EDITORIAL : THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, NIGERIA

THE ASUU STRIKE THREAT
 |RECENTLY, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, after its National Executive Council meeting held at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, warned that its members would
down tools if the outgoing National Assembly failed to enact the relevant laws for the smooth  running of the country’s university system in line with the agreement reached between the Federal Government and the union in 2009. ASUU is irked by the fact that two years after, government was yet to enact the laws that would give effect to the major areas of the agreement which required legislation for implementation and enforcement.

IT is a curious irony that just as ASUU was preparing to down tools, President Goodluck Jonathan was elsewhere pledging to revitalise education. President Jonathan renewed his administration’s commitment to improving the quality of education within the next four years while inaugurating the Nigeria Education Data Survey in Abuja. The Education Data Survey is being supported by the United States of America but that forum provided a platform for President Jonathan to reiterate the central position occupied by education in his administration’s bid to improve the living conditions of Nigerians.
PRESIDENT Jonathan had at that forum aptly noted that this desire would be a difficult task to achieve without education. He had also noted that the myriad of problems facing Nigeria could best be tackled by a vibrant educational system and that none of the country’s development goals could be achieved if the education system was unable to respond to the needs of the country’s economy. President Jonathan also revealed that a sum of N59.9 billion naira was being spent to upgrade tertiary institutions in the country.
IT is obvious from these facts that there is a disconnect between the executive and the legislature. While the executive is claiming to be zealous in improving the educational sector, the legislature is slothful in not providing the enabling laws that will make the desires of the executive arm of the government realised. For instance, ASUU, led by Professor Ukuechukwu Awuzie, is particularly worried that the government up till now, has not been able to enact laws to give effect to the 70 years retirement age for lecturers as agreed in 2009. According to Professor Awuzie, during the press conference after ASUU NEC’s meeting; “The expectation was that this item in the agreement would be passed into law within a few months of the agreement. After close to two years of waiting in vain, and seeing the consequences in the form of continuing brain drain in the university system, ASUU members have become restive across the country.”
CERTAINLY the slow, plodding process of legislature is a disservice to the integrity of the administration in this particular instance.
WHILE it may be understandable that the legislative process cannot be done with the typical executive fiat, two years are too long to enact a law that will  stipulate the age of retirement of lecturers so as to discourage brain drain as ASUU has pointed out. We observe that the sixth Assembly has not acquitted itself well in the legislative function. Not only has it done so little by enacting laws, it has also woefully failed to impact on the lives of Nigerians. On the contrary, it has carried on with unspeakable greed and selfishness to the detriment of the Nigerian people. Sadly, this is the Assembly within which the sovereignty of Nigeria people must be located, yet, it has in the main spurned the people who voted them there, plundered their treasury and dashed the people’s hope. The enactment of laws to raise the retirement age of lecturers is just one example of many areas where the legislature has failed to live up to its billing as the representative of the people.
HOWEVER, if the legislative arm of the government can be faulted on the grounds of insensitivity to important matters, ASUU should resist the temptation to resort to shallowness in its reaction. If it makes good its threat to down tools on account of the lack of integrity on the part of the government, its action will smack of going in the direction of two wrongs which never make a right. Already, the education sector of the Nigerian society is bedevilled by a myriad of problems which an industrial action will only exarcerbate. A strike should be the last weapon in ASUU’s arsenal for now. ASUU should be seen as cooperating with the administration with a quest to wrest the education sector from the jaws of the monster of deterioration and decay.
WE appeal to ASUU to tread softly and refrain from being provoked unduly. It is impossible to expect any redemption from this Assembly. We will also want to urge the succeeding Assembly to be inaugurated soon to treat the ASUU request expeditiously so that stability and normalcy may return to the education sector generally and the tertiary belt specifically. President Jonathan should be able to encourage the next assembly to repair the misdeeds of this past assembly so that his administration’s integrity may not be unduly impugned by an insensitive and selfish legislature.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY NEWS EGYPT, EGYPT

What dialogue?

CAIRO: Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ (SCAF) almost obsessive preoccupation with “communicating with the public” stands starkly in contradiction with its complete failure to do so, if the events of the past week are anything to go by.

First I must state my position on the SCAF: While I have numerous reservations about how the council is managing Egypt’s transition to a civil state, I do not believe that the SCAF should be replaced by a presidential council, since it would be almost impossible to achieve consensus over its members.

So this article is not about “inciting” readers against the SCAF. What it is about, however, is a request to the ruling army council to provide the public with its exclusive glossary of definitions for the sake of eliminating miscommunication.

Take the SCAF’s invitation to representatives of youth coalitions nationwide earlier this week. In their 60th and 61st invitation statements, the council seems to have deliberately intended to be vague in its use of the word “tawasol,” literally “to connect.” The statements never once clearly said that council was proposing to hold a dialogue with the youth coalitions, but repeatedly said that it was extending its invitation within the framework of its “continued effort to connect with the Egyptian people.”

The exact nature of this “connection” process was shrouded in complete and utter mystery. There was no hint at the role of the other side — the youth with which the SCAF wished to connect.

According to one of the attendees of this “connect fest” where apparently 1,200 participants were treated to loads of food, an hour and a half of one-way “connecting” from the army’s side about the achievements of Egypt’s glorious protectors of the revolution, one the army members present also made it clear to the youth they were “connecting” with that the army had other options — a certain General Qaddafi was even evoked by name.

Like an afterthought, in the last half hour of the “connect fest,” some of the youth were able to get in a few words edgewise.

But generally, as far as the attendees were concerned, there was little “connecting” at El-Galaa Theater, where this farcical performance was ironically held. And to reinforce the emerging definition of the SCAF’s notion of “connecting,” army PR booklets were distributed among the youth, like party favors, and as a booby prize, the boys and girls were asked to fill in questionnaires that spanned the gamut from (again) how they evaluated the SCAF’s performance — note that this comes right after the long related lecture — to their favorite presidential hopeful, a question which in itself raises much suspicion.

With this fresh experience of “connecting” in the background, it’s hard not to take the SCAF’s recent invitation to hold an open forum on media reform on June 8 with a grain of salt.

