What do high-ranking officials, including the President, think

What do high-ranking officials, including the President, think
upon seeing the floods that have hit many areas in the country?

Recent reports gave the impression that they considered the
flooding a trivial problem -- an annual event in the rainy
season.

There has been no special discussion by Cabinet ministers,
focusing on the floods. Yet, Vice President Hamzah Haz has made a
trip to the holy land of Mecca for the haj pilgrimage. It's not
the pilgrimage that we are criticizing, but the Vice President is
in a high-profile position, which carries public responsibility.

Members of the House of Representatives? They have acted as if
they were not representing the people. Both the executive and
legislators have no sense of crisis and seem to be more
interested in political affairs.

The recent natural disasters, including landslides and floods
in East and Central Java, Jambi, Bengkulu and West Java, have
claimed several lives and displaced thousands of survivors.

In Jakarta and Bekasi hundreds of homes have been submerged by
floodwaters.

The disasters have simply emphasized the suffering of ordinary
people. For the people, who are suffering from the economic
crisis, life means now, while the managers of the country are
focusing on the 2004 elections.

-- Republika, Jakarta

Exonerated by the court,
arrested by the police

The Tangerang District Court exonerated on Wednesday three
people from African countries, Kholisan Nkomo, alias Izuchukwu
Okoloaja, Michel Titus Igweh and Hilary K. Chimieze, charged with
drug dealing, for technical reasons.

Police officers arrested the three as they were leaving the
penitentiary gate -- on a previous allegation -- for possession
of drugs.

The trial of the three started after the police found 50 grams
of heroin believed to belong to Okoloaja's girlfriend at a house
in the Regensi Melati Mas housing complex in Tangerang, and
another 5.9 kilograms of heroin at a Kelapa Gading apartment
rented by Chimieze.

However, the court freed the three on Wednesday because the
names on the dossiers were different to the names the court had.

The court decision has apparently incited the anger of Regensi
Melati Mas housing complex residents. The residents said they
were disappointed by the prosecutors' indictments, which proved
to be weak. The police were also disappointed with the court
proceedings. This gave a strong impression that cooperation among
law enforcers were very poor.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta

The rush to war

There is great temptation - especially for those opposed to
military action in Iraq - to blame the upcoming adventure on
Americans to control oil in that part of the world. It is an
interpretation also embraced by most of the Arab and Muslim
world.

Then there is the even shallower argument that the rush to war
is all about this president's desire to get the man his father
failed to nail.

Most of the world loves a simple answer.

The truth is more complex. This is not only about oil,
although it certainly plays a part, and it isn't about a son's
revenge. This is about enormously complicated geopolitics. It is
about maintaining and slowly altering a delicate balance of power
in the Middle East and it is about disarming a disgusting
dictator.

So, let us not be shallow about the reasons for war in Iraq.
They are many and they are deep.

That, however, does not answer the question of why and why
now.

Why, after tolerating the nonsense of Saddam Hussein for a
decade, must we send 100,000 troops into war now? Why must we
expend the wealth of the nation at a time when most Americans are
struggling with a stagnate economy? Why must we delve into this
firestorm knowing it will bring on the wrath of most the Arab
nations and feed the trough of terrorists worldwide? ...

The Anniston Star, Anniston, Alabama

Shuttle Columbia

The outpouring of international sympathy, grief and scientific
solidarity for the United States space authorities after the
tragic disaster with the Columbia shuttle is vivid testimony to
the esteem their work enjoys throughout the world. ...

The 80 pieces of research work the crew was doing, ranging
from analysis of Saharan dust to the nature of high altitude
flashes in the earth's most upper atmosphere, are reported and
commented on in this newspaper today. They draw unusual public
attention to a basic feature of the world we inhabit and take for
granted. The death of these seven crew members will delay
construction of the International Space Station. It is already
substantially behind schedule and dogged with controversy; but
this tragedy should not stop it.

Yesterday's responses by U.S. political leaders and scientific
representatives underlined their determination not to let the
tragedy affect their commitment to the basic work involved - nor
to let it affect morale in other spheres. Such exploration is
very expensive. Nevertheless, the basic research/scientific,
practical/economic, and military/security benefits and payoffs
involved should ensure the program goes on despite this grave
upset. It is a genuinely international endeavor in a globalizing
world more and more reliant on space-based research and
communications. This work must continue after the Columbia
disaster.

-- The Irish Times, Dublin, Ireland