The controversial division of Indonesia's province of Papua

The controversial division of Indonesia's province of Papua
has finally been postponed. The decision was made during a
meeting on political and security affairs chaired by Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

Unfortunately, the decision to postpone the division of Papua
into several provinces was made after several Papuans have fallen
victim to the creation of Central Irian Jaya province late last
week.

The latest conflict in Papua, which erupted last Saturday, is
a reflection of the government's poor policy. The conflict also
reflects overlaps in laws, poor socialization of the laws, and
the government's failure to understand its people's aspirations.

The conflict stemmed from certain rules, including Law No
45/1999 on the division of Irian Jaya, issued during former
president, BJ Habibie's term.

Habibie issued the law to prevent the easternmost province
from seceding from Indonesia.

He also issued Presidential Decree No 327/1999 on the
nomination of Central Irian Jaya and West Irian Jaya governors.

Habibie, however, delayed the implementation of Law No 45/1999
and revoked his presidential decree after the House of
Representatives rejected them.

Habibie's successor, Abdurrahman Wahid, changed the name of
Irian Jaya into Papua on Dec. 25, 2000.

Wahid's successor, President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued
another rule, that is, Law No 21/2001 on special autonomy for
Papua.

Unfortunately, Presidential Decree No 1/2003 on the
acceleration of the creation of Central Irian Jaya, East Irian
Jaya and West Irian Jaya has triggered conflict.

This daily has suggested that any system of rule the
government has already issued should thus be legitimized clearly,
otherwise the flaws in managing the country would be taken
advantage of by irresponsible people.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta

Shuttle report

The seven astronauts who perished with the Shuttle Columbia on
Feb. 1 could have been saved. NASA does not do enough for the
safety of its men. These are the conclusions reached by a panel
of experts charged with determining who was responsible for the
accident.

It is a very harsh accusation brought against the American
space agency. The defense is as expected: it was impossible to
foresee that the small damage to the heat shield tiles would be
fatal.

It will be a long debate. What is certain is that NASA is no
longer the organization that made us dream at the time of the
lunar missions.

In the Sixties, space exploration had similar goals to
military research and commanded almost unlimited resources. This
is no longer the case.

Paradoxically, as space travel becomes routine, the adventure
becomes more dangerous. Of course there's no such thing as a zero
risk, but the real question is one of conscience. Did NASA really
do everything that was humanly possible? Isn't it time for
certain senators in Congress to examine their consciences as they
suggest patching up old shuttles instead of investing in new
development? -- La Stampa, Turin, Italy

Bombay bombing and
India-Pakistan ties

So far, no one has taken responsibility for the terror action
in the Indian city of Bombay in which about 50 people lost their
lives and 150 were seriously injured. It can therefore only be
pure speculation about who was behind it, even though India
authorities already pointed to militant Islamic organization
Lashkar-e-Taiba, based in Pakistan. ...

Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of two terror organizations fighting
for a free Kashmir, and has strong indirect support from
Pakistan. ...

Pakistan was quick to condemn the Bombay bomb, which was aimed
at innocent civilians. At first, India accepted the condemnation.
But yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, known as
a hawk in foreign policy, said Pakistan's declaration would not
be credible unless the country turns over 19 people that India
wants for terrorism.

It is hard to say whether that statement signals a harder
Indian line that could torpedo the difficult peace process Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee put his prestige behind. ... If
that dialogue breaks down, the consequences will be great.

-- Aftenposten, Oslo, Norway

The operation in Iraq

Having forced the war in Iraq without support of some of his
strongest foreign allies, President George W. Bush now finds
himself in need of help from those very same people. Secretary of
State Colin Powell recently met with United Nations Secretary-
General Kofi Annan to try to win support for a resolution calling
on member states to give more help to Iraq. But Secretary Annan
has made it clear that the Security Council is unlikely to back
additional troops in Iraq without United States' concessions to
share decision-making and responsibility with the U.N. ...

Therein lies President Bush's problem. He wants help ... but
insists the U.S. will continue to control all the military,
economic and political decisions in post-war Iraq. ...

President Bush should now ask for U.N. help and be prepared to
allow some United Nations' involvement in decision-making in
Iraq. ...

Having assured Americans that peace was at hand in Iraq and
everything was under control less than a month ago, President
Bush now must explain how it is that the al-Qaeda that he said
was being dismantled has managed terrorism in various places
around the globe and other terrorists are at work in Israel. ...

America is moving swiftly into darker days. Unlike the
horrendous events of World War I and II, the terrorism spreading
throughout the globe results in part from U.S. insistence that
America knows best. Its implications are ominous.

-- The Day, New London, Connecticut

Another report on 'Columbia'

It's the story of our time more than any other, symbolic of a
period in which we trust large public and private organizations
with a part of our future. It's a story about the weaknesses that
exist in some of the ruling technocratic giants and scientists
when they lose their sense of mission - when they 'go off their
rocker,' as it were.

