The richest gubernatorial candidate

The richest gubernatorial candidate

At least 80 people in West Java have registered as
gubernatorial candidates. The selection process will winnow this
down to six pairs of governors and vice governors, and those
found eligible will proceed to the final test.

Last Wednesday the election committee announced the wealth of
the candidates and the drama began. One candidate, a retired Army
captain, admitted to being worth about Rp 17 trillion, including
buildings valued at Rp 100 billion.

Another contestant, a retired brigadier general and former
chief of the West Java Military Command, put his wealth at Rp 70
billion, making him the second richest candidate.

The third richest was the wife of the late Bandung mayor, who
put her wealth at Rp 46 billion.

There were some strong reactions to these wealth reports.

The retired Army captain said he made his money from a
business in Kuala Lumpur. But as he is only 54 -- it is not clear
when exactly he retired from the Army -- he made all this money
in just 24 years.

The retired captain could be included in the Indonesian
Records Museum as the richest gubernatorial candidate the country
has ever had.

-- Koran Tempo, Jakarta

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Otherop-UN-relevant
Is the UN still relevant?
JP/4/

Is the UN still relevant?

Is the United Nations (UN) still relevant? This question was
raised after the United States attacked Iraq without the approval
of the UN.

The credibility of the UN deserves to be queried. The
international body was too weak and toothless to face off against
the U.S., though it is very tough against small and poor
countries.

It is obvious to many that the UN always sides with the U.S.
and its interests. Unfortunately, the world will soon forget this
after the (Iraq) war is over.

People may forget that the U.S. has committed a crime. There
is no legal evidence that Iraq possesses weapons of mass
destruction. The U.S. has committed a crime because innocent
civilians have been killed during its attacks on Iraq.

The Iraq war was started because of a kind of desire for
revenge, with current U.S. President George W. Bush eager to act
against Iraq for his father Bush Sr., who failed to topple Saddam
Hussein during the first Gulf War in 1991.

Does the U.S. have the right to invade another country and
overthrow its government?

The UN was established because of an awareness of the
importance of maintaining world peace and resolving disputes
between countries without violence.

One thing that is certain to result from the Iraq war is that
the world will no longer trust the UN, which claims to have the
power to maintain world peace.

History records that Indonesian president Sukarno had his
problems with the UN. In a meeting in Jakarta on Jan. 7, 1965,
Sukarno decided that Indonesia would withdraw from the UN and
develop an axis known as The New Emerging Forces. Sukarno was
born too early as there is no single power that can control the
U.S. now.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta