What's wrong

What's wrong with PT Kereta Api?

The fierce price competition among airline companies serving domestic routes has apparently affected state railway company PT Kereta Api. PT KAI's 2003 net profit of Rp 70 million (around US$8,000) is not only unimpressive, but completely unbelievable for such a large company.

But, is it true that the airline price wars are the only thing causing KAI's shocking performance? The frank answer is no. According to the Indonesia Railway Watch (IRW), several internal factors have been significant factors in disrupting the company's performance.

IRW records show that KAI is finding it difficult to deal with technical problems of locomotives, unpunctuality and collisions. From January to February this year, IRW said, there have been 351 cases of locomotive technical failures, and 597 problems in signal and telecommunication systems. From May to December of last year there were "only" 164 problems affecting locomotives.

According to IRW, last year average departure of trains was 10 minute late and the average arrival was 62 minutes behind schedule.

In February this year, the departure and arrival of the trains averaged 20 minutes and 66 minutes late, respectively.

The facts are obviously confirmation that KAI has never performed. Then the question is why?

It is likely that the managerial concept of the company has failed to meet the recent demands and challenges. We are also afraid that the management team consists of incapable persons, then the combination of the managerial concept and unqualified personnel that causes the company's poor performance. -- Suara Karya, Jakarta

Sweat the cheesy stuff

As Sheldon Silver, the New York Assembly speaker, learned recently, whatever happens in Vegas does not always stay in Vegas. Mr. Silver and his wife went there on vacation two years ago. They hit the jackpot as soon as they checked into the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. The Silvers were upgraded to a US$1,500-a-night suite usually reserved for high rollers. Never mind that he was paying a $109 government rate; these things happen, and Mr. Silver would have you believe it had nothing to do with the fact that Caesars Entertainment Inc., the hotel's owner, is hoping to get a slice of the casino action in New York State. Presumably Caesars lobbyists invite all visitors to Las Vegas out to dinner, as they invited the Silvers.

Mr. Silver has insisted that he has done nothing wrong. Similarly Gov. George Pataki has protested that there was nothing wrong with flying to St. Barts on a private jet provided by a developer -- a developer who has business with the Port Authority -- and the state's weak-kneed Ethics Commission agreed.

Plenty of elected officials need reminding that they were elected to serve, not be served. They were not elected to have their swimming pools built or the roads to their houses repaired, courtesy of the state. Government service is not meant to be a lifestyle enhancer.

Too many politicians figure they can get away with little things because everyone knows you can't be bought for a free dinner or a plane ride. That's how it starts. In Connecticut, Gov. John Rowland's career began unraveling over such vacation- home accouterments as a hot tub.

Former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, renowned for his death- penalty moratorium, now faces charges ranging from racketeering to tax fraud. Within the pages of a very long indictment, which Mr. Ryan has vowed to fight, there are accusations of trips to Jamaica and Palm Springs, courtesy of an associate who had a knack for landing state contracts.

Petty, cheesy morsels of corruption are like the proverbial "broken windows" of violent crime. If we all shrug our shoulders and look the other way, the consequences can be dire.

-- The New York Times

Indonesian poll is the one to watch

On Monday, the focus of Asia's Year of Voting Frequently shifts to Indonesia, where 147 million voters will elect the members of Indonesia's 550-seat parliament. This will be followed by the presidential election on July 5. For Indonesia, this is a milestone poll, the second election since Soeharto was toppled in 1998, and the first in which the president will be chosen directly.

The euphoria of "people power" has faded, the economic rewards that were supposed to accompany it have failed to materialize and freedom is starting to look a bit like instability, even chaos. This is certainly the case in Indonesia. Although economic growth has picked up, it is nowhere near to what would be required to improve the living standards of a nation of 235 million people with an average annual income of US$690 ($907.50). President Megawati Soekarnoputri has run a lazy administration, so the greatest barrier to constructive political, legal and economic reform in Indonesia -- endemic corruption -- has not been addressed. The danger in these circumstances is that voters may look for a "strongman" in the presidential poll, and turn to former army chief Gen. Wiranto, whose role in the atrocities in East Timor that left 1500 people dead would make him a daunting prospect for Australia -- and the U.S. -- to deal with.

