Indonesian workers and dignity

Indonesian workers and dignity

The issue of Indonesia's overseas contract workers has again
come to the fore. It is not the topic of discussions in food
stalls or warung tegal, but by leaders of the House of
Representatives.

The legislators' meeting urged President Megawati
Soekarnoputri to dismiss Manpower Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea if he
insists on permitting the dispatch of Indonesian contract workers
to other countries.

They also asked the government to stop sending contract
workers abroad for the classic reason that it is incapable of
protecting them.

The suggestion is an old song sung by singers during the
reform era. Why? Because there is no new spirit and will to
settle the manpower issue at home and abroad.

The sending of contract workers abroad is actually not a
sectoral sin, but a collective one -- a sin committed by a nation
which no longer cares about dignity.

We send people to other countries to get jobs because we fail
to create more at home.

So long as the government sends uneducated people to work
abroad, including women, this will be considered as slavery.
Which country in this world is proud of slavery? Dignity could
not be measured by money. -- Media Indonesia, Jakarta

European immigration policies

While terrible human tragedies are happening almost daily
between the coasts of northern Africa and Lampedusa, Italy and
Europe's outpost, the representatives of 25 governments are
discussing the future of the European Union.

But in the draft of the future European constitution there is
very little that deals with this new, contemporary holocaust.

It is rightly demanded that Europe recognizes the problem of
immigrants who arrive at its Mediterranean coasts as a problem of
the European Union, but there is nothing in the draft treaty
which allows for a clarification of what a frontier is. The
European Union's frontiers are mobile and will still be left
undefined.

Before the European Union can help, it will remain the
responsibility of the Italian government to deal with the
political and human drama of the emigrants that arrive on our
coasts. It is essential to create a permanent (Italian) task-
force ... indispensable for any future cooperation with any EU
nations that have problems similar to ours.

-- Il Messaggero, Rome

Blair's legacy

Until now, very few people have been thinking at all seriously
about what life will be like after Mr. Blair leaves office. It is
inevitable that now they will. The prime minister should not see
this as a threat, but as an opportunity to start thinking about
something that, whether he likes it or not, is inevitable.

For all her strengths, Margaret Thatcher proved incapable of
confronting her political mortality. Anybody who developed
sufficient independence and status to be considered a worthy
successor was quickly cut down to size. For almost 15 years the
Conservative Party has struggled with the consequences of her
failure to plan a graceful retirement. ... It is possible to
imagine something similar happening to Mr. Blair and his Labor
successors. He still has time to avoid this mistake. ...

Mr. Blair should begin to think carefully how much he still
wishes, and can realistically expect, to achieve in Downing
Street. He should consider what he wants his legacy to be. Then
he should take the risk of discussing it with (Chancellor of the
Exchequer Gordon) Brown, resisting the temptation to keep teasing
the chancellor in the way that Churchill did Eden.

In future reshuffles of both his ministerial and backroom
staff, Mr. Blair should begin to blend the chancellor's choices
with his own, allowing for a smooth transition. He should also
work even more closely with Mr. Brown to agree Labor's platform
and rhetoric at the next election. ...

-- The Times, London

Bolivia's democracy

What happened in Bolivia has so far been a democratic movement
that led to the downfall of a legitimate-turned-impopular
president. The massive Indian protests made the coalition
supporting Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada collapse. Without support,
the president resigned and the Vice President Carlos Mesa took
over, as foreseen by the Constitution.

The ideal in a democracy would be that presidents had their
terms completed. But the people cannot be deprived of the right
to protest and eventually demand the resignation of a president.
To take away that right would be a blow against democracy.

In Brazil, popular pressure toppled President Fernando Collor
in 1992. In Argentina, Fernando de la Rua quit after a wave of
protests in 2001. Even in the United States the government of
California was overthrown by the vote. And in none of these cases
democracy was broken. On the contrary, it makes sense to assume
that those episodes strengthened democracy.

It should be expected that in Bolivia the political crisis
will be soon over, and that the episode involving the resignation
of Sanchez de Lozada becomes an example of democracy and of
respect to institutions. And that the Indian uprising marks the
beginning of paying the huge social debt to that country's
poorest.