This proposal came on the heels of a growing lack of tolerance for criticism by activists and journalists of the army and the military police for alleged human rights violations, especially the virginity checks, those acts of sexual assault performed on detained female protesters held on March 9, which the SCAF has refused to investigate, let alone acknowledge officially.

While the SCAF has repeatedly claimed that it safeguards the freedom of the press and the media, again, its definition of “freedom” is both confused and contentious. Freedom of the press certainly does not mean creating a National Media Council to be headed by a SCAF general, as Al-Ahram daily reported may likely take place in the absence of a minister of information.

To guarantee media freedom and at the same time adherence to professional standards of reporting, the army should leave it to the industry professionals to regulate themselves. The starting point is that there should be no oversight on content from outside media circles, and in cases like libel, defamation and slander or incitement to hatred or murder, where a crime has been committed, then this would be an issue for the courts.

Everywhere in the developed world where the media truly acts as the fourth estate, monitoring the centers of power on behalf of the people, there are independent regulatory systems and editorial guidelines governing the industry. Now with the profusion of self-publishing online tools, social media and citizen journalism, the old rules and regulations must also be revised.

If the SCAF was dedicated to ensuring that the fourth pillar of democracy is firmly established from the outset, it should have given a decree to convene a special committee to embark on drafting a Freedom of Information Act that guarantees the right of every individual, not only journalists, to have access to public records with limited exceptions.

Such an act must also reinforce Egyptians’ right to access to the media and communications tools, in all their forms, on TV, online, in print, on the radio, through smart phones or whatever new technology is available, and to severely penalize any authority that violates this right by deliberately obstructing this access.

EDITORIAL : ASHARQ ALAWSAT, SAUDI ARABIA, published in LONDON

Nasrallah threatens Saudi Arabia

 

How ironic! Hezbollah's leader threatened the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and defended Syria's oppressive regime in commemoration of Khomeini's death. Nasrallah sang the praises of what he called the advantages the Wilayat Al Faqih concept has done for Iran and the Iranians.

In his speech, Nasrallah said that if Syria gets divided, Saudi Arabia will be next in line. This is an explicit threat to Riyadh from Hezbollah's leader who is gradually revealing his sectarian face, political ignorance and selective memory. As we have said earlier, the more Nasrallah speaks, the more he implicates himself and his party. Nasrallah who today talks of a regional US-sponsored division project targeting Syria pretends to have forgotten what he himself said after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal announced that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques had withdrawn from the Lebanese mediation issue. Back then, Faisal warned about the dangers of dividing Lebanon.

Afterwards, Nasrallah came out sarcastically commenting on Faisal's statement. In a televised speech, Nasrallah stated that "They say there is a danger of Lebanon getting divided." Then he added: "What kind of talk is this? Lebanon in its entirety is this small," while pointing to the palm of his hand and smiling in scorn. Today Nasrallah steps forth and warns against the dangers of dividing Lebanon. I have never seen anything more naïve. Let us contemplate the situation in more detail. Nasrallah supports Bahrain's Shiaa who demand the establishment of an Islamic Bahraini republic and does not fear the consequences of a division over there or the US scheme. But in Syria's case, Nasrallah fears any act of division because the people who have lived for decades under the rule of a minority - which has governed like monarchs - have finally risen to demand their rights and dignity. How hypocritical of him! Could there be uglier example of sectarianism?

Nasrallah's threat to Saudi Arabia is clear and so are his targets. Hezbollah's leader is like the "Analysts" of the Syrian regime on Arab satellite TV stations. However, Nasrallah is considered Iran's "Analyst" on the ground and their weapon of choice when it comes to abducting Lebanon. But he is not a useful weapon especially when taking into consideration something important in his latest speech in which he threatened Saudi Arabia. Nasrallah disclosed a deep sense of fear within him when he advocated the necessity of developing the State concept in Lebanon. It was a plain attempt on Nasrallah's part to forestall the anticipated repercussions of the Syrian regime's toppling.

Even though Nasrallah projected confidence and jested with his audience by saying that the Wilayat Al Faqih State has no "Star Academy" youth in it, he must have definitely heard the Syrian youth shouting out: "No Iran, no Hezbollah…We want a Muslim who fears God." Nasrallah knows very well this is not the "Star Academy" youth's chant in Syria, but the chant of those who say it out loud: "We prefer death to humiliation!"

Nasrallah's threats to Saudi Arabia are evident and so is his support for Syria's suppressive regime. This attitude unmasks his sectarian face and unveils the fix Hezbollah is in today. Hezbollah knows that overthrowing the Damascus regime would mean the collapse of Iran's foreign policy and the end of Hezbollah itself. This is the story and today we are watching the most exciting chapter of it. As for Saudi Arabia, Nasrallah and Iran know very well that those who have "Crossed the bridge" have nothing to fear.

EDITORIAL : THE KOREA HERALD, SOUTH KOREA

General welfare

Before leaving the post of finance minister on Thursday, Yoon Jeung-hyun called on his ministry to serve as the last line of defense against onrushing demands for general welfare. His advice could not have been timelier, given that political parties and politicians, those with presidential ambitions in particular, are shifting their focus from selective welfare to general welfare with little regard for the nation’s fiscal capacity.

“The Ministry of Strategy and Finance may have to wage a lone battle against spellbinding promises on the free-of-charge provision (of welfare benefits) that are spreading like a fad,” Yoon said. “But it must not be afraid of it. Instead, it should not allow itself to be swayed, like a (heavy) rock, when (fiscal) principles are concerned.”

But he said the ministry will have to focus on low-income families, jobless people, women and senior citizens in its welfare programs. Here again, it goes without saying that welfare spending for underprivileged people should be increased within the scope permitted by the nation’s public finances.

Unlike in the United States and some other countries, Korea has no constitutional provision for general welfare as opposed to selective welfare where benefits are provided not for all people but for needy ones. In the absence of a direct mention of general welfare in the Constitution, its advocates often cite Article 34, Section 1, when they demand more money be spent on general welfare. The section reads, “All citizens are entitled to a life worthy of human beings.”

The provision of general welfare is a policy of the main opposition Democratic Party. It is written in its constitution. Based on the policy, it says it will promote the provision of school lunches, medical care and child care free of charge.

The new finance minister, Bahk Jae-wan, said during his confirmation hearing that he was opposed to the proposed provision of welfare benefits at no cost. Still, there is no guarantee that his opposition should prevail. The ruling Grand National Party may succumb to a temptation to engage the opposition with its own proposal for free welfare benefits ahead of the parliamentary and presidential elections, scheduled respectively for April and December next year.

A case in point in this regard is the opposition’s earlier proposal to halve university tuition fees as a general welfare program. As discontent simmered on campus with tuition costs approaching 10 million a year, the floor leader of the ruling party, Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, recently co-opted the proposal for a 50 percent cut.

The initial response from the administration was negative. But it did not take long before it promised to consider cutting tuition for university students from families with annual incomes below a certain level.

The provision of free subway rides for those aged 65 or older shows why spending increases on general welfare should be curbed.

Losses on subway operation in Seoul alone are projected to rise from 479.3 billion in 2010 won to 574.8 billion won this year. To make up for part of these losses, the city administration is planning to raise the basic fare from 900 won to 1,000 won or 1,100 won in July, adding to mounting inflationary pressure.

Despite the losses, all people aged 65 or older, be they destitute or superrich, are allowed to ride the subway free of charge. Is this fair? What about a jobless young man or a man with a monthly income of less than 1 million won who has to pay the full price?

When the parliamentary and presidential elections near, rival political parties and presidential hopefuls will undoubtedly make welfare promises to ingratiate themselves to the electorate. But their feasibility must be put under the scrutiny of fiscal experts. It is necessary to curb welfare expenditures if the nation is to avoid following in the footsteps of Greece and other debt-ridden European countries.

Mobile rate cuts

SK Telecom, the nation’s largest mobile carrier, is set to cut its service charges from September. According to one estimate, the rate cuts, which include a 1,000 won discount on the basic service charge and 50 free text messages each month, amount to an average of 28,000 won a year per customer.

The rate cuts should please consumers. But not too much. Consumer organizations and advocacy groups complain that they are too small.

A few months ago, the government claimed the three mobile carriers, whose profits were 3.6 trillion won last year, had room for service rate cuts. But the carriers balked, insisting that they could not afford the cuts because they needed to invest enormous amounts of money in next-generation telecom services.

SK Telecom’s rate cuts are anything but voluntary. The carrier is making the cuts under pressure from the state telecom regulator, the Korea Communications Commission. Barring unexpected developments, two other mobile carriers, KT and LG Uplus, will soon follow suit.

All that a mobile carrier has to do regarding rate adjustments is to report them. But the state regulator announced it agreed with SK Telecom on the rate cuts. By doing so, it virtually admitted arm twisting. It did what consumer advocacy groups, not a government agency, might do.

This is not to say that mobile service charges are reasonable. They are so high that spending on telecommunications services account for 6.1 percent of household expenditures, 2.5 times higher than the OECD average.

Even so, the state regulator was ill-advised to resort to an extralegal means of arm twisting to push SK Telecom to lower its service charges. Mobile carriers, and all private-sector business enterprises for that matter, should be left alone when they are not suspected of breaching the fair trade act by fixing prices.

What the government needs to do is encourage competition among private businesses so that they will provide goods and services at lower prices. It should stop putting undue pressure on them in pursuit of its own administrative convenience.

EDITORIAL : THE AZZAMAN, IRAQ

Fake contracts worth $164 million rock Baghdad municipality

The discovery of two fake contracts in which Baghdad municipality officials were involved have shed new light on the extent of corruption in the country.

The municipality has revealed that two of its senior officials were involving in doctoring two $164 million contracts for the construction of sports stadiums in Baghdad with an alleged Turkish contractor.

Baghdad’s mayor, Saber al-Isawi, said the documents he seized revealed that the two officials – Waleed Adrees and Mohammed Saheb – would have reaped millions of dollars in kickbacks.

The mayor said the seizure of the documents led to the revelation of an extensive “network of corruption”.

He said many people, including foreigners, were involved in the “network.”

But he only revealed the names of the two officials working in Baghdad municipality.

The two officials, he said,  were referred to the judicial authorities for trial.

The forged documents, if not discovered, would have cost the municipality $164 million, the value of the two contracts.

Several commissions looking into corruption in Iraq have revealed fake contracts worth billions of dollars for reconstruction projects. The money has gone but there is no trace of the projects on the ground.

Isawi did not say whether this was the first instance of fraud in the municipality.

EDITORIAL : THE INDENDENT, IRELAND

          

 

Firm stand needed in banking inquiry

EVEN the name 'Director of Corporate Enforcement' bristles with menace. One envisions an Arnold Schwarzenegger-type figure brandishing automatic weaponry on each arm, striking terror into the hearts of any potential miscreant financiers.

So when the current holder of the office, Paul Appleby, tells us more than 10 witnesses are not co-operating with his investigations into the disastrous business affairs of Anglo Irish Bank, the first reaction is one of shock. The second anger.

Mr Appleby has now indicated that he will require an extension to his investigation -- a July 28 deadline had already been set by the High Court.

Nonetheless, Mr Appleby still expects his investigation to be completed by the end of the year.

The headache he faces is that people are not co-operating. These, we are told, include bank executives. Given the gravity of these matters, it seems preposterous that some of those who are non-compliant are important to the investigation. One can appreciate his frustration.

Yesterday, in a separate submission, Mr Appleby took the opportunity to point out that while there is legislation in place to deal with those who do not manage banks responsibly, the maximum fine is a derisory €1,297. Again, considering the tens of billions that the banking crisis has already cost, this seems risible. When one considers the maximum fine for littering is €3,000, one must wonder at our priorities.

It would appear that Mr Appleby has been given a task but not the necessary legal tools. If people do not co-operate he cannot compel them to do so.

As recently as last month, a High Court judge expressed his displeasure that progress in the inquiry -- and the investigation by the gardai -- into these affairs was "not at all satisfactory".

It is not difficult to see why progress is so slow given the obstacles. It seems remarkable that, despite all this, his office has sent a number of files relating to its investigation to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

White-collar crime has done inestimable damage to this country's reputation. It is vital that we give a firm signal internationally that we are doing all in our power to crack down on financial impropriety. As things stand -- and given the tardiness and delays at getting to the truth to date -- the messages are, at best, mixed.

 

Ministers must think before they speak

THESE have not been a good few days for the Government. Just as the Taoiseach managed to remove Transport Minister Leo Varadkar's foot from his mouth over the bailout furore, along comes Environment Minister Phil Hogan, adding new levels of confusion concerning water meters and household charges.

It fell to Enda Kenny to promise last night that we would have clarity on the household charge by the end of the month.

There are going to be tensions within any Coalition trying to navigate during a financial hurricane. However, it is crucial that the Cabinet stays on message and displays a show of unity, especially when the IMF and EU are watching our every move.

It is impossible to give a display of 'group-think' without some attempt at 'group-speak'. It is difficult to explain the sudden attack of jitters in the Government. The single most important ingredient in managing our way out of the crisis is leadership and authority, any drift on either could have serious consequences.

Few at this point doubt that it will be necessary at some point to return to revisit the bailout. However, given market sensitivities and the general state of nervousness internationally, it is critical that ministers stay on the same page. This is just as important when dealing with domestic issues. Household budgets have never been tighter, and the corresponding stress this places on families struggling to make ends meet must be understood.

So if new charges, stealth taxes, or any new expense is to be added to their burden, it behoves the Cabinet to thoroughly think things through before ventilating them in public.

EDITORIAL : THE BANGKOK POST, THAILAND

 

 

Putting money in wrong place

This is scandalous. When the country is facing a serious shortage of physicians and is in dire need of budgetary support to improve the public health system, our military budget, when compared to the size of the economy, is one of the world's highest.

Last week, the Public Health Ministry revealed that the country needs about 40,000 physicians and is still about 10,000 short. According to acting Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit, one-third of the 30,000 physicians are now breaking their backs to serve the majority of the population in the public health system. Another one-third are in universities or other state agencies, and the final third work in the private sector.

According to the World Health Organisation, the acceptable patients per doctor ratio is at 1:5,000. In Thailand it is 1:7,000. The breakdown is even more shocking in the northeastern province of Loei, where the ratio is 1:14,000. In Bangkok it is 1:850.

This shortage of doctors and the resulting heavy workload is one of the reasons for the high incidence of medical error and strained patient-doctor relations.

Of course, producing more physicians alone cannot solve this problem nor lead to the citizens' general well-being. Respect for patients' rights aside, preventive care and such basics as proper hygiene, nutrition, exercise and a toxic-free environment are all crucial. Still, easy and equal access to public health services is indispensable for people's quality of life. And that requires a high investment in both human resources and infrastructure. It is unfortunate that providing people with health security has a lower priority than military might in this country.

After the 2006 coup, which plunged the country into deep political division, the military budget rose by 50%, apparently because the Abhisit government dared not raise its voice. According to economics professor Pasuk Phongpaichit, the military budget accounts for 1.8% of our gross domestic product. This is higher than Germany's, the largest economy in Europe, with a military budget at 1.3% of GDP, and higher than Japan's 1%. When it comes to the soldier per population ratio, it is 7.9:1,000 in the United States and 2.2:1,000 in Japan. In Thailand, it is 10:1,000. Should we feel safe, angry or sad?

A strong political will to contain the military's ferocious appetite for war-toys is sorely needed in order to channel the money to strengthen the public health and welfare system. Sadly, even when election campaigning is in high gear, discussing a military budget cut is not on any political party's agenda.

At the meet-the-media forum co-organised by the Thai Journalists Association and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association over last weekend, representatives from the Democrat, Pheu Thai, and other political parties were even defensive about the military. All were in agreement that the question of military budget is not about how much, but how it is used.

This is greatly disappointing.

All political parties are now competing to win votes through handout policies. No matter who wins, the need to finance the populist schemes will be huge. With the currently small tax base, the difficulty to push for progressive land and property taxes, and the politicians' reluctance to agitate the military, it is most likely that the financing of populist and mega projects will eat into the budgets for social and welfare benefits. Ordinary citizens will then have to continue suffering from the shortage of doctors, and public health must take a back seat to military might.

EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

Assad must be prosecuted

GIVEN the unutterable horror of the details emerging about the torture and murder of 13-year-old Syrian boy Hamza al-Khateeb, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd's call to initiate International Criminal Court action against President Bashar al-Assad is timely and appropriate. To his credit, the Coalition's Treasury spokesman, Joe Hockey, in expressing outrage over the boy's killing by Damascus security forces, has suggested Australia should refuse to accredit a new Syrian ambassador to Canberra, leaving Assad in no doubt about the depth and bipartisan nature of the revulsion here, as elsewhere, towards gross human rights abuses in Syria.
ASSAD'S answer to the clamour for a new democracy has been to send in troops, tanks and air power. About 1100 people have been killed and 10,000 scooped up by security forces, led by the barbaric mukhabarat secret police. Tanks and helicopter gunships routinely pursue unarmed civilians.
Hamza al-Khateeb's fate is a searing reflection of the brutality. He was arrested in Saida, near Deraa, a hub of anti-government protests, on April 29. His corpse, returned to his parents last week, bore the scars of brutal torture: lacerations, bruises, burns to the feet, elbows, face and knees. All were consistent with electric shocks and whipping. Both arms had identical bullet wounds, his neck was broken and his penis severed. His father was subsequently arrested by the mukhabarat and warned to say that his son was killed by extremist rebels.
Hamza has become the Arab Spring's latest icon, compared to the Tunisian market vendor Mohammed Bouazizi and the Iranian pro-democracy activist Neda Agha Soltan whose deaths inspired potent anti-government campaigns. Hamza is among 26 children killed so far in the Syrian uprising. Murshed Aba Zaid, 18, was shot in the face by security forces outside his home and underwent successful surgery. The secret police then broke into the hospital. His body was returned to his parents with a broken neck and signs of torture.
Assad's regime is unwilling to learn the lessons of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere and is trying to outdo Muammar Gaddafi. The International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi & Co. Mr Rudd is right to demand similar action on Assad and his thugs. Hamzah al-Khateeb's terrible fate shows their abuses are as evil.

EDITORIAL : THE JAKARTA POST, INDONESIA

Third time lucky?

In this FIFA-ruled soccer planet, there seems to be no country other than Indonesia that Lady Luck has never lost faith in.

Unlike Bosnia and Brunei Darussalam that were banned from competing in international soccer for disobedience, Indonesia has been spared from humiliating isolation, albeit only for another month, after the world’s sporting body offered the country a third chance to hold a congress to elect a new soccer chief before June 30.

The first two attempts by the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) to hold an election congress ended in disarray, in defiance of the nation’s claim to be a champion of peace, tolerance and respect for others.

Intervention by dozens of soldiers and reports of intimidation marred the first congress in April in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru, which not only prevented then incumbent chairman Nurdin Halid from contesting, but also laid waste to the whole process of the congress.

The second congress organized by the FIFA-sanctioned Normalization Committee in Jakarta on May 20 was no less chaotic. Committee chairman Agum Gumelar closed the congress after a group of participants, calling themselves Group 78, insisted on nominating Army chief Gen. George Toisutta and oil businessman Arifin Panigoro, while petitioning a vote of no confidence against Agum. Like Nurdin, both George and Arifin had been banned by FIFA from running for the PSSI chair.

The disorderliness occurred right in front of FIFA representative Thierry Regenass, who may have spoken at length with FIFA chairman Sepp Blatter before the relieving decision was announced during the FIFA congress in Zurich on Tuesday.

The PSSI and the entire Indonesian soccer community do not have to expect a third-time-lucky to avoid FIFA sanctions. They only need to comply with the rules of the game set by the world soccer body in electing a new PSSI chairman, unless they deliberately want to quit the existing soccer regime and are ready for the consequences.

FIFA has made it clear that the contenders in the election for the PSSI top job must not include Nurdin, his former deputy Nirwan Bakrie, George and Arifin, in order for it to officially recognize the ailing national soccer body. Efforts to challenge this policy have been exhausted and it is maintained as it stands. As a law-abiding nation Indonesia is responsible for enforcing the ruling.

Resistance to the rules of the game should raise questions about the motives behind bids to lead the PSSI, which is neither a profit-seeking nor political organization. The trophyless PSSI is in dire need of a leader who is free from vested interests, let alone conflicts of interest, but a person who motivates and encourages their team to never say enough in terms of achievements.

For many years the PSSI, as well as other sports organizations, has become a stage for state officials and businesspeople to seek popularity. They deem sports as no more than a hobby, and hence lack the desire to reach great heights.

Agum will need the full support of the entire Indonesian soccer community to make sure this rare chance is not wasted. His resolute leadership in enforcing the rules of the game will ensure that Indonesia will avoid the international seclusion.

But most of all it will be the commitment to sportsmanship of all participants in the upcoming congress, including the supporters of George and Arifin, that will count.

EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, ENGLAND

            

 

Talking to the Taliban: Less than meets the eye

If real negotiations took place, they would allow Barack Obama and David Cameron to claim that a peace process exists

Our report today that Britain and America are pressing for UN sanctions against 18 former senior members of the Taliban to be lifted is encouraging news. In opposing the troop surge in Afghanistan, we have argued that this long war will only come to an end with a political settlement which will involve some role for the Taliban in the future government of the country. Such talks require, at the very least, a neutral venue to which representatives can travel back and forth in safety. The first direct meetings between US officials and the Taliban have already taken place in Qatar and Germany. Delisting 18 individuals – and hopefully dozens of others – from UN sanctions, which prevent them from travelling or holding bank accounts, is essential if the Taliban is to establish a political office in Turkey, Turkmenistan or Qatar, all of which have offered to host one.

However – and here come the caveats – there is always less than meets the eye when it comes to claims of talks with the Taliban. Contacts were initiated years ago, only to be severed by Hamid Karzai when he threw the two officials involved out of the country. Now that senior officials of the government in Kabul are involved in a series of exchanges with Taliban representatives, including those of the Haqqani network, Karzai claims ownership of the process. But this, again, is not the whole story. The timing of these leaks is not coincidental. With no signs of a breakthrough in a war which costs $112bn a year, and faced with increasing scepticism at home that a military-led campaign will ever yield a result, western politicians are desperate to talk up the prospect of talks. If real negotiations took place, they would allow Barack Obama and David Cameron, both of whom will announce the start of troop withdrawals next month, to claim prematurely that a peace process exists. With a conference in Bonn at the end of the year, a US presidential election next year, and the deadline of 2014 rapidly approaching, when all international combat operations are supposed to end, Mr Obama is under pressure to show that he has found a way of ending American involvement in this war. Talks with the Taliban would allow him to claim that the big green exit sign is in sight.

Job done? Well, not quite. If the aim of this strategy is simply devolution, a handover of the daily battle to Afghan proxies in the hope that the Pashtun insurgency will one day fragment and fizzle, this is delusion on a grand scale and doomed to failure. Why would senior members travel back to Afghanistan when Pakistan and Saudi Arabia still exist, the former as a permanent safe haven and the latter as a steady financier? And how can talks take place that do not include the involvement of either? What certainty is there that the UN is delisting the right Taliban representatives, and not simply yesterday's people? If we can be confident of anything that has happened in the past 10 years, it is the Taliban's ability to replace one generation of commanders with another, even more committed than the last and less squeamish about causing mass civilian casualities. The current strategy of decapitating the Taliban through drone strikes in Pakistan and enticing lower-level fighters to come in from the cold across the border shows no signs of dealing with the core of the conflict. It will not address the need for a new political settlement for Afghanistan linked to the departure of all foreign troops.

There are shifts in position, such as the hint that the US would see the severing of contacts between the Taliban and al-Qaida as part of a settlement, rather than a precondition of it. If they are to be genuine, talks would involve a reversal of current strategy rather than a continuation of it. One sign that talks were succeeding would be the ending of drone strikes in Pakistan. None of this will be easy, nor will it correspond to the timetable of a US election. Unfortunately, it is difficult not to conclude that this is the primary motive for them.

North Sea oil: Trading blows with Mr Osborne

Ever since the tax raid on oil and gas producers, the energy industry and the Treasury have been at loggerheads

In the great battle of the North Sea, no side is deserving of one's entire sympathy. Ever since George Osborne launched his tax raid on oil and gas producers in his March budget, the energy industry and the Treasury have been at loggerheads. And yet neither side is in the right. In carrying out its threat yesterday to mothball a giant gas field in Morecambe Bay, Centrica is obviously making more than a business decision – it is making a stab at gesture politics.

As its adroit use of the media over the past month indicates, the utility is broadcasting a clear message: if government messes with the energy-tax playing field, Centrica executives will simply take their ball away. If an individual did that, HM Revenue and Customs would come down on him like a pile of brown envelopes – and rightly so. Similarly, when the CBI director general sends a letter to the chancellor warning him that "companies have global opportunities for investment" and that higher taxes will send them overseas – and then angles to get said missive in yesterday's FT, he too is acting politically. He is also contradicting the calls from his organisation for more state investment in educating workers – investment which is presumably to be funded from higher taxes. In both cases, what is going on is a display of pinstriped muscle – an attempt to wheedle, lobby and finally intimidate government from making whatever decisions it feels are necessary in the national rather than sectional interest.

All that said, Mr Osborne has not acquitted himself especially well. The chancellor claimed the justification for jacking up the supplementary charge on North Sea output from 20% to 32% was to pay for a penny cut in fuel duty. The politics were clear and must have seemed clever: Big Oil should pay for little motorists. But it was a bad move on three counts. First, gas is not the same as oil – the link the chancellor made was largely rhetorical. Second, it was a waste of tax money, frittering away most of an extra £2bn a year to make a lunge for drivers' affections. Had he used the money to invest in North Sea renewables, Mr Osborne would have been on safer, and certainly higher, ground. Finally, this measure was sprung on the industry without consultation – and any chancellor who wants to see what happens to those should ask Alistair Darling about how he had to beat a retreat from the barons of private equity.

What a contrast this makes from the Treasury's kid-gloves approach to the City. There, the bank levy was watered down to make sure it did not raise too much money. Energy executives are campaigning hard now – but when it comes to lobbying they evidently have a lot to learn from bankers.

 

In praise of… the unquantifiable

It says something about our culture if the only way to make the nightingale's song heard is to contort it into national income

"Nature hates calculators," said Ralph Waldo Emerson, but that won't stop the number-crunchers. Inspired by a worthy desire to ensure public policy respects the natural world, the National Ecosystem Assessment yesterday delivered a 2,000-page report totting up the economic contribution of woodlands, coasts and open spaces. There are of course gaping holes in GDP as a gauge of the good life, but it says more about our rotten culture than it does about economics if the only way to make the nightingale's song heard in Whitehall is to contort it into national income. Is it really more helpful to put a £1.5bn price tag on inland waterways than to read Walt Whitman musing that "a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars"? What is the more persuasive argument to run against sprawling development: the NEA's £430m valuation of pollinating insects, or Wordsworth's tribute to "These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines / Of sportive wood run wild"? Shakespeare found "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones", while Einstein promised understanding would come from looking deep into nature. These authorities, not export earnings, convey the real worth of our fields and woods. As for our duties as stewards for our children, Wordsworth makes the point – "pleasing thoughts / That in this moment there is life and food / for future years" – without recourse to discount rates. It is high time to draw a distinction between what can be counted, and what truly counts.

EDITORIAL : THE GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA

Info transparency best way to dispel doubt

Google said Wednesday that hackers based in China targeted the Gmail accounts of US senior officials, military personnel, journalists and Chinese political activists. This is the second time the Internet giant has pointed to Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, as being the source of cyber-attacks.

Such allegations lacking evidence clearly pollute China's image. That China keeps silent about its own experiences as a victim of cyber intrusion from abroad makes it worse.

If Google is serious about phishing committed from China, it needs to finish the story, such as how the company detected and traced the hackers and how it verified their identity. It is not surprising that an Internet service giant like Google encounters tons of clandestine intrusions by unknown hackers all over the world.

The company has to provide further information if it chooses to point the finger at China.

There is a basic consensus among cyber-security experts that only low-level hackers get caught. It is quite easy to veil or mask IP addresses nowadays, and professional hackers can only be traced with great difficulty. Hackers may connect through several countries to mask their own identities. Even if a hacker is based in China, he is not necessarily a perpetrator in the pay of Chinese authorities.

Google has witnessed a shrinking market share here over the past mon ths. Announcing cyber-attacks from China is probably just part of Google's game with the Chinese government.

In terms of hacker technology, China has lagged behind the West for over a decade. The nation is a major victim of Internet invasions. Each day, it detects many cyber attacks initiated abroad.

Some Chinese officials' computers were once hacked by acts from abroad which led to the leakage of confidential information. It is a pity that China keeps silent while Google and some foreign politicians frequently rebuke China.

Lacking information transparency is undermining China's own interests. Staying silent and low-key seems to be a default strategy, especially when dealing with sensitive issues. While world players are vying for attention and power, silence is usually seen as acquiescence, and those unused to setting their own agenda can become very passive in the global arena. As a nation that upholds low-key diplomacy, China has been described as a "big, bad" power.

It takes time to achieve information transparency. However, China should firmly aim in this direction. It is natural that a power as big as China makes a few mistakes and has some flaws.

However, China's overall goal and approach to achieve this is decent. China should learn to gradually open up some archive files and current national affairs.

This is not only the mainstream trend in the Internet era, but also the only direction that China should take in its future political growth.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY YOMIURI, JAPAN

     

 

Egypt must maintain peace with Israel

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Egypt, which has seen the end of the 30-year autocratic rule of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and is now exploring ways toward a democratic system, is shifting its diplomatic policy.

A good example is the opening of its border with the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, which opened a crack in the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

On Saturday, the Egyptian government opened its crossing points on the border, significantly easing immigration controls on Palestinians by permitting free passage for men aged 41 or older, women and children.