It's in this way, in any case, that you might read the report,
published Tuesday, Aug. 26, by the investigative commission on
the Columbia space shuttle accident which took place Feb. 1 this
year. Seven astronauts died after 16 days in space at the end of
the flight, when Columbia exploded on its return journey above
Texas ....

A remarkable document in its frankness, indeed brutality, the
report denounces first the drift of the NASA culture. It
stigmatizes the passage from an obsessional culture of security
to a culture demanding missions at all costs. It's this
perversion of objectives that generates a mentality of 'it has to
happen,' one which leads to blindness toward certain risks ...
and to the weakening of the systems of precaution ....

The study of this causal chain - the example of the collective
mistake - should interest all large organizations.

-- Le Monde, Paris

;AP;
ANPA ..r..
NA-GEN--Editorial Roundup
UNDATED: be great
JP/

UNDATED: be great
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Helsingin Sanomat, Helsinki, Finland, on bringing tyrants to justice:

Three simultaneous events in the world underline how
inconsistently and hypocritically the world community treats
tyrants. President Saddam Hussein is being tracked down in Iraq -
with good reason - and with no regard to expenses in money and
human lives. At the same time, Liberian president Charles Taylor
is allowed to slip into exile to Nigeria, and one of the most
brutal dictators in recent history, ex-Ugandan president, Idi
Amin, dies after spending two luxurious years exiled in Saudi
Arabia.

But it would be unfair to blame only Saudi Arabia or African
countries, because the Western world is equally stained by the
selective treatment of flagrant violators of human rights.

U.N.-led justice has made some advances in the past few years
with the agreement in Rome in 1998 to set up the International
Criminal Court.

Unfortunately, the beginning has not been too auspicious,
because the three central world powers, China, Russia, and the
United States, have not ratified the agreement.

... the United States - though often raising its voice over
human rights violations - is a country willing to use any
available methods to block the work of the ICC. It has even
threatened to cut off military aid to countries that refuse to
agree to bilateral agreements to make Americans exempt from war
crimes tribunals.

The ICC is so far the best attempt to create an international
system to control and hold perpetrators of war crimes and tyrants
accountable. But the same goes for the ICC as for all other
activity initiated by the U.N.: it is the member countries
themselves that decide how well it will work.
---

---

--

De Telegraaf, Amsterdam, Netherlands, on shipyards:
The closing of the Van der Giessen De Noord shipyard is a bad business.
Not only is it bad for the 400 people who will lose their jobs, but also bad for the Netherlands: a piece of history and expertise will be lost.
The shipyard ran into financial problems in part because of competition from countries that pay their workers less. That's a market force that the ship building industry can't escape.
Worse is the accusation that other countries - especially other countries in Europe - unfairly subsidize their shipyards.
The European Union should investigate this charge.
---

---
The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on American troops in Iraq:

The Bush administration is under growing pressure to increase
the number of troops in Iraq amid an upsurge in deadly terrorist
attacks and general lawlessness.

At the same time, a new Newsweek magazine poll found that 48
percent of Americans want U.S. troops brought home. ...

The administration line continues to be that troop strengths
are adequate, but it is lobbying hard for other countries to send
troops and appears ready to push for a U.N. Security Council
resolution to formalize that appeal. ...

Clearly, the administration was ill-prepared for postwar
demands in both Iraq and Afghanistan, assuming, as Vice President
Dick Cheney put it, that U.S. troops "will be greeted as
liberators." ...

America should be pressing ahead to restore Iraqi political
and police control. And it should redouble efforts to keep the
United Nations engaged in Iraq and other countries, assisting the
U.S. with security, humanitarian and economic needs. But until
those efforts pay dividends in the form of boots on the ground,
America will need additional forces to restore order before the
situation spirals out of control in an ever-mounting cost of
blood and treasure.
---

Daily News, Los Angeles, on the recall and special interests:
Remember California's do-nothing Legislature, the hapless body that couldn't pass the state budget for months and didn't fix anything when it finally did?
The Oct. 7 recall election has made those days a thing of the past. ... Suddenly, legislators are ready to get to work, and work hard, to crank out legislation at breakneck speed.
In total, Gov. Gray Davis stands to sign or veto as many as 1,300 pieces of legislation - that's more than 10 for every member of the Legislature - before his Oct. 7 judgment day.
And it's judgment day that drives the frenzy. Special interests of all kinds - business, labor, attorneys and more - know that Davis is desperate for campaign cash and so is everyone else.
...(T)he special interests see this time as a going-out-of-business sale - everything must go, no reasonable offer refused. This is their chance for once-in-a-lifetime bargains, deals that won't still be around should the state come under new management on Oct. 8. ...
Because business in Sacramento is done with a wink and a nod - rather than a quid and a quo - it's impossible for anyone to prove any actual wrongdoing except for those foolish enough to get caught on tape. But the signs are everywhere, and 1,300 new laws from now, it's doubtful that the lot of average Californians will be any better. ...