The good news, however, is that the Indonesian election looks like following the trend set by Malaysia last month in two important respects: The poll should be free, peaceful and fair; and the fundamentalist Islamic parties are languishing in single digits. As well as being our 10th-largest trading partner, Indonesia is our key strategic partner in the regional fight against terror and, while there is still some mutual suspicion at business-to-business and government-to-government levels, at the level of police cooperation the partnership has already reaped dividends, notably in the successful prosecution of the Bali bombers.

-- The Australian, Sydney

Arab summit chaos

Tunisia's sudden decision to cancel the Arab summit conference serves to highlight the utter chaos raging in the Arab camp. The host called off the summit at the eleventh hour without even consulting the foreign ministers who had gathered in Tunis.

No wonder, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has expressed his "astonishment" at the decision. More chaos was in the offing, with Egypt offering to host the conference and Tunisia insisting that it reserved the right to call a summit meeting whenever it wished.

There was no unanimity on the Egyptian offer: it was accepted by Yemen and Jordan, the others sitting on the fence. All this show of disunity comes in the wake of Israel's murder of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

The summit cancellation was due to differences over President George Bush's Greater Middle East Initiative, but the holding of the conference could have demonstrated Arab unity in the wake of Sheikh Yassin's murder.

As pointed out by a Palestinian spokesman, the disarray in Arab ranks could encourage Israel to take "large-scale actions" against the Palestinians. No wonder, Tel Aviv should have gloated over the postponement, saying it showed that "the Arab world" was changing.

The American "initiative" has little chance of success. There are basically two problems with it: One, anything coming from outside is bound to face resistance.

If the Arab world is to have democracy, it must grow from within. Two, it ignores the Palestinian question. The initiative cannot arouse the interest of Arab leaders and people unless it seeks to undo the injustices done to the Palestinian people. Israel is in illegal possession of Arab lands.

Washington must see to it that this occupation comes to an end, and the Palestinians have a sovereign state of their own. Without addressing this basic issue, Washington should not expect its reform initiative to make any headway. As a prelude to this, Washington must pressure Israel to end its reign of terror in occupied territories and renounce murder as a state policy.

-- The Dawn, Karachi

On U.S.-Iraq

Did the decision by U.S. President George W. Bush to invade Iraq last year divert attention and resources from the war on terrorism?

The more serious of Richard Clarke's charges is that the Bush administration was obsessed with Iraq from the beginning, and tried to link Baghdad to Sept. 11. This charge goes to the heart of the matter, and should be debated in this year's presidential election.

Its entire approach to Iraq was based on the claim that regime change in Baghdad would further the aims of the war on terrorism by transforming an entire region. If it did not, the electorate has every right to hold it accountable. If it did, how so?

The truth of the matter is, successive administrations failed to curb al-Qaeda's growth. The bipartisan commission looking into Sept. 11 will issue its final report at the end of July, but all its initial findings indicate there will be plenty of blame to go around. -- The Straits Times, Singapore

Gays in the military

It's not surprising that the number of gays dismissed from the armed services has reached its lowest level since the Pentagon adopted its "don't ask, don't tell" policy nine years ago.

The explanation is simple: The armed forces are struggling to maintain troop strength in Afghanistan and Iraq. Discharging soldiers because of sexual orientation doesn't make sense.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network reports that the military kicked out 787 gays and lesbians in 2003, down 17 percent from 2002 and 39 percent from 2001.

Under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, gays may serve if they don't reveal their sexual orientation.

Long after homosexual conduct between consenting adults was legalized by individual states (and by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling), it's still verboten under Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The military has justified its homophobia by claiming that gays are prejudicial to "good order and discipline." (That echoed the British armed forces, institutional ancestors of the American military.)

But on both sides of the Atlantic, homosexuals have always been in the ranks and have served with honor, often giving their lives for their countries. In times of grave national crisis, sexual orientation doesn't seem to matter as much as combat skills.

"When they need people, they keep them," C. Dixon Osborn, executive director of the Servicemembers group, told The Associated Press. "When they don't, they implement their policy of discrimination with greater force."

Britain rescinded its ban on gays in uniform in 1999, and no one can disparage the outstanding performance of UK troops in the Iraq war.

It's time for Congress to do the same and excise this outmoded affront to individual liberty from military law -- and sound Taps for "don't ask, don't tell. -- The Denver Post, Denver, Colorado

Sino-India relations

There's a subtle but sure shift taking place in Sino-Indian relations: from political grandstanding to a sort of quiet pragmatism. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's six-day sojourn in China last year was clear enough indication of this. And now the visiting Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Cao Gangchuan thinks aloud about China and India becoming "eternal good neighbors, good partners and good friends". And establishing defense ties.

China's wish for a multipolar world where it occupies prime position in a unipolar Asia was never a best-kept secret. So the post-9/11 U.S. war on terrorism must have made Beijing uneasy. Beijing must also be concerned by the growing Indo-U.S. military partnership.

China must be banking on military cooperation with India to be a counterweight in such an eventuality. And, Gen. Cao may add, even if there's little political progress made, trade relations that include defense establishments never hurt anyone. -- The Hindustan Times, Delhi, India

The postponed Arab summit

Surprised at a unilateral Tunisian decision to scrap an Arab summit hours before its scheduled opening, Egypt, being the country of the Arab League's headquarters, has stepped in to offer to host the deferred gathering. The Egyptian offer has drawn warm welcome from an Arab world disappointed at the inability to convene a prescheduled summit under such crucial circumstances.

Contacts are under way between Cairo and other Arab capitals to set the scene for this urgent conference, which will be aimed, among other things, at undoing the damage wrought by the sudden decision to postpone the Tunisian gathering indefinitely. The Palestinian-Israeli dispute, Iraq and a controversial U.S. plan for reforms in the Arab world topped the agenda of the aborted Tunisian event.

The Palestinian problem was moved to the top of the agenda after Israel's cold-blooded slaying of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the resistance movement Hamas. The killing of the wheel-chair-bound Yassin in an airstrike in Gaza last week fired up sentiment across the Arab nation. -- Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt

'The Passion of the Christ'

Once you've seen Mel Gibson's film, the most profound remaining mystery is why this Passion arouses so many passions. Something so excessive should be insignificant.

A sadomasochistic film, it is fascinated with violence, suffering and hate. It is a work that could exacerbate anti- Semitism, as the only question it raises is who had Jesus put to death and singles out Jewish elders as the only ones responsible.

This film is not a work of art, nor an invitation to spirituality, but a propaganda tract attempting to mobilize believers and stir up their passions.

-- Liberation, Paris

Chirac's election setback

So, he has three years ahead of him, Jacques Chirac, with a challenging left opposition.

Is he going to sack the prime minister or order him to change course?

The basic forecast after the left's victory was that the head of government would be allowed to stay on after all.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin has certainly lost some of his credibility as the man from the countryside who understands the common Frenchman, but he still retains his by far greatest advantage -- that he is not a presidential candidate next time.

Jacque Chirac wants to decide on this issue himself. And as long as he can do that, he's in control also of French politics. -- Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden

Faster travel

Not six months after the consigning of Concorde to the great hangar in the sky, NASA scientists have inaugurated a new generation of whiz-bang fast things that makes old big nose look like a slow coach.

Whether or not it is entirely positive for human beings to be able to hurl themselves from one side of the earth to another in the blinking of an eye is another matter entirely. This is not to suggest that readers should emulate the kind of naive fears about progress that encouraged many eminent Victorians to view the train with loathing. And regular trans-Atlantic commuters would happily dispense with the jet lag that accompanies "red eye" flight. However, there are many among us for whom life moves rather too speedily as it is.

Necks may crane when jets pass over, mobile phones may have replaced birdsong as the soundtrack to our lives. But that does not mean that their owners should not also pore over novels, nod over cricket and refuse to watch pots boil. After all, many's the hare that ends up as roadkill. Tortoises more often than not see out their three score years and ten. -- The Times, London

Ireland's smoking ban

Most of the articles written about the ban on smoking in the workplace, introduced in Ireland last night, have been lighthearted in tone. They have focused on the sheer incongruity of imposing such a ban in the homeland of James Joyce and Flann O'Brien, where the smoke-filled bar is so much a part of the national culture.