The recovery of free passage of the territory's Palestinian population, long confined to a narrow strip of land, can be seen as a humanitarian measure taken by Egypt's new leadership.

Prior to the border-opening, the Egyptian government brought about a reconciliation between the two rival Palestinian organizations.

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Egypt mediates accord

Egypt mediated between the moderate Fatah, which aims to establish a Palestinian state through negotiations with Israel, and Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist group that refuses to recognize Israel, successfully persuading the two groups to form a unity government.

Hamas ousted Fatah from Gaza by force four years ago, establishing its solo rule of Gaza, from which Hamas militants began to fire rockets into Israeli territory.

Israel then enforced a blockade on Gaza, blocking the flow of people and supplies, to weaken the militant group.

Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab country to conclude a peace treaty with Israel, has followed a diplomatic policy that other Arabic nations consider "pro-Israel."

Therefore Israel, which regards Hamas with hostility, can hardly welcome the shift in Egypt's diplomatic stance. The United States has also expressed concern over Hamas taking part in the Palestinian government.

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'Cold peace' brings change

Egypt has taken its own road in diplomatic policy chiefly because of the existence of a "cold peace" between it and Israel.

Many people in Egypt do not welcome the peace treaty with Israel on the grounds that Israel oppresses Palestinians. This sentiment has been a barrier to exchanges of cultural figures and intellectuals between Egypt and Israel, as well as the showing of Israeli films in Egypt.

The political upheaval in Egypt has probably taken the lid off of the long-smoldering anti-Israeli sentiment, resulting in the shift in the country's diplomatic policy.

Stability in Egypt will continue to be the biggest factor in improving ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Egypt has been ruled, since the overthrow of Mubarak in February, by a caretaker government under the country's Armed Forces Supreme Council. A new government will be formally launched after the election for the People's Assembly scheduled for September and the presidential election in November.

The Group of Eight major powers, including Japan, have expressed their intention to give sizable financial aid to Egypt and Tunisia to support their democratic movements and to shore up their economies, which have been hit hard in the aftermath of the social upheaval.

Egypt, a leading power in the Arab world, must fulfill its responsibility of maintaining its peace with Israel, a country that is key to stability in the Middle East.

 

Parties must form framework to accelerate restoration efforts

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Sunrise Party of Japan submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet to the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

This is understandable when we look back on Kan's many blundering responses to events related to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Voting on the motion was expected to take place Thursday.

Many dissidents from groups supporting former Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa, who has taken a hard-nosed attitude toward the current party leadership, were expected to vote for the motion. This really is an abnormal situation.

Normally in times of a national crisis, it is best for politicians on both sides of the fence to unite behind the incumbent prime minister to deal with national emergencies.

However, the Cabinet's responses to the massive earthquake have caused so many problems that the current political climate is far from cooperative.

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Chaos continues unabated

The Cabinet failed to make full use of bureaucrats because of its misguided "initiative by politicians" policy, resulting in delays in measures aimed at helping earthquake survivors. Work to formulate special laws related to the earthquake also has been delayed.

In its responses to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant crisis, the Cabinet has repeatedly provided erroneous information, and differing opinions have frequently been expressed within the Cabinet. This chaotic situation continues unabated.

In Wednesday's one-on-one debate session between Kan and two opposition party leaders, LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki asked Kan to step down, saying, "Restoration work is impossible under Prime Minister Kan, who has lost the confidence of the general public." New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi followed suit and said, "The government's responses in formulating restoration programs are far too slow."

Kan refused to step down and even said he was considering a lengthy extension of the ordinary Diet session, suggesting a yearlong session, and early compilation of a second fiscal 2010 supplementary budget. This is an extremely extemporaneous attitude.

Initially, the prime minister did not intend to extend the current session and planned to leave compilation of the second supplementary budget to sometime during summer to avoid destabilizing his administration. However, he suddenly changed his mind in an effort to reduce the number of DPJ members expected to vote for the no-confidence motion.

Placing priority on extending the life of his administration rather than carrying out necessary policies is hardly likely to win public trust.

What is important now is to construct a political framework under which politicians can swiftly, and with courage, tackle important problems, including efforts to reconstruct the earthquake-stricken areas.

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'Save-the-nation coalition'

Tanigaki said in Wednesday's debate it would be possible to establish a new framework if Kan stepped down. He intimated that Kan's resignation was a prerequisite to possible cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties and formation of an administration based on an emergency "save-the-nation coalition." We hope Tanigaki comes up with clear and concrete ideas on how such a framework can be realized.

To pass the no-confidence motion, around 80 DPJ members would have to vote for it. This is quite a hurdle to overcome, but if the lower house passes the motion, the Kan Cabinet should resign en masse. If the ruling and opposition parties can cooperate after this, restoration measures will be put on the right track much earlier than expected.

Unified local elections, scheduled last April, were postponed in the earthquake-hit areas. People in these areas strongly hope reconstruction will be carried out as soon as possible. Taking this into account, Kan must not dissolve the lower house for a general election.

EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

The FIFA family

A fourth four-year term for 75-year-old Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA, Federation Internationale de Football Association, was not only a vote for continuity. It was also a mandate for reform of world football's governing body. The election at the 61st congress of FIFA in Zurich took place in difficult, unpleasant circumstances with the only other candidate, Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, withdrawing from the race after he was suspended on charges of attempting to bribe member associations to back him. But with Mr. Blatter overcoming an inane bid by the English Football Association to postpone the election on the ground it was a one-horse race, and obtaining the support of an overwhelming majority for his re-election, the focus is now again on the tasks and challenges ahead. England's FA found support back home among British politicians, the media, and the fans — but not in Zurich where it mattered. The seasoned Mr. Blatter knew better than to gloat over his victory. After the election, he spoke of cleaning up administration and promised to steer the ship “back onto the right course in clear, transparent waters.” He pushed for a strengthened FIFA Ethics Committee whose members will now be chosen by the whole congress. With allegations over the bribery bid being met with counter-allegations, the revamped Ethics Committee could infuse greater confidence in the world body's efforts to deal with corruption and malpractice. Mr. Blatter also announced the formation of a high-powered corporate governance and compliance committee, which will be headed by no less than Henry Kissinger. If necessary, an extraordinary congress will be convened to review the findings of the committee and “restore FIFA's credibility.”

