JP/6/E04
JP/6/E04
Telephone rates
The government has finally delayed the new telephone tariff
increases, which should be effective this month. The delay was
announced after a meeting between three coordinating ministers
and members of the House and Representatives (DPR) and People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Wednesday. However, it is not
clear for how long the delay will be.
The delay is somewhat comforting for the people, who had been
complaining about the 15 percent increase in telephone rates.
House member Sutradara Ginting said the meeting also reached a
deal that the executive and legislature would not blame each
other for the increase. Both sides had been blaming each other.
In fact, it was the House that approved the 2003 state budget,
which became the basis of the government's development plans. The
increase in the fuel prices was supposed to save Rp 17 trillion
in state funds.
Now that the people have registered their opposition against
the policy, it's time for the House to ask the government to find
other sources of income, including dealing with the country's so-
far immune debtors.
-- Warta Kota, Jakarta
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JP/6/E02
Cheap rice for the poor stolen
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso was upset upon hearing that the
central government had distributed cheap rice for poor families
in Jakarta without his awareness.
He said that it was the city administration that is the most
informed about the number of poor families and where they live in
the capital city. Sutiyoso became even angrier after housewives
in Klender, East Jakarta, complained that no single family in the
area has received the cheap rice, worth Rp 1,000 per kilogram.
Locals said that each family should have received 10 kilograms
in December.
Subdistrict officials denied the reports, claiming that the
rice had been distributed through the neighborhood chiefs. Thus,
it is the neighborhood chiefs that must be responsible for the
distribution.
Shockingly the central rice market in Cipinang, East Jakarta,
reported that some people, reportedly from the Klender
subdistrict office and several neighborhood chiefs had tried to
sell cheap rice to a rice seller in the market.
Distribution is obviously the main problem in such a scheme.
Therefore non-governmental organizations always voice their
concern about the implementation of compensation programs for
poor families.
We just hope that whoever is in charge of distributing the
rice or anything else for the poor will have the compassion not
to steal or misuse what the poor families deserve.
-- Warta Kota, Jakarta
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JP/6/E03
Organ donation
Organ donation remains a touchy, highly personal matter to
this day. Most people, bar those with overt cultural taboos and
religious leanings, affect a fetching altruism when asked if they
would pledge to have vital organs removed upon death. But of
course, they would. Transplant techniques have made amazing
strides. The act of giving a kidney or a liver saves lives. All
true.
The letdown comes, as is usually the case, in the unspoken
'You first' reflex. Taken down the chain, it would mean that
precious little would ever get done in the way of giving express
consents. Singapore has had an opt-in organ donation law - the
Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act - for 31 years now.
Only 30,451 persons had given consent as of 1999, out of the
2.3 million people eligible.
Is this indifference, or does it show that squeamishness
remains a barrier? It would seem the latter. Public education is
going to be key to the success of the ministry's campaign.
-- Straits Times, Singapore
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JP/6/E04
Japan's policy on refugees
As a person or as a nation, we have a moral imperative to
extend a helping hand to people in severe distress.
Japan, however, has never been eager to help the international
society's most vulnerable given the fact that it has so far taken
in only 300 refugees, although it singed the Convention Relating
the Status of Refugees more than 20 years ago. Japan admitted
only 11 refugees last year, according to a group of lawyers
providing support to asylum seekers.
We have been calling on the government to assign the job of
screening asylum applications, which is now performed by the
immigration authorities, to a new independent screening agency to
be helped by experts in refugee problems who belong to credited
international or civil organizations. That's because we believe
accepting refugees and supporting their lives in Japan is a
mission different in nature from the tasks of the immigration
authorities.
"The government should listen to the voices of ... asylum
seekers and take steps to improve its asylum system to accept
more refugees, taking account of the unstable situations in east
Asia.
-- Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo
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JP/6/E05
Cricket and Zimbabwe
Sport and politics have never been easy bedfellows. The
decision of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to proceed
with the World Cup international against Zimbabwe is deeply
regrettable. It will be condemned not merely by ministers here
but in Zimbabwe itself. It cannot, realistically, be argued that
any team which represents this country must always avoid every
nation which fails to meet every standard of human rights and
democracy. That is an unreasonable demand on sporting
authorities. It is, however, legitimate to ask that these bodies
seek to avoid engagements that actively assist dictatorships and
provide no plausible prospect that ordinary citizens will
benefit. This is a test that the ECB may fail.
-- The Times, London
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JP/6/E06
North Korea's 'great leader'
North Korea's "Great Leader," Kim Il-sung, believes the best
way to negotiate with the rest of the world is through escalation
of threats. ...
Kim is enigmatic, isolated, and paranoid but he is not dumb.
His timing has been impeccable. He created the current crisis
when the Bush administration was focusing on a possible war with
Iraq. He exploited the anti-American attitude of the new South
Korean president. And he is playing off the United States against
the probable reactions of China and Russia. ...
Nuclear power is the only real poker chip Kim has. It is his
leverage in dealing with the most powerful country in the world.
And as demonic and irrational as Saddam Hussein sometimes
appears, Kim is even more dangerous.
The United States cannot fix this problem alone. But it must
provide leadership by working with the United Nations, and
especially with neighboring South Korea, Japan, China and Russia,
in order to defuse this crisis and, most importantly, develop
programs to bring North Korea out of its Stalinist isolation and
into the world community.
-- The Daily Times, Farmington, New Mexico