Tolerance is getting more costly
Tolerance is getting more costly
There is this irksome joke which goes like, Indonesians differ from Westerners in that when the latter get up in the morning, they think of what they have to do, while the former think of what they have to destroy.
The joke is absolutely untrue. However, if we turn our eyes to the destructions committed by our people, we realize there is a grain of truth in the joke.
Social conflicts, ethnic violence, corruption which has become even more deeply ingrained in every layer of society, destruction of public facilities, and legal abuse are examples of how low our tolerance is, as a nation.
That is why President Megawati's call for Indonesian Muslims to uphold tolerance among the values should not be interpreted as an empty rhetoric.
Megawati's call when opening the National Koran Reading Contest (MTQ) in Palanka Raya, Central Kalimantan on Wednesday was indeed addressed not only to Muslims, but to all the people of Indonesia.
Since the core of democracy is tolerance and a democrat should respect people from other groups, intolerance would be a big problem for our nation.
In fact, our democracy appears to be attractive in its rules, but terrible in implementation because culturally, we learn democracy through books rather than through practice in our daily lives.
Thus, to be tolerant, we have to ask our centers of education, whether our schools, society and families have taught us the importance of tolerance.
Have the school teachers, religious teachers and priests ever sat at one table to say that all religions have similarities, at least in developing the morality and spirituality of their followers?
Because we hear mosques, as well as churches, frequently reverberate with the sounds of sermons on the importance of tolerance and living in perfect harmony, we realize that all religions teach their followers to love their neighbors as they love themselves. -- Media Indonesia, Jakarta
;; ANPAk..r.. Otherop-three-month-truce A three-month truce JP/6/
A three-month truce
The Islamic Militants Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Sunday declared a three month truce. At the same time, Israel began to withdraw from the Gaza strip.
But as usual, the setbacks are waiting just around the corner.
The risk that the Sharon regime will bump off a high Hamas activist, and thus undermine the cease-fire, is immediate. It is also unclear how the stubbornly Islamic groups will uphold the demand that Palestinian prisoners held by Israel be released.
In other words, its business as usual, but the fact that the United States is more engaged than anyone would have predicted even a month ago, conveys hope.
-- Expressen, Stockholm, Sweden
;; ANPAk..r.. Otherop-nuclear-power-plant Nuclear power plant in N. Korea JP/6/
Nuclear power plant in N. Korea
Effort to dissuade North Korea from its nuclear development has assumed new urgency.
North Korea reacted angrily to the U.S. request that the president of the United Nations Security Council issue a statement denouncing North Korea. There is still a wide gap between the United States and North Korea over how to discuss the issue, with the United States pressing for multilateral talks and North Korea insisting on one-to-one negotiations with the United States.
At the same time, a U.S. official said there is no longer any way to complete construction of two light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, suggesting that KEDO's work could even be dissolved.
The questions is whether it is best to proceed straight to abolish the KEDO program right now because it has lost its shine. Suspending or freezing construction of the light-water reactors would be a significant message to North Korea, whose economy is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Exertion of such pressure is indispensable in negotiations with the North. But if KEDO is buried once and for all, the only mechanism for the rest of the world to talk to North Korea about its nuclear program would be lost.
-- Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo