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