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