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