EDITORIAL : THE NEWZELAND HERALD, NEW ZELAND

SkyCity's plan ticks all the right boxes

Governments have been talking for 10 years about the need for a convention centre in Auckland large enough to compete for the lucrative international conference trade. It is a year since the Ministry of Economic Development received expressions of interest from five prospective ventures, each with a different site in mind. And it has been nine months since the Cabinet began considering the bids.

Now that it has decided in favour of a proposal from SkyCity, it might be wondered why the decision took so long. SkyCity has offered to meet the full cost of a 3500-seat facility adjacent to its casino. No public money is involved. The company appears satisfied it can recover the $350 million capital cost and make the centre pay its way, asking in return for more gambling capacity and an extension of its casino licence from 2021.

The gambling concessions remain subject to negotiation and the Government must try to divorce its consideration of those issues from its desire to see a convention centre built and run at no cost to taxpayers. It is encouraging that it has already ruled out any discussion of reducing the age of entry to casinos or granting an internet gambling licence or additional casino licences.

The Government's negotiating hand from here on will depend on whether any of the rival bids involved no financial support. Infratil's proposal for a convention centre on the site of its bus yard in the Wynyard Quarter might also have been financially independent, though it faced the difficulty that the site is some distance from Queen St.

A Ngati Whatua proposal on the eastern periphery of the central business district faced the same difficulty, as did the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane. The need for sufficient hotel accommodation nearby probably requires that the convention centre be comfortably within the CBD. On that score, only two bids were strongly in contention: SkyCity and the former Auckland City Council's site behind the Aotea Centre on Mayoral Drive.

The council's scheme, incorporating a convention centre in its "Edge" entertainment precinct, has been supported here over the years, especially as a restoration of the St James cinema in Queen St has been part of the proposal. Government interest in a convention centre as a catalyst for economic development made it seem likely that public finance would be provided no matter what scheme was chosen and the council scheme seemed to offer more public benefit.

But if SkyCity can make a convention centre pay without need of a public subsidy, its case is better. It means the public will not be taking on the risk that the centre will not attract sufficient conferences on the scale required - a risk all the greater when it is operated by a public body with public finance to fall back on.

SkyCity will carry the risk, giving it every incentive to compete keenly with other international conference destinations. Auckland's interest will be carried by a company that already runs a smaller convention centre with its casino. It is, as a Labour Party spokesman complains, a "multinational". It knows the business and must have confidence that Auckland can compete.

It is not clear whether the company's request for additional casino capacity is vital to its convention plans. It may be that the only thing the company needs from the Government is an assurance that it will not fund a competing facility. No business can compete with a bottomless public purse.

SkyCity has proven its competence and its commitment to Auckland. This investment offers more jobs, more visitors, more business for the city at no public outlay. In the end, that must recommend it.

EDITORIAL : THE NATIONAL POST, CANADA

             

 

Fixing our broken prostitution laws

This week, the Ontario Court of Appeal will hear the federal government's appeal of a lower court ruling from last September that had the effect of decriminalizing prostitution in Ontario. The original decision -based on a constitutional challenge brought by Terri-Jean Bedford, a professional dominatrix, and six other sex-trade workers -struck down the Criminal Code sections that made it illegal to solicit clients on the street or in a bar, work as a pimp or operate a brothel. The original judge, Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court, argued that these laws had forced prostitutes onto the streets where their work was inherently far more dangerous than it was in bordellos, where there might be bodyguards or other prostitutes to protect them from vicious "johns."

As long ago as 1985, Ottawa had been warned its prostitution laws were outdated and piecemeal, and were having the effect of increasing the violence suffered by prostitutes. Justice Himel thus concluded that the three anti-prostitution laws were forcing sex-trade workers "to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person." In other words, it was forcing them to choose between continuing to make a living selling sexual services (which is, in itself, legal in Canada) and being beaten or killed. Justice Himel, having concluded that was a violation of prostitutes' Charter rights, struck down the Crime Code provision that made it illegal to "communicate for the purpose of" prostitution, "live off the avails" or "operate a common bawdy house."

This is convoluted and backwards logic, but it arrives at a welcome outcome. Justice Himel sought to turn a question of personal freedom into a matter of occupational health and safety. Yet ultimately she made the correct conclusion: Since prostitution is legal, the activities that facilitate it should be legal, too.

That makes the federal Justice department's arguments in this week's appeals court all the more bizarre. In briefs filed with the court, Ottawa asks for reinstatement of the three criminal provisions because prostitution grinds down the souls of those who engage in it. Having failed to convince the lower court that bans on prostitution were justified because prostitution disrupts neighbourhoods and encourages violence against its young practitioners, Ottawa has chosen to argue against the "psychological harm" prostitution causes. This includes the filing of affidavits from "experiential affiants": people with experience in the sex trade. Their upset at being used as a sexual commodity is apparent, and understandable.

But the federal government's decision to submit affidavits describing the negative emotional consequences of being paid for sex is perplexing, given that it is not seeking to outlaw prostitution altogether. If the practice is as destructive as the affidavits suggest, why isn't the federal government working to outlaw prostitution itself, rather than just secondary activities surrounding it? The emotional agony of many people working in the sex trade is not a trivial issue, and deserves society's attention. But it does nothing to help the federal government's efforts to overturn Justice Himel's ruling that the existing laws place prostitutes, traumatized or otherwise, in unnecessarily severe physical danger.

Prostitution cannot be eradicated -it is not known as the "oldest profession" for nothing. And so long as it cannot be practised in the open, it will largely be controlled by inherently violent people such as pimps and organized criminals.

To make it safer, it must be legalized. Then it would be subject to municipal zoning laws to keep it out of family neighbourhoods and subject to licencing and regulation as a legitimate business. If Ottawa truly cares about stopping the victimization of prostitutes, it will stop fighting the current case and work on making laws governing prostitution more consistent and sensible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDITORIAL : THE MOSCOW TIMES, RUSSIA

      

 

Justice for Budanov Is Justice for All

Yury Budanov was an odious man. But he didn’t deserve to be killed with four bullets to the head.

Budanov epitomized everything that was wrong with the second Chechen conflict, which human rights activists say was exacerbated by rape, kidnapping and murder of civilians by federal forces.

Budanov, a tank commander decorated with the Order of Courage, was the highest-level military official ever brought to trial over those atrocities. He admitted to strangling Elza Kungayeva, an 18-year-old Chechen girl, to death with his bare hands in 2000. His excuse: a fit of temporary insanity because he thought she was a dangerous sniper.

A military court convicted Budanov in 2003 and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Budanov, stripped of his rank of colonel, was freed on parole in 2009 for good behavior.

The irony is heavy that Budanov — who tried, convicted and executed Kungayeva in his quarters — was himself summarily tried, convicted and executed by unknown attackers in central Moscow 11 years later.

It might be tempting to say Budanov got what he deserved. But there is a reason that countries have courts and justice systems, no matter how weak and corrupt they might be.

Kungayeva never got a fair trial on charges that she, acting as a sniper, had killed or intended to kill federal soldiers.

But the government did put Budanov on trial for killing Kungayeva. The fairness of the trial and verdict might be questionable. And it would be easy to criticize the authorities for granting early release to Budanov, who likely oversaw and sanctioned many atrocities in Chechnya, while denying the same treatment to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has been jailed in connection with white-collar crimes since 2003.

But the fact remains that Budanov was charged, convicted and incarcerated for a crime that prosecutors concluded he committed. In the eyes of the law, he paid his debt to society.

If someone had a problem with Budanov, the proper venue for the grievance would have been with the police or the courts. When the justice system fails to respond, the government should have been alerted through the ballot box, public demonstrations or other forms of democratic protest that society will not tolerate the status quo. But vigilante justice has no place in civilized society.

Investigators must find and punish those responsible for Budanov’s killing, whether the guilty party is involved in a blood vendetta linked to the Chechen conflict, is keen to stir up nationalist tensions or is acting on some other motive.

Budanov hardly seems worthy of joining the ranks of Anna Politkovskaya and Paul Klebnikov, whose slayings are still crying out for justice. Budanov participated in the very atrocities that those two courageous journalists exposed.

But if vigilante justice is swept under the carpet for a man like Budanov, what’s to stop other killers from taking the law into their own hands with the rest of us?

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have courted investors with promises of rule of law. That means Budanov’s killers must be found and convicted in court, sending a clear signal to all that justice in Russia can only be meted out by the courts or by the Divine. Whoever cracks this case will truly deserve the Order of Courage.

EDITORIAL : THE KOREA HERALD, SOUTH KOREA

Devil’s snare

Former Agriculture-Forestry Minister Im Sang-gyu should have secured a place in the annals of Korean bureaucracy as a model public administrator, if only he had a little more courage to escape the temptation of corruption. He called it “the devil’s snare” in his suicide note found Monday.

Suicide is not rare in this country. But in most corruption scandals, the accused bureaucrats or politicians exert great perseverance to clear their names through court battles; some are successful and some are not. Seeing the banality of bureaucratic improprieties in this country, people tend not to admire those who choose death instead of disgrace. Yet, there are individuals who cannot forgive themselves for their own weakness.

“Torment and sorrow are holding me. It is impossible to escape from this devil’s snare. I am tired and exhausted. … All these troubles originated from relations that I valued,” Im said in his letter to his family. His suicide came a week after the prosecution banned his overseas travel upon investigating allegations of influence peddling. Prosecutors suspected Im received 20 million won from Yu Sang-bong, a catering business broker who is accused of wide-ranging bribery with senior government officials.

Im made his name as the budget czar of the Kim Dae-jung administration. He then held the positions of vice minister of science and technology and minister of cabinet coordination before serving as the agriculture-forestry minister for seven months under President Roh Moo-hyun. After retirement from public service, he took professorship at Suncheon University and was elected its president a year ago.

His name also came up in the ongoing prosecution probe into bribery and embezzlement of the executives of the Busan Savings Bank group. The group’s chairman, Park Yeon-ho, is Im’s high school alumnus and father-in-law of his son. Im is alleged to have withdrawn 50 million won from the Busan-based bank shortly before it was ordered to close business. Here, we are seeing the structure of elite society woven with school and family ties that often foment corruption.

Two years ago, the nation was shocked by the suicide of Roh, who faced a prosecution probe in connection with his friend Park Yeon-cha’s money scandals, which also involved Roh’s wife and son. The tragedy, however, had little impact on the general landscape of bureaucratic and political corruption. Structural improprieties between administrators and contractors and between politicians and favor-seeking donors persisted while international transparency indices put low figures for this country.

About a third of elected chiefs of local administrations have been investigated for bribery and misappropriation charges. About half of those investigated have been convicted, with some saving their positions with light punishment. In the case of Seongnam City just south of Seoul, two former mayors were imprisoned, the third is now in jail and the incumbent has just installed CCTV cameras in and outside his office to ward off visitors offering bribes.

Im Sang-gyu’s death must be saddening those who respected his bureaucratic competence and envied his successful career. But many incumbents in the central and local government offices will be comparing the level of their own improprieties with the kind of misdeeds that were attributed to Im or others whose names appeared in recent news items on prosecution investigations.

Some of them may console themselves reassuring their relative cleanness while others will feel uncomfortable with the realization of the seriousness of what they had been routinely doing and the gravity of possible consequences. If the latter group changes their attitude even a little, there will be an improvement in our bureaucratic community; without a new awakening, we will see more tragic endings of brilliant bureaucratic careers in the days ahead.

 

 

 

Across the Tumen River

 

If the political atmosphere between China and North Korea may at times be changeable, the two neighboring countries have been strengthening their economic cooperation steadily and substantially, particularly across the Tumen River. Some of the South Korean media saw political significance in the postponement of the official launches of the Hwanggeumpyeong and Hunchun-Raseon projects last month, but groundbreaking took place only about 10 days later in the two locations.

Speculations had it that Kim Jong-il, dissatisfied with the Chinese leaders’ lukewarm response to his request for large-scale food and energy aid during his week-long visit to China, called off the groundbreaking ceremonies. Yet, officials of the two countries had been preparing for the launch of the two biggest cooperation projects in years, one at the eastern end and the other at the western end of the border, though in a more low key way than expected.

In the Hwanggeumpyeong islet on the Yalu (Amnok) River, a large number of Chinese and North Korean workers and dignitaries attended the groundbreaking ceremony on June 8 for the tourism and industrial development of the North Korean-held delta on the Chinese border. Jang Song-thaek, vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, who also controls Pyongyang’s external business, represented the North and from the Chinese side was Minister of Commerce Chen Deming. Chen and Jang then flew to Yenji in the Yanbian Korean autonomous province the following day and traveled to Raseon across the Tumen to see the commencing of the 53 kilometer Hunchun-Raseon road project and the construction of a cement plant.

China has pushed these “joint projects” as part of its “Chang(chun)-Ji(lin)-Tu(men)” development plan, which was announced in November 2009, aiming to turn the vast northeastern region into a major industrial and logistics center like Shenzhen in the south. The Changli group of China has earlier won the right for exclusive use of Pier No. 1 in Rajin Port. Rajin in the Raseon special economic zone will be a focus of the Chang-Ji-Tu plan as the maritime outlet for products from the region.

Political fluctuations would hardly deter the progress of development projects in the area around the Tumen River estuary, where the territories of China, Russia and North Korea meet. It is necessary for South Korea’s big corporations to pay closer attention to the Tumen River basin, considering that their major investment in the region would earn them significant leverage on the North Korean economy in the future.

EDITORIAL : THE AZZAMAN, IRAQ

Swedish Scania to assemble trucks in Iraq

The Swedish truck manufacturer is to set up an assembly line in Iraq for the production of 800 trucks a year, Adnan al-Sharif, head of the state-owned car manufacturing company, said.

Sharif did not say which party will be financing the deal he signed with Scania, but he said his company aspires to become Scania’s sole representative in Iraq.

“The deal with Scania calls for the assembly and production of trucks. It includes the production and marketing of 800 trucks a year,” he said.

Sharif said the deal with Scania was the eighth his company had signed with foreign car manufactures to outsource their production in the country.

He said Iraq was assemblying and producing, with foreign assistance, different kinds of vehicles.

“The company now has the expertise to produce (an Iraqi) car,” he said.

Scania had a large assembly factory in Iraq since the 1970s. Most of Iraqi trucks were produced in the factory which was based in Iskandaria, south of Baghdad.

EDITORIAL : THE RFI english, FRANCE

 

 

French press review

 

Berlusconi gets the political stuffing knocked out of him, Libération's journalists look ridiculous, top French bosses are paid 18,000 times what some unemployed receive and does a Paris suburb need UN peacekeepers?

Poor old Silvio Berlusconi is all over the place this morning.
The Italian prime minister recently had the political stuffing knocked out of him when his right-wing coalition lost several big cities in local elections . . . last weekend, the nation turned out in force to reject referendum proposals supported by Berlusconi.
Catholic La Croix says the Italian leader has been given a "second warning" by the electorate.
Business daily Les Echos says Silvio's had his hands slapped.
While right-wing Le Figaro sticks the boot in with "Italy gives Berlusconi a bashing".
In the weekend referendums, Italians voted against a return to nuclear electricity, against paying more for drinking water and against legal immunity for sitting politicians.
That last bit is really bad news for smiling Silvio, who is gamely gritting his expensive dental work. He faces at least four major court cases, from alleged corruption to alleged sexual abuse of a minor and practically everything in between.
The result of the weekend vote means that Berlusconi can no longer say he is busy with government business as an excuse for refusing to appear in court. But how it will all work out in practice remains to be seen.
Yesterday, for example, Silvio was supposed to be in a court in Milan, to answer questions about one of his alleged misdemeanours. But the PM was otherwise engaged, welcoming his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Does the referendum result mean that, in future, visiting heads of state will have to wait while Berlusconi beats about the bush with the legal chappies? Probably not is the most likely answer.
And, if his past performance is anything to go by, you can bet the price of a diamond-studded pizza that Silvio won't be put behind bars any time soon.
Libération is a special edition, redesigned by the fashion designer, Jean-Paul Gaultier, to celebrate his 35 years in business.
The result is quite strange, with real news squeezed in between photographs of the paper's journalists, wearing copies of Libération.
They look, frankly, ridiculous. And while I'm prepared to admit that a good journalist remains a good journalist, even when dressed in nothing but black socks and page ten of last Tuesday's paper, the image does have an impact on the way I read the story.
And, while I think of it, there's a double-page colour advertisement for Gaultier's perfume for men in the middle of today's Libé, and a page advertising his furniture designs as well.
From the ridiculous to the less-than-sublime . . .
The lowest social security payment here in France is 467 euros per month.
Communist L'Humanité is angry to announce that ten bosses of big French firms last year got more than 18,000 times that amount as take-home pay, and that the salaries of the top directors have increased by at least 15 per cent over the past two years.
The best-paid French head honcho, the boss of the dairy products operation Danone, earns nearly six million euros each year. That's 1,052 times the minimum government handout.
And they earn their big salaries, says L'Huma, by enforcing wage cuts and sacking workers.
Popular Le Parisien reports from the Paris suburb of Sevran, where the mayor recently said there's an urgent need for a contingent of United Nations peacekeepers.
Despite a massive police presence, huge swathes of Sevran remain no-go areas for the authorities. The police have effectively lost the battle against the drug dealers and the armed gangs who protect them.

EDITORIAL : THE TEHRAN TIMES, IRAN

Persian Press Review

Tehran Times Political Desk

This column features excerpts from news articles, editorials, commentaries, and interviews of the leading Iranian newspapers and websites.

Monday’s headlines

JAVCAN: 200 MPs sign a plan calling for postponing merger of ministries

HEMAYAT: Salehi describes U.S. as the biggest violator of NPT

JAME JAM: Heavy dust storms hit Tehran again

TEHRAN-E EMROOZ: Larijani warns against interference in (parliamentary) elections

HAMSHAHRI: Metro will reach Kahrizak by end of Khordad (June 21)

SHARQ: Price of water, electricity, gas, and fuel increased 90% in Farvardin (the first month of the current Iranian year which began on March 21)

MELLATEMA: One-third of (current) representatives are not qualified to run for parliamentary elections

IRAN: Does Majlis stand against the rule of the Fifth Development Plan

TAFAHOM: Iran is the world’s 12th largest wheat producer

KHORASAN: Construction of 5 new airports start even though 27 airports are not used currently

Leading articles

MELLATEMA in a news report quotes Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei as saying unfortunately principlists have put all their eggs in the “electoral basket” and this is the cause of disagreement among principlists and as long as this continues, unity between principlists is in danger. Referring to the propagation of the Iranian school of thought by the deviant current, he said during the past 100 years, the issue of nationalism has been abused by certain people to gain power or reinforce the pillars of their power. Rezaei, a former IRGC commander, added according to Imam Khomeini true nationalists are those Basiji members who liberated Khorramshahr from the Iraqi occupation. He added the true school of thought pursued by Iran is an Islamic school of thought, and if Iran is separated from Islam, it will definitely collapse. Even, he added, Iran cannot defend its territorial integrity if people are separated from Isalm.

TEHRAN-E EMROOZ in a news report quotes Jafar Tashakori-Hashemi, the deputy Tehran mayor for transportation and traffic affairs, as saying on average every two hours 6 people are killed and 90 others are injured in car accidents across the country. Tashakori-Hashemi says just 250 of accidents take place in the metropolis of Tehran. “In our opinion, when a person dies then his family is broken up, and the life of another person is ruined in prison, so with the death of each person, two family units are broken up,” Tashakori-Hashemi added. He added efforts are underway to improve the culture of traffic in the country this year and we hope through development of public transportation we can encourage citizens to better observe traffic regulations

EDITORIAL : THE TRIPOLI POST, LIBYA

‘Permanent’ Despair: Did Egypt Really Open Rafah Crossing?

For most Palestinians, leaving Gaza through Egypt is as exasperating a process as entering it. Governed by political and cultural sensitivities, most Palestinian officials and public figures refrain from criticising the way Palestinians are treated at the Rafah border. However, there is really no diplomatic language to describe the relationship between desperate Palestinians - some literally fighting for their lives - and Egyptian officials at the crossing which separates Gaza from Egypt. “Gazans are treated like animals at the border,” a friend of mine told me. She was afraid that her fiancé would not be allowed to leave Gaza, despite the fact that his papers were in order. Having crossed the border myself just a few days ago, I could not disagree with her statement. The New York Times reported on June 8: “After days of acrimony between Hamas and Egypt over limitations on who could pass through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Hamas said Egypt had agreed to allow 550 people a day to leave Gaza and to lengthen the operating hours of the crossing.” And so the saga continues A few weeks after an official Egyptian announcement to ‘permanently’ open the border - thus extending a lifeline for trapped Palestinians under siege in Gaza - the Rafah border was opened for two days of conditional operation in late May, and then closed again for four days. Now it has once more ‘reopened’. All the announcements are proving to be no more than rhetoric. The latest ‘permanent’ reopening has come with its own conditions and limitations, involving such factors as gender, age, purpose of visit, and so on. “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country,” states Article 13 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This universal principle, however, continues to evade most Palestinians in Gaza. I was one of the very first Palestinians who stood at Rafah following the announcement of a ‘permanent’ opening. Our bus waited at the gate for a long time. I watched a father repeatedly try to reassure his crying six-year-old child, who displayed obvious signs of a terrible bone disease. “Get the children out or they will die,” shouted an older passenger as he gasped for air. The heat in the bus, combined with the smell of trapped sweat was unbearable. Passengers took it upon themselves to leave the bus and stand outside, enduring disapproving looks from the Egyptian officials. Our next task was finding clean water and a shady spot in the arid zone separating the Egypt and Palestinian sides. There were no restrooms. A tangible feeling of despair and humiliation could be read on the faces of the Gaza passengers. No one seemed to be in the mood to speak of the Egyptian revolution, a favourite topic of conversation among most Palestinians. This zone is governed by an odd relationship, one that goes back many years - well before Egypt, under Hosni Mubarak, decided to shut down the border in 2006 in order to aid in the political demise of Hamas. The issue actually has nothing to do with gender, age or logistics. All Palestinians are treated very poorly at the Rafah crossing, and they continue to endure even after the toppling of Mubarak, his family and the dismissal of the corrupt security apparatus. The Egyptian revolution is yet to reach Gaza. When the bus was finally allowed to enter about five hours later, Palestinians dashed into the gate, desperately hoping to be among the lucky ones allowed to go in. The anxiety of the travellers usually makes them vulnerable to workers at the border who promise them help in exchange for negotiated amounts of money. All of this is actually a con, as the decision is made by a single man, referred to as al-Mukhabarat, the ‘intelligence’. Some are sent back while others are allowed entry. Everyone is forced to wait for many hours - sometimes even days - with no clear explanation as to what they are waiting for, or why they are being sent back. The very ill six-year-old held on his dad’s jacket as they walked about, frantically trying to fulfil all the requirements. Both seemed like they were about to collapse. The Mukhabarat determined that three Gaza students on their way to their universities in Russia were to be sent back. They had jumped through many hoops already to make it so far. Their hearts sank when they heard the verdict. I protested on their behalf, and the decision was as arbitrarily reversed as it was originally made. Those who are sent back to Gaza are escorted by unsympathetic officers to the same open spot, to wait for the same haggard bus. Some of those who are allowed entry are escorted by security personnel across the Sinai desert, all the way to Cairo International Airport to be ‘deported’ to their final destinations. They are all treated like common criminals. “I can't watch my son die in front of my eyes,” screamed the father of 11-year-old Mohammed Ali Saleh, according to Mohammed Omer for IPS (June 10). He was addressing Egyptian troops days after the border was supposedly ‘permanently’ reopened - for the second time in less than a week. Such compelling needs as medical treatment, education and freedom keep bringing Palestinians back. The Israeli siege has chocked Gaza to the point of near complete strangulation. Egypt is Gaza’s only hope. “I beg you to open the crossing…You brothers of Egypt have humiliated us for so long. Isn't it time we had our dignity back?” said Naziha Al-Sebakhi, 63, one of the many distressed faces at the Rafah border, according to Mohammed Omer. As they crossed into Egypt, some of the passengers seemed euphoric. The three Russian students and I shared a taxi to Cairo. A tape of Umm Kulthum’s ‘Amal Hyati’ - Hope of my Life - played over and over again. Despite everything, the young men seemed to hold no resentment whatsoever towards Egypt. “I just love Egypt…I don’t know why,” said Majid pensively, before falling asleep from sheer exhaustion. I thought of the six-year-old boy and his dad. I wonder if they made it to the hospital on time.

EDITORIAL : THE BANGKOK POST, THAILAND

 

 

Chilling fact in the South

Anew report seems to support the concept of a growing commercial centre in Hat Yai, the popular business hub of the South. But in fact the statistics from municipal mayor Prai Pattano hide a troublesome, even shameful secret. Mr Prai said last weekend that in the past seven years, some 200,000 people have moved into Hat Yai district, the vital shopping, tourism and transportation core of the deep South, in Songkhla. Normally, that would indicate prosperity, but not this time. Mr Prai said, credibly, that almost all the new arrivals are effectively refugees in their own country, fleeing the violence in surrounding Songkhla province, but especially in the three provinces just below and to the west of Hat Yai.

The report brings home dramatically the scale and effect of what is now a seven-and-a-half year conflict. The so-called separatists of the deep South renewed their attacks on the central authority in January 2004, and have not let up. One of the stated goals of the shadowy gangs, revealed in anonymous letters and posters, is the ethnic cleansing of the South. The gangs aim to force out ethnic Thais - "Siamese" in their hate propaganda - and create a region where only anti-Thai people of Malay origin live.
The overwhelming majority of those who live in the region have rejected this aim. The people of Thailand have rejected it, as has their government. Right-thinking people in and outside Thailand have long ago resisted such efforts to use ethnic origin as a community standard. In a great irony, Malaysia itself is cited as one of the region's success stories in cooling racial tensions. Yet if Mr Prai's figures are correct - and there is no reason so far to doubt them - the malicious and violent little gangs of the deep South not only promote and pursue ethnic violence, they have been successful at it.
If ever a shocking statistic deserved the close attention and immediate involvement of the government, this is it. Not that the new report should actually shock concerned authorities. The Thaksin Shinawatra government in power in 2004, its successors and the Abhisit Vejjajiva government of the past two and a half years all are aware of the hateful intent and actions of the southern gangs. Four years ago, Her Majesty the Queen personally urged the army to discourage Buddhists from leaving their homes in the deep South. She encouraged the armed forces to help citizens rebuild after they had been forced out of their communities by violence. Gen Wattanachai Chaimuanwong, then the chief adviser to the government on the deep South, told the media that "the Buddhist population has declined sharply" because of a lack of security.
Any Thai citizen forced from his home for fear of violence represents a failure of both the government and the security forces. Mr Prai's claim that 200,000 Thais have become refugees in Hat Yai alone is a black mark. The government, the army and the specialised agencies in the deep South should immediately be held accountable. Residents of the four southernmost provinces, and all Thais, deserve to know why the government has allowed this to occur, and what the plans are to right this terrible wrong.
With an election under way, there is no better time to raise this chilling issue. The present government and its political opponents must face the fact that armed rebels are killing Thais and forcing them to become refugees in huge numbers. There is no excuse for failing to act immediately.

EDITORIAL : THE INDENDENT, IRELAND

         

 

Job creation the ace in gaming decisions

BRILLIANT business proposition, adolescent's dream, or daft idea? An Bord Pleanala has given developer Richard Quirke planning permission for the Tipperary Venue, a casino-centred project that seems to combine, if not outshine, the most spectacular features of Disneyland and Las Vegas.

Covering a site of 800 acres and estimated to cost €460m to build, the development will include, in addition to the casino, a 500-bedroom hotel, a health spa, a swimming pool, a golf course, an all-weather racecourse, a greyhound track and a full-size replica of the White House. There is also a plan for a polo ground. The board has refused permission for a 15,000-seat concert venue.

The most prominent advocate of the project has been the controversial Michael Lowry, but those in favour include such giants of the racing world as Coolmore Stud, as well as local tourism and business interests.

Elsewhere, opinion as to its merits is deeply divided. It is all but impossible to calculate the likely effects on the environment outside the 800 acres near Thurles. Tipperary is a big place, but one assumes that the casino and the surrounding buildings and facilities will not be entirely isolated from the local community or devoid of any effect on its life.

Some degree of isolation there will be, and it could take on an eerie shape. Will hordes of people -- American billionaires or Arab sheikhs -- arrive by helicopter, spend days or weeks enjoying the luxuries laid on for them, and depart from a location which, for all they have seen of it, could be on another continent?

Will reliance on gambling have an insidious effect on the wider society? Hardly, if there is so little contact. And in many countries, casinos exist without any visible detriment to society.

But when the pros and cons are argued out, one issue will surely take precedence.

It is calculated that it will create up to 2,000 jobs, and that could be the overwhelming consideration, both in the public debate and when the Government has to make up its mind whether to change the gaming legislation and make possible the profits on which the enterprise depends.

Our education is always worth a conversation

EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn showed a good sense of priorities and of parents' anxieties when he published a discussion document on school enrolment policies yesterday. He also set a reasonable date, October 28, for receipt of comments on the document before he considers legislation on the subject.

He said yesterday that it was "not meant to be prescriptive". No decisions have been made on final regulations or legislation. However, the paper makes no attempt to conceal the thinking behind it or the general lines of what the minister considers the right approach.

There is intense competition for places in the "right" primary and secondary schools. Unquestionably, some families enjoy advantages which others do not. The others include, notably, immigrants and families living in disadvantaged areas. But the competition extends across all areas and classes.

Mr Quinn's thinking is clearly aimed at achieving greater fairness and overcoming some practical problems, such as those which arise from waiting lists.

Whether or not this is his intention, the document gives gentle guidance on the preferred lines of debate.

Much is merely common sense: for example, giving priority to siblings and, in the case of denominational schools, to children of a particular faith, but not giving priority to children related to a staff or management board member, a past pupil or a benefactor.

But gentle guidance ends and a flash of teeth appears when the document tells its readers that new regulations, when introduced, will bring with them new sanctions. The minister may have the power to appoint an external admissions officer. It would seem that legislation is not so far off after all.

EDITORIAL : THE JAKARTA POST, INDONESIA

Wake-up call for Democrats

The latest survey by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) that found the Democratic Party fall behind its ally and chief competitor Golkar for the first time since the 2009 elections should not come as a surprise, even for the ruling party.

The Democrats should know well and should have prepared actions to regain the public faith that helped it win the 2009 legislative elections and lead its chief patron Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to victory in the last two presidential elections.

The survey found it is the Democratic Party’s lack-luster efforts in dealing with a corruption case implicating its former treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin that has greatly contributed to its declining popularity.

The public has witnessed a stark contrast between the party’s claims, and Yudhoyono’s included, to combat corruption and its defense of Nazaruddin, who has reportedly been in Singapore since he fled Indonesia just 24 hours before the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) issued a travel ban on him on May 24.

Nazaruddin is linked to a bribery case surrounding a construction project for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Palembang, South Sumatra, in which the KPK has named three people, including the secretary of the Youth and Sports Ministry, Wafid Muharram. The KPK, however, has summoned Nazaruddin twice for questioning as a witness in connection with corruption within the National Education Ministry.

Similar to the first summons last week, the second KPK summons for questioning on Monday was left unheeded. Nazaruddin has cited illness as an excuse, despite the absence of convincing proof, but strangely the Democratic Party takes his word for granted.

Instead of providing assistance to the KPK, the Democrats have blamed the anti-graft commission for Nazaruddin’s absence, which only confirms speculation that the ruling party will stretch its limits to protect Nazaruddin, as his testimony to the investigators is feared to potentially deal the party a major blow.

That the party stubbornly stands behind Nazaruddin, despite Yudhoyono’s order to bring the young lawmaker back home, will give rise to the public’s doubt over not only its pre-election campaign against corruption, but also the party’s commitment to fair play in the run-up to the 2014 elections. Critics have anticipated the Nazaruddin case may expose massive fund rising efforts benefiting from projects funded by the state budget.

For Yudhoyono, the Nazaruddin saga is a test of his statesmanship. The decline in his Democratic Party’s popularity must have something to do with his slow actions in response to Nazaruddin’s implication in the SEA Games graft case and in particular his failure to exercise his power to make Nazaruddin comply with the law.

Yudhoyono won credits when he allowed former Bank Indonesia deputy governor Aulia Pohan, who is the father-in-law of his son, to face prosecution that eventually sent him to jail for graft. The President has also been widely lauded for allowing investigations of regional heads, either governors or regents, for their alleged involvement in corruption.

In short, Yudhoyono, as the head of state, has an undisputed commitment to the war on graft, but when it comes to corruption implicating his party, the much-awaited bold action is absent, at least in the case of Nazaruddin.

A Democratic Party executive admits the LSI survey serves as a wake-up call for the party. But with or without the survey, the party’s responsibility to make Nazaruddin face the music and clean up corrupt elements stands.

EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

Fine line on managing ash

ANOTHER reminder - this time from Mother Nature, not technology - of our interconnected world. The Chilean volcanic ash that travelled more than halfway around the globe to disrupt Australians' long-weekend travel underlines how dependent we are on the latter and how humbled we can still be by the former.

When a similar eruption occurred in Iceland last year, authorities took the unprecedented action of closing air space across Europe. In Australia, Qantas was criticised by some as overly conservative when it cancelled some flights to Europe. But it was no surprise this time around, with the ash closer to home, that Qantas and Jetstar led the way on Sunday by halting flights. The huge backlog of passengers plus the chance of further closures today mean that this event will be costly for the airlines and will require all their skills in disaster management. Unpredictable events, such as volcanic eruptions, can have a devastating effect on the best business plans and the ash cloud could not have come at a worse time for an aviation sector under pressure from fuel costs and still recovering from the global financial crisis.

Modern consumers who have grown used to regular, easy air travel may baulk at the disruption, but it is difficult to see that the airlines had any other option but to err on the side of safety.

A win for Turkish democracy

TURKEY'S voters were probably wise not to give Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan the two-thirds majority he wanted to amend the constitution unilaterally, but the result of the general election nonetheless represents a major shot in the arm for democracy in a country still emerging from a dark past of military coups.

