The Indonesian nation is currently facing many problems.

The Indonesian nation is currently facing many problems.
Living costs are getting higher as electricity, telephone and
water rates, as well as transportation fares and toll fees have
been increasing.

Meanwhile, business competition has become tougher. The
number of people in their productive years has been increasing
while the number of fields of employment are getting limited.

The people also have to face problems outside "domestic" ones.
For example, the Aceh crisis. Although most Indonesians are not
directly affected by the crisis, in terms of emotional proximity
however, it has caught their attention.

Another problem is about the education bill, the debate on
which has drained our energy. The people are again witnessing
the incapability of members of the political elite in managing a
conflict, which has the potential to cause confrontations among
certain elements of the society.

Despite our lack of confidence in the House of
Representatives, we pin our hopes on it if we agree that we have
to accept democracy.

Indeed, there is no easy way to gain democracy. Different
opinions cannot be denied. We have to face many problems in this
life, but there must always be some way out.

-- Republika, Jakarta

Israel's dilatory tactics (prioritas)

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent admission, that
it is impossible to keep the Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip under occupation forever, has done little, if
anything, to change the way he is perceived in the Arab world.
His gory track record belies any bid on his part to cast himself
as a peacemaker.

Sharon unwittingly fed doubts about his alleged change of
heart when he pledged during a historic summit in Jordan last
week to remove "unauthorized" Jewish outposts in the West Bank.
His pledge was a glaring attempt to circumvent a freeze
stipulated in the U.S.-backed "roadmap" peace plan on Jewish
settlements.

The world rightly believes that Jewish settlements pose a
major obstacle to peacemaking in the Middle East. Sharon is
expected to manipulate the far right's anger over obligations set
in the "roadmap" to wriggle out of American pressure to carry out
his side of the deal.

Likewise, Sharon may well employ another ruse: playing for
time. While projecting himself as a peacemaker, the Israeli
premier assumes that in few months' time, U.S. President George
W. Bush's attention will be distracted away from the turbulent
politics of the Middle East to campaigning for a second
presidential term.

-- Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt

Britain and the euro

It is a bad idea to hold a referendum if one is positively
sure in advance that one will lose.

That alone was a wise and realistic decision, which British
Finance Minister Gordon Brown made public Monday when he decided
that Britain's decision to take part in the euro was once again
sent to the sidelines.

Very few doubt that the British government - especially Prime
Minister Tony Blair - very much would like Britain to be a part
of the euro. However, the opinion polls have always indicated
that it will be hard to get a "yes" in a country that
traditionally has been skeptical of the European Union.

-- Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen, Denmark