The three candidates who could have threatened Kadyrov all withdrew in recent months and the voter turnout and the result bring associations of the "elections" in the Soviet Union, rather than of democracy.
But as always, when it comes to abuses is Chenchya, the West keeps its lips sealed. ---
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt, Germany, on the elections in Chechnya:
Chechnya has a president again. He is elected, but still not the president of his people.
Whether the election results and participation were falsified or not barely plays a role -- because once it became clear that Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed governor, would have had no chance to win halfway free elections, the Kremlin took the three candidates with the best chances out of the running.
Putin himself decided that Kadyrov had to stay in power. ...
What the Chechens want is an end to the killing and insecurity.
They no longer want former president (Aslan) Maskhadov, whom they hold responsible for the chaotic years when radical Muslims were in charge.
But neither do they want Kadyrov, who has brought them nothing good.
This year alone, more than 300 people have disappeared in Chechnya. All sides are waging this war with the methods of terror. Kadyrov's people are also involved, and many Chechens have sworn revenge.
It is difficult to find a solution for Chechnya.
But the Kremlin's way, which ignores the will of the Chechens, leads to a dead end.
It would be right, not only for the sake of the Chechens, but also in the interest of Russia, if the West put the subject back on its agenda. --- Haaretz, Tel Aviv, on Haifa restaurant bombing:
A Palestinian training camp in Syrian territory, close to Damascus, was chosen as the target for the Israel Defense Forces' response. ... It appears, however, that its principal purpose was not to bring death and destruction, but rather to steer Syrian President Bashar Assad away from supporting actions against Israel.
Israel has the right to move against the facilities, activists and leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and other organizations anywhere and at any time; but this does not testify to the wisdom of such moves.
The slope on which Syria and Israel could slide down into a conflict between them -- whether it be in their own territories, or in Lebanon -- is a steep and slippery one. There is a need for tight control to prevent a move planned as minimalist from leading to a major escalation. --- MORE[
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 10, 2003 00:40:38