GetAP 1.00 -- AUG 29, 2003 00:15:25
;AP;
ANPA ..r..
NA-GEN--Editorial Roundup
By The Associated Press=
JP/

By The Associated Press=

Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers in the United
States and abroad:
---
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on six-way talks on North Korea in Beijing:

North Korea's pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability
threatens the peace and security of not only the Korean peninsula
but also the whole of Northeast Asia. The meeting in Beijing is
the first historic opportunity for all countries with direct
interest in the issues, and with influence in their resolution,
to be represented.

Japan, South Korea, Russia, China and the United States all
have their own agendas for the talks. In general, however, it is
considered that it is best to begin with the premise that not
much will emerge in the way of tangible results.

But time should not be squandered on talking. If North Korea
pursues its nuclear program while the talks are being held, any
conclusion will be delayed that much more, and accomplished facts
will be made in its nuclear armament. Japan cannot tolerate such
a situation, and such a scenario could render the six-way talks
themselves meaningless.

To avoid that, we want those involved in the six-way talks to
do one thing from the outset: Make North Korea stop reprocessing
spent nuclear fuel to produce plutonium-type bombs and freeze all
other elements of nuclear development at once. Whether this
position succeeds will depend upon how they plan to assure North
Korea that the United States has no intention of invading North
Korea by force. We hope the U.S. government will soon present its
own plan for a breakthrough.
---
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, Germany, on Rwanda elections:
(President Paul) Kagame's victory was certain in advance.

Firstly, many Hutus support him because they can see how he
has stabilized the country and boosted the economy.

And secondly, the man has a security apparatus that made it
nearly impossible for any opposition figure to campaign for
himself in the election. Opponents were intimidated and locked
up.

No one could expect Kagame and his governing party to let
themselves in for a dangerous adventure.

In truly fair elections, there would have been a danger that
the Hutus would vote out the Tutsi Kagame. That minority rightly
considers that a mortal danger - not just because of the 1994
genocide, but also because, in neighboring Burundi, the change of
government in 1993 set off a war between Hutus and Tutsis that is
still going on today. ...

If, as he always says, Kagame really intends to make Rwanda
democratic, he must change his style of rule.

As long as there is no freedom of opinion, as long as
political opponents are silenced and as long as he rules with a
powerful police apparatus, his opponents will grow in number."
---
Der Bund, Bern, Switzerland, on Rwanda elections:
A little bit free, a little bit fair - but certainly no more. If an office holder is confirmed by 95 percent of the votes, there's a suspicion of cheating.
Paul Kagame did everything in the campaign to make sure he could relax on election day.
But he would have won the election without cheating, because the gaunt Tutsi is seen as peacemaker in his nation and enjoys much respect. Since he assumed office, he has done everything to heal the divisions in the nation - which has been made up almost exclusively of victims and culprits since the 1994 genocide - and to stabilize Rwanda.
He subordinates everything to this goal. Critics are sent to prison on the pretext that they threaten national unity. The most important Hutu opposition party was declared illegal last spring because it allegedly was stirring up ethnic hate.
Also Kigali's refusal to extradite accused Tutsi government members to the war crimes tribunal in Arusha is officially taken in the name of stability.
But Kagame's domestic priorities had the direst consequences in Congo. He sent his troops deep into the neighboring country with the aim of making harmless the Hutu militias - which retreated there after the genocide.
But on the side, Kigali used the incursion for its own enrichment.
A part of the economic prosperity of Rwanda - of which Kagame can be proud - stems from the shameless exploitation of Congolese resources.
Because he pacified his country, Kagame wears the halo of reconciliation, in the view of western investors as well. But whoever looks closer will see that he still has the stuff of a merciless warrior.
It is to be hoped that he does not resort to it in case of growing opposition in the country.
---

The Daily Telegraph, London, on Bombay bombing and India-
Pakistan relations:

Post-September 11, it is easy for a politician to court favor
with his constituents by evoking the specter of Islamic
radicalism. That is, predictably, what L.K. Advani, India's
deputy prime minister, did yesterday in Bombay following the
deaths of more than 50 people in car bombings.

Mr. Advani, who represents the militant face of the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), did not apportion specific blame
for the twin atrocities, but said that Pakistan had been waging a
"war of terrorism" against the Indians since ... 1971.

... Mr. Advani might, instead, reflect on the siege mentality
that the aggressive Hindu nationalism of his party has instilled
in Muslim Indians.

... Last year ... the BJP rode to re-election in Gujarat by
playing on the alleged Islamic threat. It will doubtless try the
same card in state elections ... and in the general election due
in 2004. The truth is that the party has not much to show from
leading coalition governments at federal level over the past five
years.

... In the absence of achievement in job creation or improved
security, the Muslim threat makes a convenient whipping-boy.

...The playing of the communal card for electoral gain will
reap a whirlwind within, rather than across the Pakistani border.
India remains a secular state with a Muslim population of around
120 million. To push it towards becoming a Hindu republic in
which they will have no place is to risk immeasurably greater
chaos than that inflicted by the bombers of Bombay.
---

GetAP 1.00 -- AUG 29, 2003 00:15:12

GetANT 1.20 -- AUG 29, 2003 11:22:21