The powerful House
The powerful House
The House of Representatives (DPR) will soon be the most powerful institution in this country.
It will have the authority to hold hostage whoever ignores its summons to "clarify certain issues" which they may be unhappy with, for the sake of national interests.
The authority is regulated in a bill on the structure and position of the DPR, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), and provincial legislative bodies (DPRD), which has just been endorsed into law.
It is understandable that during the Old Order (Sukarno era) and the New Order (Soeharto era), the DPR had failed to perform its function to the fullest.
According to a number of legislators, the objective of the bill is to make the DPR more powerful and more reliable so that it would be respected by all components of the state.
However, the goal might be difficult to achieve because the DPR could not be turned into a reliable legislative body by giving it the right through overall improvement.
For the DPR to achieve overall improvement, it should first meet the interests of the people. Second, it should be absolutely clean from all practices of collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN), and third, it should prioritize national interests above all else. -- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta
Employment cartels faking IDs?
A scuffle between police officers and members of the indigenous Jakartans' organization named the Forum Betawi Rempug (FBR) took place at the grand opening of Mega Bekasi Hyper Mall, a new shopping mall, in Bekasi, west of Jakarta, on Wednesday.
The FBR members staged a protest - which turned into heated quarrel with the police officers - as not one of the 300 locals who had applied for a job at the new shopping mall was hired.
Several incidents over employment had also taken place at other places in Bekasi. Locals had once blocked an industrial complex because the industrial complex management turned down all local applications for the jobs. The situation was under control after a number of locals were finally given jobs at the complex.
Providing limited jobs for locals based on their qualification is a must for investors. Disputes inevitably arise in this society when certain owners/managers illicitly hand out the limited number of jobs to people they know, and who happen to be from other villages or towns, instead of the village or town where the the new business is.
In the Mega Bekasi Hyper Mall case, the FBR members alleged that the mall management had awarded some jobs to people living outside Bekasi, but mysteriously possessed Bekasi ID cards. The question is, who should be blamed? The mall management could not have been aware about anything relating to ID card ownership in Bekasi.
To deal with the problem properly, a meeting between the two sides is a must. They must sit together to discuss things to settle the dispute in a mature, professional manner. -- Warga Kota, Jakarta
Dealing with dictators
Charles Taylor, the leader of Liberia, should be arrested and brought before an international court to answer charges of war crimes committed against his people and his neighbors.
Since he seized power about a decade ago, Taylor's rule has been a shining example of how not to run a country. ... In fact, Liberia (has) never experienced peace under his regime.
(Even though) there is a case of genocide to be answered by Charles Taylor, the international community has opted to extend indemnity to Taylor in exchange for him stepping down as president. He will also be allowed to go into exile in Nigeria.
There may be an argument that this compromise encourages other aspirant dictators to continue to butcher their people knowing that they will never be brought to justice.
But the problem is that adopting such a hard-line stance against dictators such as Taylor is not always the best method to stop the fighting.
It is hoped the once Taylor steps down and international peace keeping force will be deployed and there will be free and fair elections.
Africa does not need another Liberia.
-- The Star, Johannesburg, South Africa
Traditional marriage policies
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed state bans on homosexual sex was the latest loud volley in an ongoing cultural war over the shape and nature of personal relationships.
Most states long ago repealed sodomy laws. Indiana did so in 1977. But the ruling affects Texas and 12 other states with similar statutes.
But the most visible change sought in the Culture War is radical redefinition of marriage, a core social institution, to include same-sex relationships.
The Supreme Court anticipated speculation on the issue of same-sex marriage, noting that its Texas sodomy rule applies narrowly to consensual sex in the privacy of the home, not whether the government must recognize gay relationships. Yet in a disapproving dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia warned that the decision leaves little justification for "denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples."
While the time may be right for more privacy in our bedrooms and cilvil rights protection for gays in the workplace, we don't think most people want our laws rewritten to accommodate same-sex marriage.
Instead, they probably agree with Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, who wrote, "Sometimes, change destroys. No structure can stand for long when its bearing wall is removed. the bearing wall of marriage - its central and universal characteristic - is its heterosexuality. Knock that down and what is left is ruin."
-- The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Indiana