More than that, Mr Erdogan's success in leading his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to a record third straight victory in a highly strategic country in the East-West equation that plays a particularly influential role in the Islamic world will inspire those striving for democracy in places such as neighbouring Syria that there is an alternative to dictatorship and jackboot military rule.

Mr Erdogan has his critics. He is seen by many to be far too thin-skinned, suing or threatening even the mildest of critics. Though he denies it, some accuse him of being a closet Islamist who has compromised the secularism of the founding father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

In the 10 years he has been in power, Mr Erdogan, who now becomes the longest-serving Turkish leader since Ataturk, has, through a blend of economic liberalism and religious conservatism, led a remarkable transformation of his country from one that was constantly prey to military coups and an economic basket case to one that is a democracy boasting a growth rate of 9 per cent, second only to China's and higher than India's, and exerting unprecedented influence in its own region and internationally.

Turkey matters on the world stage now in a way it never did when the generals ruled the roost. Mr Erdogan deserves praise for the way he has sidelined them and successfully entrenched democracy. The next stage in this process, he believes, is to rewrite the military-drafted constitution, creating an executive, French-style presidency, a job he is said to covet. Had he won the two-thirds majority, he would have been able to make the changes unilaterally. Now he has to negotiate with opposition parties, and has pledged that he will draw up a new constitution through consensus and negotiation, something that should further assist the cause of democracy.

Beyond this, there are other challenges confronting Mr Erdogan that will test to the full Turkey's historic role as a bridge between East and West and its proximity to the upheavals taking place across the Arab world. Already, Turkey is suffering a sidewash effect from the tumult in Syria. To its credit, it has opened its borders to refugees fleeing the horrendous human rights outrages being perpetrated by the Baathist regime in Damascus.

Syria, indeed, should serve as a lesson for Mr Erdogan, who has, despite Turkey's membership of NATO and its application to join the EU, been attempting to pursue a more independent foreign policy that has sometimes strained traditional relations with the US and Israel, taking a hard line against the Jewish state. Given his own success with democracy, Mr Erdogan should be taking a different tack, for the only other democratic country in the region is Israel and he ill-serves the cause of democracy by siding with those who seek its destruction.

The standout success of democracy in Turkey owes much to Mr Erdogan's leadership. He should not shy away from supporting the democratic cause elsewhere, especially in his own region.

States must contain public sector wage pressures

STATE governments are grappling with a difficult balancing act as they strive to contain public sector wage bills.

Wage costs need to be held to the inflation rate, currently 2.9 per cent, or less if budget deficits are to be reduced and funds freed up for infrastructure. At the same time, serious shortages of nurses, specialist teachers, police and other essential service personnel compel governments to offer competitive wages to frontline staff. It is unhelpful that state budgets are being delivered at a time when the Gillard government's industrial system is making unions bolder and driving wages pressures in key sectors. In Victoria, for example, the militant Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union has bagged a 27 per cent pay hike over four years for construction workers without productivity improvements.

As state treasurers struggle to prevent their wages bill from escalating by more than $4 billion in the 2011-12 financial year, they should focus on keeping their bureaucracies as pared down and efficient as possible. And while they need to protect the interests of frontline staff, there is no need to send their budget bottom lines deeper into the red with pay deals well above the inflation rate. The push by Victoria's state teachers for a rise of 10 per cent a year, for instance, defies reason. The 5 per cent annual increase for three years being sought by NSW police is also out of kilter with inflation.

As current enterprise deals expire and are renegotiated, it is important that wage and superannuation rises are linked as closely as possible to productivity improvements. Outstanding work performance deserves financial recognition, which is why the sooner the best classroom teachers are rewarded with the merit pay bonuses announced by the Gillard government, for example, the better Australia's public schools will be.

The South Australian government has shown commendable resolve in forcing through unpopular job cuts. In Queensland, Treasurer Andrew Fraser, who is battling to restore the state's AAA credit rating, also has the right idea targeting 3500 positions within the non-frontline public sector under a "voluntary" job cuts program. A similar strategy could be adopted in all states and territories without a noticeable loss of services to the public.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell is pursuing a fiscally responsible strategy in seeking to cap public service pay rises to 2.5 per cent, unless offset by savings. Mr O'Farrell can expect a protracted legal battle, possibly all the way to the High Court, over his legislation to take control of public sector wages. If he is to succeed, his legislation will need be to watertight in regard to the NSW government's constitutional and legal rights.

While some view his approach as heavy-handed, the outcome will be watched closely by other states and comes after years of public sector unions calling the tune in NSW on wages and conditions and much else. The fact that ferry workers pocketed $10,000 more than teachers and blocked the sale of Sydney Ferries under Labor was a prime example.

If governments are to keep pace with taxpayers' demands for better services, they must take firmer control of their payrolls, which are their biggest running costs.

EDITORIAL : THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

Nearly a Year After Dodd-Frank

Without strong leaders at the top of the nation’s financial regulatory agencies, the Dodd-Frank financial reform doesn’t have a chance. Whether it is protecting consumers against abusive lending, reforming the mortgage market or reining in too-big-to-fail banks, all require tough and experienced regulators.

Too many of these jobs are vacant, or soon will be, or are filled by caretakers. So it was a relief last week when President Obama said he had decided on a well-qualified nominee to be the new chairman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and would make other nominations soon. The White House needs to move quickly and be prepared to fight.

Much of the blame for the delays lies with Republican lawmakers who have consistently opposed qualified candidates. In the case of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, they have vowed to obstruct any nominee unless Democrats first agree to gut the agency’s powers. Until now, the administration hasn’t pushed back.

Mr. Obama’s choice to lead the F.D.I.C., Martin Gruenberg, is a solid one. Mr. Gruenberg has earned widespread respect for his work as vice chairman of the F.D.I.C. since 2005. His confirmation could be eased by the fact that he is well known to senators from his long previous tenure on the staff of the banking committee.

Thomas Curry, reported to be under consideration to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is also a strong choice. A lawyer, former state bank regulator and current F.D.I.C. board member, he has a firm grasp of federal and state regulation. That is a crucial attribute for running the historically antiregulatory O.C.C. If nominated, Mr. Curry’s confirmation could be smoothed by the fact that he is a registered independent who was chosen for the F.D.I.C. by President George W. Bush.

It remains to be seen whether Republicans will just-say-no to even uncontroversial candidates like Mr. Gruenberg and Mr. Curry. Any potential fight pales compared to the one under way over the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau where, as ever, the Republicans are more interested in protecting bankers than consumers.

As their price for confirming a director, they want to vastly expand the power of bank regulators to veto the bureau’s decisions and put controls on the bureau’s financing that will make it more vulnerable to political pressure. They have also made clear their particular disdain for Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor and prominent reformer who has been working as a presidential adviser to set up the bureau.

The White House has recently floated another possible nominee, Raj Date, a former banker who is now working with Ms. Warren. Mr. Date has an impressive résumé, but not nearly as impressive as Ms. Warren’s.

