Political coalition

Political coalition

The meeting between former president Abdurrahman Wahid and
National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais in Jakarta on
Wednesday was a political surprise. It was their first public
meeting since Abdurrahman, known as Gus Dur, was impeached during
a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly in 2001.
The two are known as political foes.

Earlier in Surabaya, East Java, Gus Dur met with Golkar Party
chairman Akbar Tandjung and Amien Rais' aide, Fuad Bawazier. The
Surabaya meeting was said to have been held to establish a kind
of coalition to support practical interests in East Java.

What is meant by coalition and practical interests is that the
three parties came together to back Abdul Kahfi and Ridwan Hisjam
as governor and deputy governor of the province.

Politics is a dynamic process, which always makes it
interesting to follow the results of coalitions and political
meetings.

The instant lesson we can draw from the recent political
happenings -- relating to the East Java gubernatorial election --
is that the coalition of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and
Golkar did not work. Their candidates, Abdul Kahfi and Ridwan
Hisjam, only got 34 votes. The candidates of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Alliance
faction, Imam Utomo and Soenarjo, were elected with 63 votes.

All of these things really show that things can change.
Political coalitions and alliances are dynamic, and all we can do
is continue to remind parties that the nation's interests must
receive proper attention.

-- Kompas, Jakarta

School of intelligence

Two schools of intelligence will be established in Indonesia.
Teachers and instructors reportedly will come from the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Russian KGB.

One intelligence agent in the right spot is as good as 20,000
soldiers on the battlefield, said Napoleon Bonaparte. We do not
know if President Megawati Soekarnoputri was aware of Napoleon's
statement when she officiated over the establishment of the
schools in Batam.

The opening of the schools of intelligence should be
applauded, as the renowned University of Indonesian and Bandung
Institute of Technology support the schools.

It is interesting to note statements by the deputy head of the
State Intelligence Body, As'at, who said instructors and teachers
would come from the CIA and the KGB. We query the reputation of
both the CIA and the KGB, as we learn that the CIA has made
several blunders, including its information on Iraq's weapons of
mass destruction, and the fact that the KGB's reputation in the
international world is not very good.

Strategic intelligence synthesizes information, especially
related to politics, the economy, technology, military and
geography. It can then be expected that the two schools will
produce qualified intelligence agents with a great deal of
integrity. -- Koran Tempo, Jakarta

The awakening of Terry Wallis

Imagine being in a coma for 19 years, not uttering a word -
the world literally passing you by.

That's what happened to Terry Wallis of Mountain View. He
slipped into a coma after a 1984 car accident. He fully regained
consciousness last month and has slowly begun speaking, something
his family describes as nothing short of a miracle. ...

Again, imagine missing 19 years of your life, waking up to
find a 19-year-old daughter, family members absent due to
death ... that your country is on its third president since your
accident and has fought in two wars.

Imagine seeing nothing but blinks and hearing nothing but
grunts as communication from your loved one, and out of the blue
one day ... they wake up and start talking.

Wallis, now 39, was riding with a friend in July 1984, when
their car left the road and plunged into a creek. He and his
friend were found the next day underneath a bridge. The friend
was dead and Wallis was comatose.

His daughter, Amber, was born shortly before the accident, but
he was unable to communicate directly with her for almost two
decades. She is now 19 and her dad has said he wants to walk
again, for her. ...

-- The El Dorado News-Times, El Dorado, Arkansas

France and Germany not
sending troops to Iraq

Not even good European intentions can help the Americans. It
is a fact that NATO is sending 5,5000 troops on peacekeeping
missions in Afghanistan next month. There, there are already
French and German troops and the two countries also have units on
the Balkans. France has troops in the Ivory Coast and leads, on
behalf of the European Union, a peacekeeping mission in Congo.

So (French and German) troops are sold out and France and
Germany can with a good conscience reject American wishes (of
sending troops to Iraq).

-- Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark

Can a democratic govt
take root in Iraq?

The skepticism is based on well-founded concerns: Iraq has a
history of totalitarian rule and conflict among different ethnic
and religious groups. ...

Yet, there's reason for optimism. A lively political dialogue
has developed in Iraq, fostered by the emergence of periodicals,
pamphlets and newspapers. Iraqi citizens again are taking control
of municipal services. And, a Governing Council has just been
established to help shape Iraq's destiny, including the drafting
of a constitution. ...

The United States and British militaries did a masterful job
driving Hussein from power. Unfortunately, the initial postwar
administration led by Jay Garner, a retired lieutenant general,
did not act with the same decisiveness or professionalism.

Under (L. Paul) Bremer, who took over in early May, things
seem to be changing. The United States and its allies have an
enormous nation-building job ahead of them, but at least now
there are a few signs that success may be possible.

--South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Ending the steel tariffs

From the moment the Bush administration slapped protectionist
duties of up to 30 percent on imported steel a year ago March,
this page argued it was a short-sighted mistake.

The steel tariffs raised the cost of steel at a time when the
American economy was floundering and made a hypocrite of
President Bush, who argued passionately to poorer countries
everywhere that free trade was the ticket to prosperity.

Now the World Trade Organization has ruled, in a case brought
by the European Union, Japan and six other countries, that the
tariffs violate global trade rules. Friday's ruling came as no
surprise; it confirmed a preliminary opinion issued in March.

This should give the Bush administration a convenient reason
to dump this bad policy, which has caused economic damage at home
and abroad and raised trade tensions around the world. But the
administration said it will appeal the decision and keep the
tariffs in place during the appeal, thereby compounding this
mistake.

... These tariffs are expensive to the economy, damaging to
U.S. credibility and now have been found to be illegal. The U.S.
should abide by the WTO ruling and dump the tariffs.

-- Chicago Tribune