Kerry B. Collison

Full text available in the extended body of this posting.
Cheers
Kerry

The people who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize have earned the right to act, at certain times, as representatives of the world's conscience. This was never more true than in the statement on Myanmar issued last week by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and signed by eight of his fellow Nobel laureates.

After the ruling military junta shot and beat saffron-robed Buddhist monks and other citizens who were peacefully demonstrating for democracy last fall, most governments only dithered. The United Nations sent a special envoy to Myanmar to beg the despotic generals for some gesture of reconciliation with a population that despises them.

Predictably, the regime of General Than Shwe went on rounding up monks and other pro-democracy activists. In a show of disdain for their own people and the rest of the world, the generals announced last week that they will hold a vote in May on a new constitution - a phony referendum on a document that their stooges have spent 14 years drafting. And they rubbed salt in their victims' wounds by decreeing that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to participate in elections envisioned for 2010.

Suu Kyi has been under some form of arrest for 12 of the past 18 years, since her National League for Democracy won 82 percent of parliamentary seats in a 1990 election the junta has refused to honor. In their appeal, the Nobel laureates declared, "We stand firmly in support of our fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and have repeatedly called for her release, as well as the release of Buddhist monks and all political prisoners in Burma."

Because Suu Kyi, her National League for Democracy, and Burma's oppressed ethnic minorities have been excluded from the regime's "roadmap" to a new constitution and elections, the laureates said, the junta's version of reconciliation is "flawed."

Bishop Tutu, in his own accompanying statement, was more pointed. "The election promised by the military regime is a complete sham," he declared. Just as an arms embargo was imposed on apartheid South Africa after police massacred black demonstrators in the 1960s and '70s, Tutu said, the UN and the nations of the world should "immediately impose arms embargoes and targeted banking sanctions on Burma following the Saffron Massacre."

Governments habitually act - or refuse to act - for reasons of state. By calling on those states to impose penalties on the Burmese junta, Tutu and his fellow laureates are defending the interests of humanity.

As long as you can get past their adherence to political correctness and their irritating habit of megaphoning private conversations, Americans are - mostly - very nice people. Surely we can all agree on that.

But a few things recently have reminded me what really ticks me off about them. It is their propensity for beating their chests and proclaiming themselves to be the best in the world at everything.

Take, for example, the game that stops the nation. It's not good enough that they call it the 'Super Bowl'. Oh no, the commentators and hype merchants then have to refer to it as the 'world championship'.

Then there's baseball - one made-in-the-USA sport tailored for ordinary people, even if they do like chewing tobacco and spitting on the grass. They call their championship finale the 'World Series'.

But hold on a minute! The rest of the world isn't playing. In recent years, it is the Japanese who have won the real world title in baseball.

People in Jakarta and other big cities have been, for some time, very familiar with news reports of street vendors being "kicked-out" (often literally) from places where they run micro-scale businesses such as selling foods, soft drinks, snacks and so on.

But I have my own experiences with the city's informal sector.

Living 25 kilometers away from my office in the central business district of Jakarta, I often choose to take the air-conditioned express train to the office or to return home.

One of my little pleasures when I get off of the train at the station near my house, usually feeling rather exhausted after a whole day of working in the city, is to enjoy a nice live music performance.

On the stairs toward the main exit of the railway station, are always the same young men, sitting or standing, playing musical instruments such as violins and bass, performing harmonious, easy-to-listen-to music .

If in the evening I am entertained by the soothing live-music performance, likewise in the morning another group of young men will perform a more dynamic piece of music, using their guitars and drum-set to play mostly Indonesian popular songs. When an express train arrives, they will get on the train, play their music in the car, collecting money from the commuters.

I am always amazed by their agility as they jump out of the train with their musical instruments just barely avoiding the closing automatic door.

It is not only music I can enjoy while waiting for my train to commute to Jakarta. In the morning, I can also have my breakfast on the platform. The hawkers on the platform have a lot to offer, from snacks such as kue pastel or risoles, to more filling food such as fried noodles or nasi uduk.

Or, if you do not want to eat in the station but rather bring some food to your office, there are food vendors with plastic baskets offering you Indonesian sweets such as onde-onde, or even some Dutch klapertaart or macaroni schootel.

Apart from food, there are people who sell shoes, clothes, sunglasses, accessories for cellular phones and morning newspapers all on the same platform. I might exaggerate a little, but I can say that, in the morning, I only need to wake up and wash my face beforing heading off to the station.

People who get their income from the informal sector in Jakarta are the majority when compared to people working in the formal sector. Yet, the former group actually belongs to the urban minority group.

The informal sector is nothing new to urban areas such as Jakarta. In the 1930s, a Dutch scholar named Julius Herman Boeke found that, in the economic activities of the Netherlands East Indies, now called Indonesia, there were economic activities based on the principles of capitalism, represented by enterprises and firms.

At the same time there were contrasting activities, which he described as oriental economy, which were none other than economic activities of the informal sector.

Eight decades after Boeke's findings, the informal sector in this country still prevails.

A distinctive feature of modern power is its disciplinary control, its concern with what people have and have not done.

This concern illustrates the primary function of modern disciplinary systems: to correct deviant behavior.

The goal is to reform, and means coming to live by society's standards or norms. Discipline through imposing precise norms ("normalization") is what Michel Foucault calls "the deployment of force and the establishment of truth".

Indonesia, under the New Order system was the perfect example of what Foucault stated.

The New Order created mechanisms of ordered politics (Krishna Sen, 1992). And in this term, film occupies a significant position.

During New Order's power, film had become a propaganda apparatus or a control device which, through its organization of content and production-distribution-exhibition process, attempted to create an obedient public.

The New Order era was signified by an extensive surveillance apparatus watchful for any subversive movement. Government regulations over film also structured production of norms based on normality.

Government-sponsored film organization, censorship, and film festivals functioned not only as a symbol of power but more like mirror for the viewing subjects to reflect his/her own subjectivity.

The year 1998 signified the overturn in Indonesian politic when the fall of Soeharto ended the authoritarian rule that survived for almost 32 years.

The reform movement, which was greatly owed to the student and civil society movement, hardly had any visible impact on the film industry. But indirectly, the reform movement made a strong impact on how democracy is understood.

Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung made a reckless proposal when he said a special administrative zone should be established in the predominantly-Muslim southern provinces as part of the government's effort to restore peace in the strife-torn region. It was obvious the idea was not well thought out, as the minister failed to provide any further details when asked to clarify.Under the Constitution, Thailand is a unitary and indivisible nation state governed by central, provincial and local administrations. There is no legal basis for the designation of special zones similar to China's Xinjiang Special Administrative Region. The only way to make such a thing happen is for Chalerm to convince the Samak government to initiate an amendment to the country's highest law, to allow the creation of a new form of government designed specifically for the region.

Both Chalerm and the government will have a hard job to explain why a special administrative region is needed when the Constitution guarantees equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion.

Successive governments have tried to make Muslim Thais of Malay descent in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces feel more at home in this country, which is as much theirs as any other Thai citizen's. Why would Chalerm want to impose a sense of separateness by setting up a special administrative region there?

An Army unit has been deployed throughout Metro Manila to brace for a coup against the government of President Gloria Arroyo, the military said Friday.

“It [deployment] will form part of our operational readiness and contingencies to prevent any attempts [at a] power grab,” the region’s military commander Maj. Gen. Fernando Mesa told reporters.

The “only aim” of the deployment is “to preserve democracy, ensure that the Constitution is followed, that the laws of the land are enforced,” he said.

Mesa added that the authorities were not aware of any specific security threat, but that they fear Islamic militants could take advantage of rising political tensions to mount a terrorist attack on Metro Manila.

The Army battalion, comprising four companies of infantry and 32 tanks and armored vehicles, will beef up the security forces in Metro Manila, the country’s premier region.

- Exxon, Pertamina Sell 10% Stake Of Cepu To 4 Local Cos

- Indonesia, Exxon agree stake sharing in Cepu oil block

- Indonesia settles power crisis as fuel supply back to normal

- Indonesia's Antam firmer on rise in gold, nickel prices

- Indonesia's Bumi Resources To Acquire Four Mining Companies

- Indonesia's Jan-Oct 2007 Bauxite Exports At 10.376M Tons

- National Aluminium Gets State Govt OK For Bauxite Mining-Min

- Indonesia's Bakrie Brothers shareholders approve reverse stock split

- Indonesia's Bank Niaga still a 'buy' on potential merger - Citigroup

- Indonesia's United Tractors cut to 'hold' on valuation concern - Citigroup

- Century 21 Indonesia Targets US$444.4 Mln In Turnover

- Indonesia's Pluit Sells 78 Pct Of New Shopping Mall In Jakarta

- Indonesia's Global Land Acquires 24.6% Of Plaza Indonesia

- Indonesian House Of Reps Expected To Reject Privatization Plan

- Indonesia's BLT Plans To Issue Bonds Valued At US$88.8 Mln

- Indonesia's Bulog buys 4,000 Indian whites

- Indonesia palm oil prices mixed despite record Malaysian prices
(courtesy Joyo News Service)

Discussing the frequently bewildering outcomes of their judicial system, Indonesians blithely refer to the "court mafia", those involved in the organised practice of auctioning off justice to the highest bidder. The most senior judge in the land, Constitutional Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie, goes further, likening participants in the legal system to vultures — feeding on the unfortunates who fall into their clutches.

"Judicial corruption is one of our big problems," he said in an unreported briefing of foreign diplomats and journalists last month. "In the country there is known to be a judicial mafia — in that system everyone 'squeezes'."

First the police "squeeze" those they arrest, demanding bribes, Judge Asshiddiqie said. "Then prosecutors squeeze the criminal. "When he gets to court, the first man to squeeze is the registrar. And when he comes to the judges, they again squeeze the criminal, but they get only the bones.

At Camp Aguinaldo last week, Philippine military Chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said that the Philippine's most vicious jihadist outfit, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and elements of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) from Indonesia were out to assassinate President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The intelligence emerged amid mounting pressure from the Philippines public to oust the president from power due to what was described as rampant and deep corruption within her administration.

One could conclude that raising the specter of terrorism now may be a ruse to win international funding at this sensitive time.

This is a common perception in Indonesia. You can check it by asking ordinary Indonesian about the whereabouts of the Malaysian citizen Noordin M. Top, Indonesia's most wanted terrorist.

Many will give a surprising answer, like "terrorism is a government project!" or "It's a police and a military project".

Another common answer, "Is it that the police can't arrest him -- or more a case of them not wanting to?"

THE ghost of Japan's “lost decade” haunts the United States. As the consequences of America's burst housing bubble are felt through financial markets, it has become popular to ask whether Japan's awful experience of boom-and-bust has lessons for other rich countries facing, at best, sharp slowdowns. Japan's property-and-stockmarket bubble burst in 1990, creating bad loans equivalent in the end to about one-fifth of GDP. The economy began growing properly again only 12 years later, and only in 2005 could Japan say it had put financial stress and debt-deflation behind it. Even today the country's nominal GDP remains below its peak in the 1990s—a brutal measure of lost opportunities.

Yet ghosts can deceive. Similarities exist between Japan then and America today, notably the way that a financial crisis threatens the “real” economy. But the differences outnumber them. Japan should indeed be a source of worry—not, however, because other rich countries are destined for the same economic plughole, but because it is the world's second-biggest economy and it has not tackled the fundamental causes of its malaise.

A tale of two crunches

For most of the postwar period, the symbolic essence of the imperial house proceeded on two parallel fronts, that of the emperor and his household, and that of the crown prince and his household. In the coming years, the household of Prince Fumihito and Princess Kiko, who are raising the heir apparent, will likely provide a third parallel front.

The Constitution of Japan limits the emperor to a symbolic role, but in this position the emperor and other imperial family members can exert significant societal influence. Before the death of the Emperor Showa in 1989, then Crown Prince Akihito and then Crown Princess Michiko had already established a clear symbolic essence, which quickly came into sharper focus once Akihito ascended to the throne.