-- Folha de S. Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Kyoto Protocol on global warming

Russia, which holds the key to implementation of the Kyoto
Protocol, is waffling on ratification, dimming chances of the
treaty to combat global warming coming into effect this autumn as
expected.

Russia's biggest export sector, the oil industry, worries that
the Kyoto Protocol would curb oil consumption, thereby depressing
oil prices. Some Russians are also betting that a delay in their
country's ratification could help lift the prices of emissions
permits....

But time is running short, with the approach of the 2008
deadline for achieving the accord's emissions goals. Further
delays by Russia will leave other countries little time to take
the steps necessary to curb their own greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, Japan needs to work with European nations to persuade
Russia to quickly ratify the pact, while encouraging ways to curb
greenhouse gas emissions at home to be sure to achieve its
target. If leading countries pursue emissions reductions, Russia
will eventually realize it gains nothing by procrastination.

The international effort to help our embattled planet requires
quick action on the framework to curb global warming, thus
putting pressure on the United States, a major source of CO2
emissions, to return to the Kyoto Protocol.

-- Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo

Iraq combat casualties

Sgt. Maj. James D. Blankenbecler, Pfc. Analaura Esparza
Gutierrez, Spc. Spencer T. Karol, Spc. James H. Pirtle. Who are
they, you ask?

Just four of the U.S. soldiers recently killed in the war in
Iraq. ...

The ongoing debate about the legitimacy of the intervention
and its enormous monetary costs - a debate very necessary in our
democracy - has diverted focus from the human suffering buried in
those casualty figures.

That cannot be allowed to happen.

Each number represents an individual with a face, a family and
loved ones whose sacrifice cannot be adequately counted in the
giving of the last, full measure of their devotion to their
country.

Neither must we forget the continuing heroism and sacrifice on
the part of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq - especially the wounded
and maimed. ...

Like the soldiers giving their lives almost daily in Iraq, the
wounded deserve the nation's deepest gratitude, including
reassurance they'll receive the governmental support and aid
they're due as veterans.

They need to hear that loud and clear from each of us, because
their ranks and the ranks of their dead brothers and sisters in
arms will not lessen anytime soon.

-- Florida Today, Melbourne, Florida

The Pledge of Allegiance

They are only two words, a total of three syllables between
them. But within and around these two words swirl a mighty
controversy, fervent patriotic and religious emotions and a legal
precedent destined to be divisive no matter which way it goes.

"...under God..."

Does the inclusion of these words in the Pledge of Allegiance,
recited every school day by millions of American public school
students, violate the First Amendment? The 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals - regarded as the nation's most liberal - says it
does. The U.S. Supreme Court has chosen to review that decision
this term.

The notion of removing such a phrase from so familiar a
patriotic icon would stir emotions under any circumstances. So
emotions surely will run especially hot during a time of war,
especially one to which some - no matter how foolishly - have
loaded religious overtones. ...

Many legal scholars predict the high court will reject the
9th's ruling, although those prospects may have dimmed with
Justice Antonin Scalia's decision to recuse himself from the
case. If the remaining eight justices split 4-4, the appellate
court ruling stands.

In any event, reasonable people will regard this case as a
contest between differing and legitimate interpretations of
constitutional law, not a religious or patriotic litmus test.

-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle

The Nobel Peace Prize

It is not unusual for the Nobel Peace Prize to foment
political turmoil. Both Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa won the
prize while shaking their worlds. Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian
and first Muslim woman to win the world's most coveted peace
prize, now may do the same.

Ebadi's selection by the Norwegian Nobel Committee sends a
very clear message of support for human rights in the Islamic
world, one that should serve as an inspiration not only to
Islamic women but to advocates and reformers everywhere. ...

Ebadi and others in the Islamic world have warned the West
that real human rights for women entail both liberalized rights
and the right to choose fundamentalist and traditional practices.
They see discrimination against females as male chauvinism or a
misinterpretation of Islam, not as a fundamental flaw in faith or
culture.

That message needs to be heard, both within the Islamic world
and outside it. The Nobel Peace Prize offers a glorious chance
for Ebadi to give it voice, and for the world to give it
consideration. The Nobel Peace Prize committee sought to provide
inspiration, and it has done just that.

-- The Buffalo News, Buffalo, New York