Britons would be foolish, however, to laugh too heartily about the ban. What has happened in Ireland is a very serious assault on the civil liberties of a substantial minority of the population. Many hundreds of thousands of smokers -- a quarter of the adult population, according to the Irish government's own figures -- are being denied one of the great pleasures of their lives by nannying politicians who have paid not the slightest heed to their wishes. -- The Daily Telegraph, London

Australian forces in Iraq

The consequences of the U.S.-led coalition's invasion of Iraq for the wider war against terrorism remain a matter of contention. What ought to be beyond contention is that, having taken part in that invasion, members of the coalition have thereby incurred an obligation to the people of Iraq.

When Australian troops return from Iraq should be determined by when that obligation is fulfilled. Civil order must be restored and essential infrastructure rebuilt, and the Iraqi people must be supported in establishing democratic structures of government.

It has been generally recognized that this process will not be completed by the time Iraqi sovereignty is restored. Now, however, Opposition Leader Mark Latham has pledged that if Labor wins office later this year he will ensure that the remaining Australian troops in Iraq are home by Christmas.

Perhaps Mr. Latham believes that the popular mood is shifting, and that the Howard Government is increasingly vulnerable because of its commitment to the Iraq war. That may be so, but it does not remove Australia's responsibilities in Iraq.

The time to go will become clear as events unfold in Iraq. So Labor's policy used to be, and so Mr. Latham should have left it. -- The Age, Melbourne, Australia

The French regional elections

The defeat of the right in the French regional elections ... has made many of our commentators, as well as many Italian politicians, think that in Europe the left has suddenly become victorious.

It is not like that.

In Germany only a miracle could save the red-green coalition from a political "debacle" at the next elections.

Part of the explanation should be sought in the way the electoral campaign was managed ... the left presented itself as more united.

This explanation is correct but incomplete. There's more. There's the fact that the French government pays for its attempts, however shy, to reform the welfare state.

The lesson of the French case is that whoever tries to oppose economic stagnation and decline stands a great chance of being punished by the electorate.

Oppositions are not rewarded for their eventual virtues, governments (of any color) are punished for their attempts ... to bring their respective countries out from the dead canal of stagnation.

If this is really the new European trend, we should be frightened. -- Corriere della Sera, Milan, Italy

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The Dallas Morning News, on Sudan's genocide:

Ten years ago, the world stood by while the Hutu government of Rwanda and its extremist allies tried to exterminate the country's Tutsi minority. About 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus died in what author Samantha Power called "the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the 20th century."

Once the extent of the pogrom became clear, world leaders regretted their failure to respond. During his 1998 visit to Rwanda, President Bill Clinton even went so far as to apologize.

In Sudan, the warning signs of a similar tragedy are evident. The crisis has nothing to do with the long-simmering civil war in southern Sudan, which pits the mostly Arab and Muslim central government against Christian and animist blacks. That war is winding down, thanks in large measure to U.S. diplomacy. Rather, the crisis emanates from the western province of Darfur, where government-backed Arab Muslim militiamen are carrying out a scorched-earth campaign against the region's Muslim blacks.

Roger Winter of the U.S. Agency for International Development recently told Congress that the war there is "arguably the most serious humanitarian crisis on the African continent." Half of Darfur's 6 million people have been affected, and a sixth of them are on the run. The militiamen's method of operating, Mr. Winter testified, "is to rape, loot and burn villages with total impunity."

Humanitarian organizations have difficulty getting through with food and medicine. Even when they do get through, the militiamen steal their supplies.

The central government has a right to attack Darfur's rebels. It doesn't have a right to murder and chase out civilians. There's oil in Sudan, but that isn't why the United States should involve itself. No, the United States should involve itself so that another president won't feel obliged to apologize for having ignored genocide.

As a presidential candidate, George W. Bush said he agreed with the decision not to intervene in Rwanda. As president, he should realize that the United States and the rest of the world have a duty to mankind that transcends self-interest. --- San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego, California, on American censors:

The closing of the Baghdad newspaper, Al Hawza, is a case of egregious bad judgment by the American occupation authority; it should be reversed. The Bush administration wants to create democracy in Iraq. Democracies include newspapers of all stripes, good and bad, those that support governments and those that don't.

One can make a case against public speech that incites violence or insurrection ... but that was not the charge against Al Hawza, a Shiite weekly. The charge rather was that it was anti-occupation, printed unsubstantiated rumors and occasional lies.

As to printing unsubstantiated rumors and lies, we suggest the checkout stand of your local supermarket for an assortment of scandal sheets published in this country. ...

Al Hawza supports Moktada al-Sadr, a fiery cleric who has no use for the American occupation. Unlike Grand Ayatollah Ali al- Sistani, a fellow Shiite whose opposition to the occupation is more subtle (and, many would argue, more dangerous), Sadr's views are expressed openly and defiantly. He is anti-occupation, anti- American and unreliable. Al Hawza reflects those positions and qualities.

But should it be censored and closed? Does it make sense to drive such sentiments, which clearly exist, underground? Does censorship ever do anything but create more interest in what has been censored and more anger in those who, denied the pen, are left with the sword?

Under Saddam Hussein, the world knows, there was no dissent. ...

Americans should never compromise the free press principle, so vital to democracy, whether at home or in nations that fall temporarily under our control. As long as Al Hawza does not incite public violence, its freedom to print should not be curtailed. --- The Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach, Florida, on the 9/11 Commission:

Apparently, the Bush administration is so threatened by information that it assumes everyone is afraid of public disclosure. Republicans sent out last week to discredit former anti-terror chief Richard Clarke thought they could scare him by threatening to declassify his 2002 testimony before a bipartisan congressional committee.

But the truth, the whole truth and the public truth seems not so intimidating to Mr. Clarke and others, such as Sen. Bob Graham, Democrat-Florida, who was co-chairman of that committee and was demanding release of needlessly classified material long before Mr. Clarke made headlines.

Most notably, Sen. Graham objected last year when the White House classified an entire section of his committee's report on Saudi Arabia's ties to the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Clarke, who says President Bush let Al-Qaeda slip in priority and damaged the war on terror by invading Iraq, on Sunday embraced the Bush administration's "threat."

He called for release of his 2002 testimony as well as memos he exchanged with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice prior to Sept. 11, 2001. Sen. Graham last week said that he didn't think Mr. Clarke's testimony before the congressional committee conflicted with Mr. Clarke's recent testimony before the 9/11 commission. ...

The Bush administration threatens to tell what it knows. Why is that a threat? It should be a promise.

GetAP 1.00 -- APR 2, 2004 01:41:15 ;AP; ANPA ..r.. Editorial Roundup By The Associated Press= JP/

By The Associated Press= Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the world:

--- The East African, Nairobi, Kenya, on challenges for Rwanda:

Rwanda next week commemorates 10 years since the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed in the space of 100 days. The government will spend $7 million on the weeklong festivities that will see several heads of state and government converge at Kigali from April 7.

... In the past 10 years, the country has made giant strides toward economic revival, which even critics of President Paul Kagame's government cannot ignore.

Growth rates averaging 6 per cent have been recorded, inflation kept under 5 per cent and the exchange rate brought under control. Tea output has increased and the privatization process is described as a success. ...

Peace has returned to the nation of 8.2 million and thousands of troops that had been deployed to the Congo are back in the country. Some Interahamwe commanders have also given up their rebellion and returned to Kigali.

However, we urge the government in Kigali to use the celebrations to reflect on the challenges ahead. Among these are the high level of poverty, which currently stands at 60 per cent; the incidence of HIV/Aids, which is estimated at more than 13 per cent; unemployment; and the issue of returning refugees from neighboring countries like Tanzania and Uganda. ---

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--- Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on EU's decision to fine Microsoft:

One of the reasons for the repeated antitrust offensives against Microsoft around the world is obviously its near monopoly on the market for PC operating systems, the basic software on which a computer runs. Much of the blame, however, falls on the company for its aggressive and questionable marketing strategy aimed at dominating the market for important applications as well.

If many applications are bundled together with the dominant operating system, software developers will have little incentive to offer alternatives, thus curbing competition. As a result, better programs would not be developed and prices of existing applications would tend to rise. The lack of alternatives could also make computer systems more vulnerable to computer viruses, with attacks concentrating on the only program available. All these considerations provided good justification for the EU's tough action to stop Microsoft's bundling approach.

Unfettered competition on a level playing field has been the principle driving force of technological innovation, especially in the area of information technology. Microsoft should learn to live with this competitive dynamic of a free market and act in a manner that befits the leading player in the field. [ MORE[

GetAP 1.00 -- APR 2, 2004 01:41:05