One of Mr. Blatter's stand-out achievements, after he took over from Joao Havelange in 1998, is the successful hosting of the World Cup outside of Europe and the Americas. After the first World Cup in Asia (co-hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002), South Africa 2010 under his presidency was a huge success, not only in terms of the football on display, but also in terms of the organisation of the event. To Mr. Blatter goes the credit of expanding the World Cup to include 32 teams (from 24), and giving a chance to more teams from different continents to compete in the premier event. Thus it was hardly surprising that among the first proposals he got adopted by the congress on his re-election was a radical change in rules, which now give each of the organisation's 208 members a vote in choosing the World Cup host. Mr. Blatter deserves and needs all the support he can get in the efforts to reform FIFA and lead the world's best-loved game to new heights.

A journalist is silenced

The killing of Syed Saleem Shahzad is brutal confirmation that Pakistan is the world's most hazardous place for journalists. According to the United States-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in the nine years since the abduction and murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, 32 media professionals have met a violent end, 17 of them in targeted attacks for clear work-related motives. International pressure on Pakistan forced the pace in the investigation of the Pearl case in 2002. But in none of the other murders has anyone been brought to book. It was in this atmosphere of impunity that Shahzad went missing from a well-secured neighbourhood of Islamabad. Two days later, his body, bearing torture marks, surfaced 150 km away. In any conflict, the main threat to journalists is from armed actors, state and non-state. The situation in Pakistan is all the more dangerous given the blurred lines, and linkages, between the two. If the Inter-Services Intelligence is being seen as Suspect No. 1 in this case, it is not without reason. Eight months ago, the journalist who wrote about al-Qaeda and Taliban was summoned to the ISI headquarters for an interview — after he reported that Pakistan had released the Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Baradar, arrested earlier in 2010, to take part in talks. Shahzad notified friends about that meeting, detailing it in an email that he wanted publicised if anything untoward happened to him; he also confided that he had received death threats from ISI officials thrice in the last five years. It is significant that he went missing days after he reported that the Mehran Base attack was carried out in retaliation for a Pakistan Navy crackdown on al-Qaeda sympathisers in its ranks. There have been suggestions that Shahzad, the author of a new book on al-Qaeda, knew details of the Pakistani network that supported Osama bin Laden while he sheltered in Abbottabad.

Pakistan's news media naturally see the Shahzad killing as an unambiguous attempt to intimidate them and silence dissent. The May 1 stealth attack by the U.S. to eliminate bin Laden, and the Mehran attack in which the Navy was savaged by home-grown terrorists, have seen the media shed their usual reluctance to challenge the military and the ISI. It should be natural for an investigation into Shahzad's killing to start with the ISI officials who interviewed him in October 2010. The Pakistani media community must insist on this in order to fix accountability for the journalist's killing. Else the enquiry ordered by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will go the way of other such investigations, and the impunity will continue unchecked.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

           

 

Opposition hartal call

Maximum restraint is the need

The call by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies in the four-party alliance for a day-long hartal on June 5 only ratchets up the political temperature in the country. Coming on the heels of the prime minister's emphatic 'no' to a continuation of the caretaker system in light of the recent Supreme Court pronouncement on it, the hartal can only create new complications for the country. We have already stated our position on the caretaker system through this column. Where hartals are concerned, we have consistently advocated a doing away with them in the larger interest of the nation. It has long been our view that the most appropriate forum for a discussion of political issues, major or minor, is the Jatiyo Sangsad.

We feel that nothing should be done that can only add to the miseries of citizens. Both the ruling party and the opposition should go out on a limb to exercise maximum restraint in their pursuit of politics, keeping in view the overall welfare of a citizenry already reeling under a multiplicity of issues affecting their day-to-day existence. The matter of the caretaker system of government is a hugely serious one and we cannot afford to have it dealt with lightly by either the governing party or the opposition. Let the entire matter be placed before the JS and let the BNP join the session in order to advance its arguments in favour of the system. The people of the country must feel convinced that their political leaders are seized of the critical nature of the issues facing them.

We take this opportunity to remind our political leadership across the spectrum that in the past, especially when they have gone to power, they have drawn attention to the negative effects of hartals on the economy. The BNP was in power for a good length of time. We are certain it understands the blow hartals can give the economy. We therefore urge it to rethink the issue and consider seriously a purposeful return to Parliament in the larger national interest. Politics being a high calling, it simply cannot be left to the streets when a parliamentary system of government remains operative.

Govt purchase should speed up

Ensure fair price to producers

Like in the past, this season, too, farmers are faced with a worry of being deprived of fair price for their produces, despite bumper production of boro rice. The problem has been further compounded by the delay in the government's buying the produce from farmers.

Farmers' plight is rooted in a multiple of factors. Since boro is grown in winter, peasants have to depend on irrigated water to grow it. Erratic supply of electricity as well as high price of diesel to run irrigation pump add to cost of producing rice. But the middlemen, who buy the rice before it is sold to the wholesalers, as always, cheat the farmers on price on various pretexts.

The irony is the market price of rice is still very high compared to what the farmers get when they sell their products to the middlemen or even the government. Obviously, the middlemen and the wholesalers mostly eat up what farmers could get had they any bargaining power.

Thus to get any return out of their bumper harvest, their hope hinges on the yearly government purchase of rice. This year, they were compelled to sell a part of their harvest to the middlemen as the government did not start the buying earlier.

Unfortunately, it has become a regular pattern that farmers do not get a fair price for their product of labour. It is a serious disincentive to them. And it seems, had there been any alternative to meet their rice consumption need, they would perhaps not go for boro cultivation on a scale they do.

To ensure that farmers might get due returns from their crop, it is hoped that the government would take its decision early with an eye to the harvesting time of boro. Power for irrigation has to be regular and cost of other inputs has to be kept within affordable limits. Last, but not the least, government should take some steps to protect farmers from the clutches of faria (middlemen) class.