The more fiery the clash between the U.S. with the Iraqis is,
The more fiery the clash between the U.S. with the Iraqis is,
the more relevant the discourse on the UN position will be. UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed his concern about the
unjustified attack on Iraq by the coalition forces led by the
U.S. But is his concern enough to help the situation?
Anxiety about the role of the UN has been acknowledged by
Annan, who said that 191 UN members had asked for a session to
discuss the Iraq issue, especially after the war. Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Arab League and Germany had urged that a special
session be held soon.
Apart from how the war would end, the UN role and position
must be queried.
It is unacceptable that the U.S. is not punished for the
attacks, which have killed dozens of civilians, including
children, while the war was actually triggered by (President
Bush's) revenge against Saddam Hussein.
The current situation has inspired National Resilience
Institute (Lemhanas) Ermaya Suradinata to propose that the UN
undergo reform. The reform could start with establishing a more
democratic system and structure within the organization, so as to
give equal treatment to all its members, which are all sovereign
countries.
This issue (the unequal treatment) had been the reason behind
then Indonesian President Sukarno's decision to quit the UN in
1963.
-- Republika, Jakarta
Whither peace in Aceh?
Doubts that Aceh would be quiet, stable and peaceful after the
Dec. 5, 2002 peace deal, may be justified judging from the recent
development in the province.
The peace process seems to be stagnant, making the return of
military forces more likely.
Jakarta argues that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has steadily
violated the peace deal signed in Geneva five months ago.
Meanwhile, despite the peace deal, GAM is consistent in its
demand for independence and refuses the special autonomy status
offered by the central government.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that violations committed by GAM
were serious. GAM imposes illegal taxes on the Acehnese, disturbs
the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the police, recruits new
members and spreads propaganda.
The uncertain situation has apparently caused the members of
the Joint Security Committee (JSC) posted at eight regencies to
centralize by moving to Banda Aceh.
The JSC said that the security of its members would not be
guaranteed in view of the escalating tension in the province.
Now Jakarta is preparing alternatives to deal with the Aceh
problems: First, halting peace efforts and launching a large
scale military operation to crush GAM. Second, continuing the
current peace deal and giving GAM more chances to respect the
Cessation of Hostilities agreement, and to accept the unitary
state of Indonesia. Third, continuing the peace process based on
the Geneva agreement.
-- Harian Ekonomi Neraca, Jakarta
Literacy constraints
The disclosure made at the International Partners Forum in
Islamabad the other day about growing illiteracy in the country
makes dismal reading. The meeting was informed that the number of
illiterates had risen from 10 million in 1950 to 50 million at
present.
This is a far cry from the ambitious target of achieving 70
per cent literacy by 2004. The meeting was informed that Pakistan
was facing a shortfall of Rs 253 billion under the national plan
of action 'Education For All'.
Worries over insufficiency of funds are understandable, but
the key question is whether a conducive environment has been
created to facilitate the implementation of the plan. The drop-
out rate at the primary level remains very high and the less said
about community participation the better. Notwithstanding the
growing stress on gender equality, educational opportunities for
women are far from adequate.
The Women's Literacy for Empowerment Project aimed at making
1.1 million women functionally literate through a one-year cycle
in 30,000 centers during 2002-2003. Not more than 15 per cent of
such units have come up so far, however.
Non-formal education, constituting an important literacy mode,
has not been made fully functional. Nor is adult literacy making
any headway in the absence of proper arrangements at the
grassroots level. Rising poverty levels have rendered the task
increasingly more difficult.
Broad participation of key actors like the provincial
governments, donor agencies and NGOs in literacy promotion is an
important requirement of a viable, multipronged drive to tackle
illiteracy. However, since literacy promotion is essentially a
provincial subject, it is necessary to effectively coordinate
efforts at this particular level to build the necessary thrust
and momentum for the task in hand.
-- The DAWN, Karachi, Pakistan