Transparency and accountability are associated with clean

Transparency and accountability are associated with clean government. Without transparency, it would be difficult to eliminate irregularities.

The House of Representatives has a monitoring function. Without monitoring, we could not expect to have a clean government. However, the function must be done transparently to see both the good work as well as the bad.

The House has again humiliated itself. Its working committee on the purchase of the Sukhoi jet fighters aims to investigate alleged irregularities in the deal. However, the investigation was done behind closed doors ... in secret. Unfortunately, this is occurring in the era of reform.

The Sukhoi working committee could inflict losses on President Megawati Soekarnoputri, because the closed investigation would strengthen the people's perception that the purchase of the fighter planes has violated rules.

The image of the House is getting worse. It would be better if the working committee is abolished because the public is already dizzy with all kinds of political play and masks. -- Media Indonesia, Jakarta

No model figures

It seems that Jakarta is the only city in the world where its residents continue to brawl. We cannot understand and accept the fact that such nonsense continually repeats itself.

Reports of brawls in Cakung, East Jakarta; Manggarai, South Jakarta and Matraman, Central Jakarta, are common. The recent fracas took place in Cipinang, East Jakarta, and Petojo Selatan, Central Jakarta.

Surprisingly, most of the clashes are sparked by trivial disputes between two people.

Jakarta is far from an ideal place to live. It is a place where conflicts can happen at anytime and anyplace due to economic reasons. In such a city where gaps between the rich and the poor and the educated and the uneducated are very steep, jealousy can trigger clashes.

The demographic map encourages the spirit of solidarity among those of the same backgrounds. Unfortunately, the solidarity has frequently resulted in negative action. The residents can easily become enraged, even when a member of the group has an encounter with other people.

What we really need is credible leaders who can mediate in disputes. We are lacking credible leaders, including the neighborhood unit heads.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta

Violence against women

A Rawalpindi-based NGO's revelations about women victims of violence are horrifying. According to the data collected by it, some 5,000 women were burnt to death in the last five years by their husbands or in-laws in Rawalpindi-Islamabad and the adjoining areas alone. Revealing the gory details, the rights group's spokeswoman noted with shock and horror the latest method of torturing women to death by electrocution.

The situation in many other parts of the country is no better either. Considering the alarming number of women becoming victims of violence -- harassment, physical abuse, selling of girls in marriages or offering them to adversaries as compensation to settle tribal disputes, rape, imprisonment under false charges of fornication, mutilation, acid throwing, burning, electrocution, honor killing -- not enough is being done at any level -- legal, social or political -- to fight these evils and to safeguard women's rights, interests and, above all, their physical safety and well-being. The fact that their tormentors are seldom, if ever, brought to justice, makes it only more alarming.

Regressive social practices, rooted in tribal and feudal customs and traditions, coupled with an obscurantist interpretation of religious edicts, are the main hurdles in way of according women their due rights, status and protection. Changing social attitudes towards women in a society in transition such as ours requires sustained legal and social efforts and nation-wide legal aid services for women.

The discriminatory Hudood, Qisas and Diyat Ordinances and the Law of Evidence are repressive in spirit and application and deserve to be repealed or suitably modified. Increased representation of women in our legislatures now provides the right conditions and opportunity to get things moving on this very important front.

Pakistan cannot become a moderate, progressive and a prosperous Muslim country without strengthening civil society and abiding by its norms. This requires, first and foremost, giving men and women equal access to opportunities in life, with particular emphasis on the protection of the rights, interests, safety and well-being of women. -- The Dawn, Karachi