Why go with a compromise candidate when Republicans have vowed to block any nominee? Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats should back Ms. Warren and expose to American voters just exactly whose interests the Republicans put first.

Mr. Obama has been criticized for not doing battle for another excellent nominee, Peter Diamond, a Nobel Prize laureate in economics who withdrew his name after Republicans vowed to block him from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. They said his background in labor economics made him unqualified, even though full employment is one of the Fed’s mandates. Mr. Diamond clearly could have served ably, but Republicans were more interested in obstruction. It’s past time for President Obama to take off the gloves.

 

 

 

They Need to Stand Up for Equality

 

The New York State Senate is just two votes away from approving same-sex marriage. At least four senators — all Republicans — still won’t say where they stand. They need to declare their support. There is no excuse for their silence, except for appeasing a conservative political base that clearly does not represent the interests or the values of this state.

The Assembly has voted for marriage equality repeatedly. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ready to sign the bill into law. And an army of prominent New Yorkers are urging the Legislature to approve this basic human right.

The list of business leaders supporting same-sex marriage includes: Rochelle Lazarus, chairman of Ogilvie & Mather; Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs; and Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup. Also speaking out are several big-time Republican donors: John Mack, chairman of Morgan Stanley; Paul Singer, a hedge fund executive; Jerry Speyer, chairman of Tishman Speyer Properties.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City has promised to put his cash and clout behind any senator who supports the legislation “no matter where they stand on any other issue.”

Larry King, Julianna Margulies, Michael Strahan, formerly of the New York Giants, Sean Avery of the Rangers and Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns have made videos in support of marriage equality. Leaders of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.; S.E.I.U. 1199, the health workers’ union; and the Communications Workers of America are also pushing hard.

Senator James Alesi of the Rochester suburbs was the first Republican senator to say he would vote for marriage equality. We applaud him and urge others to join him. Instead, they are either opposed or staying mum, hoping the clock will run out and they won’t have to take a stand. That list of undeclared: Greg Ball of Putnam County, Andrew Lanza of Staten Island, Roy McDonald of Rensselaer County and Stephen Saland of the Poughkeepsie area.

Dean Skelos, the Senate Republican leader who has said that he is opposed to same-sex marriage, has also said members of his caucus should follow their conscience. There is less than a week left in the term. Mr. Skelos must schedule a vote, and New York’s lawmakers need to do what is right.

Reading Turkey’s Vote

Turkey’s voters gave Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party roughly half the popular vote and a solid new parliamentary majority. But the party fell short in Sunday’s vote of the two-thirds majority it needs to push through a new Constitution on its own. That is good news for Turkey’s democracy.

Turkey’s current Constitution, drafted under military rule in the early 1980s, should be replaced by a fully democratic charter. It must reinforce human rights, including free speech, a free press and equal rights for women and ethnic minorities and represent the full range of the country’s increasingly pluralistic society.

Over the last nine years, Justice and Development has unleashed the energies of Turkey’s entrepreneurs, established civilian supremacy over a coup-prone army and pushed through human rights reforms as part of an effort to bolster Turkey’s candidacy for the European Union. Recently, Mr. Erdogan has become more authoritarian and thin-skinned. His party was expected to push for creating a strong new executive presidency designed to let him continue to rule after his term as prime minister runs out. That would concentrate far too much power in a single branch of government.

Mr. Erdogan’s increasingly confrontational foreign policies may play well at the polls, but they have proved costly for the country’s interests. Once-constructive relations with Israel have yielded to tit-for-tat provocations and, if they continue, could threaten Turkey’s substantial trade with Israel. Its cozy games with Iran only encouraged Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Its ambivalent response to the Arab Spring has left the pioneering Muslim democracy looking like an apologist for kleptocrats and thugs.

Ankara must discourage private Turkish groups from initiating a second blockade-running Gaza flotilla and press Turkish companies and banks to better enforce international sanctions against Iran. It must recognize that the drive for democracy sweeping up against its borders represents a historic opportunity for Turkish leadership.

A Clear View of the Troubled Oceans

The scale and toll of industrial fishing is far less familiar than even the scale and toll of industrial farming. Groups like Seafood Watch at the Monterey Bay Aquarium put out sustainable seafood lists for diners and shoppers, good reminders that fisheries are in decline. But even they do not convey how bad things have become.

That is one of the purposes of European Fish Week, which ended on Sunday. The event was organized by Ocean2012, a coalition hoping to change the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union. Change will not come easily. As the coalition points out, Europe is supporting overfishing with high quotas and direct subsidies for modernizing the European fishing fleet. And since the European fleets fish globally, the effect is global.

A 2003 study by the Fisheries Center at the University of British Columbia shows the plunge in predatory fish over the last century. A map of the Atlantic in 1900, based on that data, is filled with colored splotches showing concentrations of fish. In 2000, the map is nearly empty.

A chart on the Ocean2012 Web site approaches the problem in a different way. It shows that since the 1950s, the Spanish fishing fleet, once mostly confined to the mid-Atlantic and the Mediterranean, has become a global force, fishing in the Pacific and along the edge of Antarctica as well.

So far, the sensible remedies — including lowering quotas, limiting seasons and retiring fleets — have gone nowhere. Choosing a sustainable fish for supper isn’t enough. Both commercial fishermen and the politicians that do their bidding must recognize that global overfishing by many nations now threatens the oceans and the economies that depend on them. And the only way to deal with that threat is with strong international rules to end all unsustainable fishing.

EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

 

Licenced to care

IF a positive adjective were needed to describe the enforcement authorities, the word would have to be "merciful". How else to explain the numerous amnesty periods given to various offenders, of traffic infringement and illegal migrant labour, for instance? And so, too, it is with the Welfare Department's nearly-seven month-long "Jom Daftar" campaign, aimed at creating awareness among some 3,000 unregistered care centre operators of the need for them to be registered with the department in order to operate legally. The fact that these care centres are not supposed to operate unless they have certification from the Welfare Department, and the fact that in doing so still they are committing a crime, makes the next seven months in actuality an amnesty period. That it is instead referred to as "Jom Daftar" (Come Register) is a gentle and diplomatic way of engaging with the offenders by recouching them as compliable, rather than recalcitrant.
In this instance, the merciful approach is warranted. It is imperative that all care centres be registered so that their operation can be monitored and residents assured of a safe and professionally-run environment. Shutting down the centres is not the most desirable option because care centres play an important role in helping working families look after young children and aged dependants; more so especially as Malaysia prepares to move away from its dependence on foreign domestic labour.

But this mercy should only be given to those willing to comply; none should be given to those who only have excuses for why they can't comply. Conditions that require applicants to renovate their proposed premises to meet safety standards, for instance, were not created to stymie charitable organisations in their well-intended attempts to provide free care for poor families. The operator's good intentions notwithstanding, there are no shortcuts to making a place safe for residents.

At the same time, all the technical agencies -- like the local authority, fire and rescue services and health department -- should take cognizance of the reasons that drive operators to begin operating without certification: delays in getting approvals. In conjunction with the campaign and with a view to clearing the backlog, a concerted effort must be made to speed up the approval process, within reasonable limits. If premises simply cannot meet requirements, society should step in and help operators find a suitable one. But once the amnesty period is over, the authorities must come down swift and hard on errant operators. For no matter how desperately their services are needed, the safety of even one life is non-negotiable.

EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, ENGLAND

         

 

Turkey: admiration and apprehension

While other European politicians battle to avoid the blame for economic downturn, Mr Erdogan claims the credit for economic success

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, boasts an election-winning record of which other European leaders can only dream. Sunday's general election victory for his AKP party was not just his third in a row. It was also his most emphatic yet. When the AKP first won power in 2002, it got 10.7m votes and a 34.3% share. On Sunday, on an 87% turnout that puts other countries to shame, Mr Erdogan hoisted those figures to 21.4m (double his 2002 support) and a 49.9% share. Bizarrely, under Turkey's idiosyncratic proportional representation system, this means the AKP now has 326 members in the 550-seat parliament, compared with 363 in 2002. But this decline in AKP seats, though politically very important, should not detract from a stellar electoral achievement.

Mr Erdogan commands the Turkish political scene thanks to one factor above all – the economy. Turkey continues to grow at around 9% a year; GDP per head has nearly doubled since 2002; and Turkish exports have nearly tripled. In particular, the AKP has delivered a transformation in life chances for the largely rural, predominantly religiously conservative but highly entrepreneurial Anatolian Turks who form its power base. Life across many parts of central and eastern Turkey is incomparably better today than 20 years ago. In the election campaign Mr Erdogan promised major new public works to carry the momentum further. While other European politicians battle to avoid the blame for economic downturn, Mr Erdogan claims the credit for economic success and as a result surges onward politically.

This is where admiration elides into apprehension. The AKP's reward, it now hopes, will be the chance to rewrite Turkey's constitution with an enhanced presidency (which Mr Erdogan is eyeing) and a diminished parliament and military. This may not be as easy as it seems. The AKP's chances of achieving this goal are enhanced by Sunday's vote. But half of Turkey's voters remain opposed to the AKP, and the traditionally Kemalist army and courts are unreconciled too. The AKP's lack of a two-thirds majority means that other parties – including the renewed Kemalist centre-left CHP, which increased its share of the vote by 5%, and the independent Kurds – will have to be consulted. These constraints matter, not least because of Mr Erdogan's imperious ways, which include the jailing of journalists and a punitive approach to media organisations with the temerity to criticise him. There is much to admire, internally and internationally, about the new Turkey. But peaceful revolutions can overreach themselves too, and it is vital that Turkish society is able to place some limits around Mr Erdogan's formidable ambitions.

 

NHS: Field theory

The bill is not the danger to the NHS that it once was, but the service is more of a liability for the coalition than ever

The prime minister and his deputy yesterday took a tip from the Dodo and agreed that everybody has won. After unprecedented brokering over a half-passed bill, both Nick Clegg and David Cameron had to have NHS prizes to brandish in front of their respective backbenchers. As professor Steve Field, the GP with the dubious privilege of conducting the listening exercise, reported back yesterday, Mr Clegg proclaimed victory for taming competition, while Mr Cameron let it be known that he had salvaged the substance of the Conservative vision by retaining the stress on choice.

This useful ambiguity was easier to maintain than it might have been, since the fit between the various proposed consortiums, boards and regulators is so obscure, especially now that "clinical senates" and a new "citizens' panel" are being thrown in the mix. But dig into the detail, and it is possible to establish a clear Lib Dem victory on points. With sharper accountability, with the responsibilities of the secretary of state reaffirmed, and – above all – with the demolition of Andrew Lansley's dream of a proactively pro-competition regulator, the bill that will take shape in the coming days will have to be an entirely different animal from that before the pause. It may even prevent some forms of privatisation that Tony Blair flirted with, such as the wholesale outsourcing of commissioning. No matter that Mr Clegg was once content with the first draft, his party refused to wear it. And if the recommendations are confirmed as accepted today, then he will have seen to it that his party prevails.

The messy manner of this victory, however, will come back to haunt both coalition parties. The Field report acknowledges an urgent need to address various problems, without explaining how they can be fixed. It promises, for instance, that private providers will be barred from cherry-picking profitable patients by unspecified "additional safeguards". Well, we shall see. The report also relies heavily on words with many meanings, such as "integration". To some it conveys state planning, to others GPs connecting with hospitals, and to others again the unification of health and social care. The latter is currently being entirely separately reviewed, and yet this huge additional problem is now potentially being piled into the body of a bill midway through emergency surgery.

Meanwhile, a coalition that promised to end top-down reorganisations could now preside over a second before its first is even complete. Mr Lansley's oft-repeated boast is that while the BMA carps, most family doctors have been quietly settling themselves into consortiums to pick up the NHS purse strings. But now Professor Field is suddenly saying that these embryonic consortiums, which were not meant to be tied to particular areas, must instead share their borders with councils. Managers who have spent the last year running primary care trusts under sentence of death must now steer their amalgamated successors into an uncertain future, while also organising recruitment into consortiums that are changing shape before being established. Think of them and weep.

The bitterest irony is that Mr Lansley had hoped his bill would take the politics out of healthcare. He has achieved the polar opposite in more than one sense. Assuming the Field report is enacted, the crunch question about the extent of competition will not be settled by an independent regulator, but instead by a board of bureaucrats who will work to a "model" proposed by the secretary of state. The House of Lords might well take exception to an approach of legislate first, decide later.

The coming expenditure squeeze is the most severe in NHS history, and the government's best hope was quietly muddling through. But after so much chaotic activity on its own part, any such hope is gone. The bill is not the danger to the NHS that it once was, but the service is more of a liability for the coalition than ever.

In praise of … Stirling Moss

Sir Stirling has decided to stop racing at the age of 81, after realising during practice at Le Mans that he was scared

There have been lots of great British racing drivers. But there has only ever been one Sir Stirling Moss. None of the others, though their achievements were often greater, became synonymous with the sport in the way Moss did in the 1950s, and none has retained that status for so long. On the face of it, news that Sir Stirling has decided to stop racing at the age of 81 – retired driver retires almost 50 years after quitting Formula One – ought not to be a story at all. But his announcement, after realising during practice at Le Mans that he was scared, touches a chord with anyone old enough to remember his career or who recalls the more innocent, daredevil sporting age in which he was a household name. The police officer reprimanding a motorist with a "Who do you think you are – Stirling Moss?" may be apocryphal, but it sounds authentic. Perhaps it was just his name – surely no one called Simon Moss could have been such a legend. Perhaps it was the era – the postwar but not yet postcolonial time in which the British hero still seemed to rule the world. Perhaps it was the danger of what he did, and which twice nearly killed him. Perhaps it was simply Sir Stirling's readiness to connect with the public – do Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton trouble to write individual replies to fan letters or to send postcards from circuits around the world to admirers, as Moss once did? Whatever he did, he did in style, as his retirement interview yesterday proved. Stirling Moss was a bit special. Happily he still is.