The present imperial couple's symbolic essence divides into three categories. First, Emperor Akihito has worked to bring closure to the postwar era both domestically, through such symbolic acts as visits to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Okinawa, areas particularly victimized during the war, and internationally, most significantly through his apologies to Korea (in the form of a statement to South Korean President Roh Tae Woo) in 1990 and to China in 1992.

The field of contenders aspiring to become the next occupant of the White House has now narrowed to three senators — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the Democratic party and John McCain from the Republican party. How do these three contenders view India?

Senator Hillary Clinton has a long association with India and close links with the Indian community in the US. But, like her husband, she has a Sino-centric view of the world and recently proclaimed: "Our relationship with China will be the most important bilateral relationship in the world this century", adding, "there is much that the US and China can accomplish together".

Paradoxically, the Bill Clinton administration's relations with India improved dramatically only after the nuclear tests of 1998.

The first six years of the Clinton administration were a nightmare for the bilateral relationship, with the US and China making common cause to "cap, roll back and eliminate" India's nuclear programme and adopt a highly partisan and intrusive posture on Jammu and Kashmir.

A Hillary Clinton presidency would, however, take off from the positive approach of the last two years of Bill Clinton's presidency.

Obama's few comments about India are far from reassuring. He was and remains a strong opponent of ending nuclear sanctions against India and would seek to curb our nuclear independence through measures like a comprehensive test ban and a fissile material production cut off.

Obama appears protectionist, bent on restricting outsourcing through disincentives. He is the only candidate to sound intrusive on Jammu and Kashmir. However, McCain has been very positive on India. He strongly supported an end to global nuclear sanctions against India.

God save the republic

The government has finally settled the sharia debate, which has dogged Indonesia these past few years, essentially rejecting demands that sharia-based laws introduced in many regencies be rejected on constitutional grounds. Whether this is acceptable or not is another question entirely.

Home Minister Mardiyanto announced Friday the government did not see any need to revise these bylaws because, contrary to the claims of critics, they do not contravene the 1945 Constitution or the Pancasila state ideology.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in June 2006 ordered M. Ma'ruf, Mardiyanto's predecessor, to look into the issue after 56 members of the House of Representatives sent a petition urging the government to roll back sharia-based bylaws because they discriminated against non-Muslims.

Ma'ruf expanded, and thus watered down, the issue when he said that his ministry was reviewing more than 600 "problematic" bylaws, including those that were sharia-inspired. He later took ill and has since been replaced by Mardiyanto, who provided the government's final answer on Friday.

Critics pointed out that substance-wise the bylaws go against the democratic principles contained in the 1945 Constitution. Articles 28D and 28I state everyone should be free from discrimination and entitled to equal treatment before the law.

They contend that the bylaws also violate the 2004 Regional Autonomy Law, which states that religion is the realm of the central government, with Article 28 of the law forbidding regions from taking decisions that discriminate against any citizen.

These bylaws are against the pluralistic and heterogeneous nature of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

Why?

They promote discriminatory treatment in public life.

It has almost been two years since the thousands of families in Sidoarjo, East Java, were forced to abandon their houses as they were slowly submerged by mudflow bubbling up from a nearby gas exploration drill owned by PT Lapindo Brantas -- a firm controlled by the family of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.

These victims have tried so many ways to survive and reclaim their rights over their property.

However, their efforts have also drowned in the mud -- most of them so far have only received 20 percent of their lost assets, including their rice fields.

Despite their survival so far, these victims now have to receive shocking news from the House of Representatives. The House's special team -- comprising of 29 lawmakers from different factions -- surprisingly suggested the Sidoarjo mudflow was a natural disaster instead of a man-made one.

The team outcome will free Lapindo from all consequences, including paying a Rp 3.2 trillion (US$335 million) compensation to the victims as stipulated in a 2007 presidential regulation.

How can the special team -- without any background in geology and mining -- issue a statement that the mudflow is a natural disaster?