There have been numerous appeals lately for Australian

There have been numerous appeals lately for Australian domination in the region to be curbed. The appeals were, among others, voiced by Reni Winata, director of the Australian Studies Center at a hearing with Commission I of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday.

It is apparent that Australian domination, especially in bilateral relations with the Southwest Pacific countries, has caused worry. The countries just do not match Australia in terms of economics, technology, defense etc. So, how can we curb Australian domination?

According to Reni, the countries that are affected by Australian domination could use the Southwest Pacific Dialogue (Sw PD) forum to build a power base.

SwPD was established by Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and East Timor in Yogyakarta on Oct. 5, 2002. Sw PD forum is a step forward for the Southwest Pacific countries to analyze regional problems and make an appropriate policy together.

Australia's ability to play its regional and international roles reflects the country's achievements, while its Southwest neighbors, even New Zealand, have found it difficult to compete with Australia.

For the time being, Australia is focusing on cooperation with the U.S. against terrorism. And, like the U.S., Australia is apparently considering unilateral policies against terrorists. Prime Minister John Howard has said that his country was ready to act against terrorists in neighboring countries in Asia.

Referring to the Australian attitude, the alternative proposed by Reni Winata seems interesting.

-- Kompas, Jakarta

Shame on you!

The Jakarta City Council's meeting with city officials at a hotel in Ciloto, Puncak, West Java, on Tuesday was called off because locals were complaining about the traffic jams caused by officials' cars parked outside the hotel.

At least 1,000 officials, including Jakarta councillors and City Hall officials, gathered at the Ciloto Indah Permai Hotel in the resort area of Puncak to discuss Jakarta's 2003 draft budget.

The hotel compound was apparently too small to accommodate all of the cars, forcing many officials to park their cars on the side of the narrow road to Cipanas.

Severe traffic congestion was obviously unavoidable when hundreds of vehicles were jammed along the side of the road.

It was only after the locals complained that the meeting was canceled.

It is not clear why the meeting was being held in Ciloto instead of Jakarta. But it is clear that meeting in Ciloto is much more costly. According to unofficial reports, the budget for the Ciloto meeting reached hundreds of millions of rupiah. Had the meeting been held at the beautiful council building on Jl. Kebon Sirih in Jakarta, that amount of money would not have been necessary.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the councillors have their own logic. Maybe they believe they have the right to spend the provincial administration's money because they are authorized to draft and approve the budget.

What can we say? The councillors are just telling us who they really are.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta

A game of cricket

Shows of force have become the latest trend in the country's political arena these past few days. Demonstrations are challenged with demonstrations; mass deployment is also challenged with mass deployment. Yells are answered with yells, and posters face posters.

These are what we see on the surface. At first, it was the government action to increase fuel prices and utility rates, which prompted people to stage rallies. However, despite the fact that the government has responded with a rollback in the prices of some fuel oils, the rallies have yet to stop. What the people demand is change by toppling Megawati's administration.

Such action has been challenged with similar actions -- rallies in defense of the Megawati administration.

The prolonged rally and never-ending riots would damage the legitimacy of the government, including that of the president who gained the biggest vote in the last general election. This could be accelerated if a bullet kills a demonstrator.

The position of soldiers and the police has changed. Demonstrations are challenged with demonstrations and mass deployment is also challenged with mass deployment. This has caused the people's existence is reduced to cricket's one.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta

Megawati versus the press

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has accused the print and electronic media of making unbalanced reports, especially on the recent demonstrations against the government decision to increase fuel and gas prices as well as electricity and telephone rates.

Megawati's emotional reaction reflected that the protests against her government were exaggerated.

Megawati has forgotten that a president is a public figure who must be ready to face public responses to her government policies, even if they are unpopular.

As chief executive officer of the Mutual Cooperation cabinet, President Megawati should not become emotional in responding to public protests.

Openness, freedom of expression and constructive criticisms are concepts which should be maintained to achieve good governance.

The head of state should spearhead the move to instill in the society values which in the long run could build the nation's character.

Now the question is whether or not President Megawati is capable of empowering the state minister for communication and information to enable him to socialize all government programs and policies to achieve good governance.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian press should continue promoting openness to express constructive criticisms on the bad attitudes of government officials.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta

UN weapons inspections

U.S. President George Bush is being pulled at from all sides. The French want the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq to have more time - as long as until the fall, if necessary. But Bush's defense secretary Rumsfeld wants a decision within a few weeks, in order to decide whether to go to war. He's afraid that weapons inspectors will get caught up in an open-ended cat-and-mouse game, as they did in 1998.

Bush must choose between the two. We hope he will prefer to maintain as broad an international coalition as possible. The public in both Europe and the U.S. want that. If this means he must give the UN inspectors more time for their attempt to disarm Saddam peacefully, then he should do that.

-- De Volkskrant, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Czech President Vaclav Havel's exit

No one in Czech politics today has the format of Vaclav Havel and no one will ever get it. He is a historic rarity and should be remembered that way.

The problem is that it will be incredibly difficult to find a replacement, which the present situation confirms. Two of the favorites are Christian Democrat Petr Pithart, who is close to Havel, and the notably square and conservative Vaclav Klaus.

Whatever the Czech parliament decides, it will never be the same again. An era is over and the Czech Republic must get used to politicians of a more usual fare than the great poet, idealist and politician Vaclav Havel.

-- Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark