A Blogger's Scribble

On Deleted Scene of a TV Ad

2009-02-10T20:15:00.000-08:00

Creativity is expensive and creative advertisement is one of marketing means to boost the sales of a product, or even to persuade people to vote for a certain candidate in the case of an election competition. Thus it is no wonder that advertisement needs huge and expensive budget.

Indonesia's tobacco industry, for example, must have set aside huge amount of budget to advertise its products. Apart from sponsoring various activities, from sport events to music concerts, the industry has also roped in different personalities in their expensive ads, both through electronic and print media. The industry hopes that this aggressive marketing through various types of advertisement would provide greater opportunity of reaping better gains through increase of sales of its products.

Of these many ads by tobacco industry, there is this ad on tv which tickles me to write this post.

The ad shows a young man who is returning home from a backpack trip just to find out that his flight is canceled and delayed for good period of time. On realizing this situation, the young man keeps his cool and starts to unpack his backpack to erect a tent for him to enjoy the delayed trip while other waiting passengers are curiously looking at him.

The interesting part in this ad is when the young man unloads almost everything from his backpack, from shirt, t-shirt, a boxer, a chicken and even a woman's bra.

The ad ends with a scene where the young lad is joined by other waiting passengers in a bonfire and a roasted chicken to be shared for dinner. They enjoy the moment.

The matter that tickles me to write this post is that when the first time I saw the ad, it was shown that the young man pulls out a woman's bra and a young lady on a phone looks at him disapprovingly. However, the second time I saw the ad, the bra scene was deleted while the scene of a disapprovingly looking young lady stays. This edited ad continues to be shown on tv.

My questions about this ad is that why the bra scene in the ad was aired in the first place if it has to be deleted later? Why shouldn't it be scrutinized and edited by the censor board before being aired for the first time? What is the harm of showing a bra in the ad when scantily clad stage performers are allowed to be screened on tv, even on prime time?

In my view, the ad is quite creative and hits bulls eye, especially on the poor performance by Indonesian air carriers in delivering their services. This is a direct criticism on Indonesia's low-cost air carriers which regularly delays the flight without due explanation thus causing disappointment and dissatisfaction among the passengers.

It should be a wake up call for them to improve their service.

Besides, the ad surely reflects the joyous mood in a distressing situation, a message which is compatible with the motto of the product being advertise.

As for the bra scene, I have no problem at all with it. No harm has been done.

A bra is an essential garment for women and there has been continuous tv advertisement on healthy bra. No objection has been raised on the bra show and thus the ad which contain bra scene should be treated the same. I would prefer the original ad with the bra scene to be aired without any editing.

If there should be any objection, other similar ads or show should be treated the same.

There should be no discrimination that might hinder creativity and creative minds in expressing their creative thoughts within agreed boundary line.

The Rain and Traffic Woe

2008-10-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

Jakarta has long been known for its "macet" and there have been conclusive study that predicts a possibility of total traffic jam in Jakarta in a couple of years from now if the government cannot solve this problem. This situation becomes worse when rainy season sets in. A brief downpour would certainly add to the misery of motorists and other city travelers. I've just born witness to this situation this couple of days.

I've just returned from Kediri to visit my little angel, Aurora, last Monday to find out that the rain poured in the city and created havoc throughout. Soon the traffic went into a virtual standstill as roads were flooded with water. Everyone was so eager to reach home sooner but the heavy traffic jam and water-logged roads forced them to stay longer on the road.

As a regular user of Trans Jakarta Bus Service, I was not spared from this misery. The usually traffic-free corridor 6 from Latuharhary to Ragunan came to a standstill that evening and it took me almost two hours to reach Ragunan. I was exhausted and drained, both physically and emotionally.

With the increasing number of vehicles and poor and limited road in the city, this problem will not go easily anytime soon.

I wonder when the "Ahlinye Jakarta" will ever solve this problem. I wish that they will really come with the best solution to end this misery sooner rather than later.

I WISH!

One Good Turns... Ugly

2008-09-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

Recent incident on alms distribution in Pasuruan by a local rich Pak Haji has really shocked me. For the sake of the alms to be given by Pak Haji, poor and innocent people have lost their precious lives.

I could not believe that the good will, which shall turn into another, had, on the contrary, brought pain and grief to poor families that lost their beloved one in the incident.

My deepest condolence to those victims in this incident.

I think better management of alms' distribution would have saved these precious lives. Distributing the alms directly to the poor in their own homes/place of living would have resulted in better distribution process. It would be much safer and effective.

What happened in Pasuruan should become precious lesson for us. Adherence to our religious duties is good but exercising safer, effective and efficient way in performing these duties is much more important.

One good should turn into another, and not the other way round.

Corruptors: Please Stand Up!

2008-08-13T02:28:00.000-07:00

For hip-hop lovers, Eminem is no stranger. In one of his hit songs, Slim Shady, he coined an interesting expression: "For the real Slim Shady, please stand up!". In relation to this, the KPK's new move could bring some respite to the ordinary Indonesians and thus "For the real corruptors, please stand up!".

In a bid to shame Indonesia's legions of corrupt politicians, officials, bankers and businessmen, Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) recently came up with a novel solution: a special uniform for the bribers and the bribed - preferably pink or orange color, so that the offenders stand out from the crowd in prison or in court. Even though debates are on going about the conformity of this plan with the Indonesian law, but this novel idea should be welcome so as to produce deterrent effect to corruptors.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been elected in 2004 on promises to tackle rampant corruption in Indonesia that regularly ranks among the world's most corrupt. However, in his fourth year as Indonesia's president, news of some bigwig being caught, sometimes red-handed, or carrying a briefcase with a large sum of cash are not strange occurance. It is pathetic.

If letters to newspaper reader forums are any example, the general public is tired of the lack of progress on this front, and the lack of a shame gene among the elite. Some have even written to the local papers suggesting that the death sentence, which is given to murderers and some drug traffickers, should be handed down to the corruptors.

Corruptors, especially in Indonesia, are shameless. The only thing that might work in fighting corruption is consistent, non-political prosecutions and long jail term, or even the implementation of death penalty for corruptions, starting at the very top.

Election Fever

2008-08-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

With 2008 is closing in, the political temperature in Jakarta is heating up. 34 political parties which have passed the tight screenig process by the Election Commission and thus eligible for April 2009 general elections are all gearing up and preparing the best strategy possible to win seats in Senayan. By posing their best cadres for the legislative elections, they are hoping to reap the best possible result, and pass the parliamentary threshold at the very least.

At the same time, debates over independent candidacy and younger blood for RI-1 continue to fill the headlines of both the electronic and traditional media. Individuals like Fadjroel Rahman, Sutiyoso, Tifatul Sembiring or Rizal Mallarangeng are emerging to challenge the "old timers" like the incumbent president, SBY, ex-presidents Megawati Soekarnoputri and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, ex-generals Wiranto and Prabowo Subijanto.

On the contrary, life is getting harder for commoners, both in the cities and rural areas alike. They seem to be neglected and their problems are put in the backseat by these "outstanding individuals". Their importance as the decision makers in the "pesta demokrasi" (democratic party) seem to be forgotten. These people are the one who will decide who goes to Senayan and who does not; who becomes the RI-1 and who does not. The voters are the king makers.

Thus, it should become the concern of these individuals and their respective political parties to understand the situation and start using their skills and resources to serve the people. As the pillar of representative democracy, political parties should play the vanguard position to build and establish democracy in Indonesia. Failure to perform this important task will only lead to further alienation of the public and their apathy towards democracy.

A Fresh Start: On Indonesian Politics

2008-05-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while that I haven't written any new post on this blog, especially this front page of my Scribbles. However, I did write some posts in other sections of my blog (on Indian politics and Current Affairs).

Having returned to Indonesia in late December 2006, things started to evolve in a very quick pace for me. I decided to settle down into a family life and hence must start playing a new role as a bread winner for my family. New things, new responsibilities that needed swift adusjment. I am now expecting a new member of my little family this June.

Anyway, there have been tremendous changes in Indonesian politics ever since I set my feet back in my beloved country. I suddenly realized that watching Indonesia from abroad is totally different from watching it from a much closer view, from km. 0.0. This position, I believe, will give me more opportunity and ample chance to explore more on the socio-political reality in Indonesia. Let's start with the election fever in the wake of 2009 general elections.

Elections is only few months away (April 2009) and politicians have started penning their best strategies to win the elections. Candidates for the presidential race are already emerging. Sutiyoso, Sultan HBX, Akbar Tandjung are names that have started to circulate among the political parties as possible presidential candidates apart from the 2004 alumni like Megawati, Gus Dur and the incumbent SBY. However, it is still early to predict who will come up as a winner in the upcoming presidential elections.

As for the political parties, old timers like Golkar Party, PDIP or PPP must now formulate their best strategy to face the challenge from new forces like the PKS. Positive showing by the PKS in several local elections in which it came up as winner beating big parties like Golkar or PDI-P, must become early warning for these political parties. And for now, let's just wait and see what strategies are going to be adopted by political parties in order to gain the most vote from the elctorates in order to win the elections.

One thing should noted here however that whoever is going to win the elections next year must remember that Indonesia needs a change, a very positive change. Otherwise Indonesia will never be able to achieve her dreams as has been rightly stated in the Opening of the Indonesian Constitution.

Scrible This Week: Addicted to the Web?

2006-12-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

I have written in my previous post that I am adding a new feature in my blog, a weekly kind of entry called "Scribble This Week", in which I will post a weekly entry each weekend. Unfortunately, I have been engaged with some activities these days that prevented me from continuing this weekly entry. So instead of making it a weekly entry, I will make it a bi-monthly entry, a fourthnigthly entry feature called "Scribble This Week".

If in the previous post I scribbled about AIDS and its menace towards humanity, this time I will scribble about the world wide web and its addictive threats.

Ever since its invetion, internet has gradually become an integral part of our life. This technology offers many advantages as well as shortcomings. Thomas Friedman said that internet is one of several aspect that flattened the world. With the internet, everything seems to be in place and we need not to be worry of doing things or searching anything we want while we are sitting in our home. The world becomes smaller and everhting is available with one single click.

The online world offers a lot of creative space as well as instant communication and lets us know that we are not alone.

However, there are also shortcomings or side effects of this techonology. Apart from giving us means for creativity and connectivity, its presence also changed our mode of interaction with our fellow beings. Social activities like face to face interaction becomes a rarity since we are more comfortable and familiar with the online interactoin. The result: an awkward situation when we are forced to have an offline interaction (the old-fashion way of interaction).

This is what is called Internet Addiction - a situation in which the internet becomes an inseparable part of our lives that we feel we can't do anything without it. Are we addicted to the Internet?

If you answer three of more of these statements by James Fearing, Ph.D. of the National Counseling Center, Minneapolis, US, wrote in his book Ten Symptoms of Commputer Addiction, then you are suffering from Internet Addiction.

1) I experience 'loss of control' when trying to stop or limit the amount of time I spend on the computer;
2) I am dishonest about the extent of time I stay on the computer;
3) My computer usage causes negative consequences for myself and / or my family and friends;
4) I participate in high rist or normally uncacceptable behaviour when using the computer;
5) There is an overdeveloped sense of importance for the computer in my life;
6) I have mixed feelings of euphoria and guilt brought on by the inordinate amount of time I spend on the computer or my abnormal behaviour;
7) I get depressed or anxious when something or someone shortens my computer time or interrupts my plans to use the computer;
8) I am pre-occupied with thoughts of the computer when I am not using it;
9) I use the computer when I am uncomfortable, irritated, or sad about something in my life;
10) I experience financial concerns or problems in my life as a result of money being spent on the computer.

What is your answer?

As for me, computer and internet are integral parts of our lives but there should be a balance between the use of this technology and the experience in the real life. Because afterall, there is nothing better than what we experience in the real life.

Being in A Flawed Democracy

2006-12-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

Last month, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released its finding on democratic practice in 167 countries. Four categories were presented: Full Democracy; Flawed Democracy; Hybrid System; and Authoritarianism. Electoral Process and Pluralism; Functioning of Government; Political Participation; Political Culture and Civil Liberties were used as the units of measurement in this indexing process.

Tiny European countries, Sweden, Iceland and Netherland, topped the list. While of the three biggest democray in the world (the US, India, and Indonesia), only the US was placed in the Full Democracy category while India and Indonesia were in the Flawed Democracy category.

One thing, however, needs to be reiterated here that the US, a country that has been preaching the world about democracy, was placed at a lowly 17th position in the list of 30 Full Democracy category. So much to talk about the American democracy.

India and Indonesia was placed at 35th and 65th position respectively in the Flawed Democracy category.

For me, I cannot agree more with the inclusion of India and Indonesia in the Flawed Democracy category. There are so much to be done in these two biggest democracy in Asia to be called Full Democracy. Even though India has an age-old experience of democratic life but with the score of 5.56 and 5.63 in the Political Participation and Political Culture in the indexing units, it needs to fix things up in its backyard sooner rather than later before being able to be included in the Full Democracy category.

Similarly, Indonesia, sharing the 65th position with Timor Leste, needs to improve a lot more in various areas to be able to consolidate its democratic setup. In this relatively new enviconment called democracy, Indonesia scoring an overall 6.41 in all indexing units. The lowest score Indonesia had was a lowly 5.00 in the Political Participation index. This number shows that in Indonesia, the citizen is not yet really willingly involve with all enthusiasm in public debate, elect representatives and join political parties, a requirement for a healthy democracy to flourish.

Without this broad, sustaining participation, democracy begins to wither and become the preserve of small, select groups.

Thus, this indexing by the EIU should not become something we need to get defensive about. On the contrary, it should become a strong wake up call for all of us, the citizens of the two largest democracy in Asia, to really work together for the consolidation and the full functioning of democracy. Afterall, democracy is a journey, not a destination.

But, can we make this journey more enjoyable?

Scribble This Week: On the Threat of AIDS

2006-12-02T00:48:00.000-08:00

Starting this week, I will add a new feature in my blog called Scribble This Week every weekend. This new feature will contain about my view and comment on various topics, both local and global, that happenned during the week. And to start this new feature, I will talk about AIDS and the threats it poses to humanity.

December 1 is known as the World's AIDS Day. It is one day in a year where everyone is remembering the most scariest illness that plagues modern human race. AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in which a person's immune system who tests positive for HIV (Human Immunodeficiecny Virus - a virus that destroys certain white blood cells called CD4+T cells) will be weakened severely by the virus or when that person starts to develop at least one of about 25 different opportunistic infections.

These opportunistic infections might not affect a normal person but they take advantage of damaged immune systems on HIV positive persons thus threatening their physical well-being.

But how bad is the threat of this desease to humanity? The answer is BAD, or even WORST.

Because as of the end of 2006, 39.5 million people would be living with HIV/ADIS worldwide. An estimated 4.3 million people were infected with HIV in 2006 alone and nearly 3 million people have died of AIDS-ralated causes in 2006. Furthermore, nearly half (48%) of adults estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are women. Scary, isn't it?

Even worse than this, young people under 24 account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide. It is the women and the YOUTH who are suffering from this deadly desease. And no cure is yet to be found to cure it.

But how this HIV is transmitted? HIV can be transmitted when blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, vaginal fluid or breastmilk from an HIV-positve person enters the body of an HIV-negative person. Read here for more information.

And worldwide, the most common way that HIV is transmitted is through sexual transmission thus so much the importance of conducting safe sex and even abstinence from sex for those unmarried persons.

In India, as in any other developing countries in Asia like Thailand or Indonesia and in African continent, HIV/AIDS is a dreadful menace that threatens the future of the youth. In India alone, over 5.7 million people between the age of 15 and 49 live with HIV. The states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Manipun and Nagaland are the place where nearly two-thirds of HIV infections occur. Unprotected heterosexual intercourse is the cause of a bulk of new infections with 38 persent of them are women who got infected from regular partners.

From the short illustration above, we know that HIV/AIDS poses dangerous threats to the future of the youth and humanity as a whole. With majority of infection affects women and the youth, it is a reality that needs urgent attention. The government should ensure that this desease does not spread even further. At the same time, there should be positive global measures taken by the government and the society alike to help those persons infected by HIV/AIDS.

As prelimanry measure, education about HIV/ADIS and about safe and responsible sex are necessary to ensure that the desease does not spread further and those infected persons do not feel ostracized in the society. We should embrace them so as to give more awareness about the desease and to create cautious and responsible approach to tackle this desease together. It is going to be a long battle but it should start now so as to prevent it from destructing the future of the youth and the future of humanity.

Shaken and Stirred: The Martini of Indian Cricket

2006-11-27T08:39:00.000-08:00

This is another example of a deadly mixed between sports and politics. If the decision by the Indonesian government has contributed to such a huge loss to Indonesian women's tennis, the current and the latest spat between the Members of the Indian Parliament and the coach of Indian cricket team has only given negative psychological baggage to the team which is currently struggling on its tour in South Africa.

Having lost the second and the third one day games to the host with two games remaining, the Indian cricket team's coach, Greg Chappell, seemed to have lost an answer to the problem that plague the Indian cricket for the past months. He said that he had tried his level best to help the team perform but could not understand as to why the team is having such a dismal record recently. This situation has only made his job as a coach much, much tougher.

However, putting on a positive note, he said that even though the current situation does not make his job easier, but he wants to keep doing the best he can in order to help the building of a strong Indian cricket team. After all, he is paid to coach the team and help them win matches.

On the contrary, the Members of the Indian Parliament seemed to have different perspective in this matter. On the pretext of conveying the sentiments of the one billion Indians, they want Chappell to be sacked from his position as the coach of the Indian cricket team. They said that Chappell has failed to do his job.

On hearing the comment from the Members of the Indian Parliament, Chappell said that the MPs are entitled to make any comment they like. That's, according to Chappell, what they are paid to do in Parliament. This statement has provoked a heated debate in the Parliament. MPs accross party line got so disturbed that they seemed to forget the important agenda to be discussed in the current Winter Session. Instead, the MPs got so engrossed with the Chappell issue that they wanted the BCCI to "rein in" Greg Chappell.

As a sport lover, I feel pity about the situation. There should be a boundary that separates sport and politics. Sport should be handled by those professionals who understand the nuances of the game and politics is for politicians. Once the two are mixed up, either stirred or shaken like James Bond's favorite drink, the biggest casuality is the sport and not the politics. Incident like this should be a reminder for all of us to respect each other and to draw clear boundaries between different fields so as not to mixed things up that might only result in misery and frustation.

Shirin Ebadi: No Liberty for Women

2006-11-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

Today, I found an interesting comment by Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace prize in 2003. She is known for her fierce campaign and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. She was in India this week for a four-day tour.

Speaking to the media, she said, "When men can decide on their atire, why such a liberty is not provided to women?".

This statement was her response to the query about the imposition of hijab on women. According to her, she is both against the forced wearing of the hejab as well against forcing women not to wear it. She believes that it is women's rights and according to a famous saying, women's rights are human rights.

She further said that all the limitations have always been imposed on women, men are free to wear whatever they want to — whether in Islamic countries or western countries, it always depends on who benefits from such impositions. Thus she believes in the new interpretation of Islam which complies with human rights.

I cannot agree more with her statements. I also think that a new interpretation of Islam is necessary so as to really represent the compliance of Islam with the modern concept of human relationship and human rights.

However, I have a little reservation on her statement that "men can decide on their attire", while women are restricted to certain form of attire, i.e. hijab, thus do not have any liberty to choose their desired attire.

In Islam, there are certain codes of conduct for both men and women. In a matter of attire they both must follow a certain dress code. And if we go by the Holy Book, it is clearly described there that both men and women should wear decent clothes so as not to invite harm of any form to any one of them.

For men, the most private parts of their bodies are between their navel and their knees. Thus it is a must for all men to cover this area (from navel to knees) of their bodies.

As for the women, their bodies, from head to toe, are their private parts. Thus they are urged to wear "decent" attire so as to be able to keep their privacy intact. According to the Holy Book, the wearing of a hijab is not a must for women but it is "adviseable" or "desirable".

The message in the Holy Book is clear: decency of clothing for both men and women.

Thus when Shirin Ebadi said that men can choose any attire they want while women do not have the same liberty, it, according to me, is incorrect. In my opinion, both men and women have the same liberty to choose whatever attire they like to wear as long as it is in compliance with the general norms practiced in the society. Decency is the norm, and not rigidity. Hijab is not a must, but decency is.

Islam is not a rigid religion. On the contrary, it is quite a flexible one. Unfortunately, Islam has been hijacked by those "Muslim clerics" in such a way that it is now being projected as a very rigid religion. A new interpretation of Islam is hence necessary to project the true colour of Islam.

Can anyone share ideas to re-intrepret Islam?

Huge Loss for Indonesian Tennis

2006-11-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

In July, I wrote this post on the relation between sports and politics. Since I am a sport lover and a tennis enthusiast, I was concerned with the decision by the Indonesian government's withdrawal from a Fed Cup play-off tie against Israel for a place in the World Group II.

The withdrawal from the tie meant a lot of things that negatively affected Indonesian tennis. These are: the forfeiture of the tie to Israel, the demotion of Indonesian Fed Cup Team from the World Group, the financial loss in the form of a fine by the ITF to Indonesia. Apart from these avoidable losses, it is a huge setback for Indonesian tennis, especially when the Fed Cup Team has been so succesful in fighting its way to the World Group play-off. Their success to reach the world group stage was a huge achievement considering the competitions the team must face in the zonal group. The withdrawal is major setback for Indonesian women's tennis and it is, in my opinion, really unnecessary.

Now that Indonesia has been demoted from the World Group II, fined US$ 30,0000 by the ITF as a penalty and cannot participate in the 2007 Fed Cup edition, it is a long way ahead for the Indonesian Fed Cup Team. With the increasing quality of tennis played in other Asian countries like India, Uzbekistan and Thailand, the Team must work really hard and wait until 2008 just to be able to participate in the zonal group competition - Asia/Oceania Zone Group II. What a setback.

And what Indonesia has achieved from the refusal to play Israel? NONE.

So far, I don't see any worth-mentioning achievement from Indonesian withdrawal from the tie. Israel still occupies Palestine and the Palestinians in Gaza are still bombarded and killed mercilessly by the Israeli forces. The misery and suffering of the Palestinian people is all the same, no reprieve at all. The withdrawal did not give any positive impact to the Palestine - Israel conflit. Instead it gave a very huge negative impact to the development of Indonesian tennis.

I hope that the Indonesian government will act more wisely in the future and not mix sports and politics. The time is ripe for Indonesia to re-think its strategy to help the Palestinian cause without sacrificing its national interests.

If India and Pakistan, two political rivals in South Asia, can separate politics and sports, why Indonesia can't do the same? The decision to withdraw from the tie was a mistake that should not be repeated in future. Let's separate between sport and politics and play a fairplay.

Tony Blair Deepened the Distrust

2006-11-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

The latest remark on terrorism by British PM Tony Blair is interesting to discuss in view of the result of the US Congressional midterm elections early this week. Even though this remark was a candid response to the report given by the MI5 that "about 1,600 suspects [of Islamic militant] in 200 terrorist conspiracies were under surveillance," but looking at who has given the remark, it is not something that should make us surprised. He said that the threat from British home-grown Islamic terrorism would last "a generation" and that Britian faced a long and deep struggle to combat the danger posed by terrorism.

It is true that in the post-Cold War world, terrorism is the most popular vocabulary in both domestic and international politics. It even got more popularity in the post-9/11 incident in the US. And ever since the the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the world has been under the threat of terrorism. Therefore, I agree that terrorism is a crime against humanity and maximum efforts should be done to eradicate this deadly menace.

However, there is something that bothers me quite alots ever since this vocabulary came into popularity. Because whenever there is a talk about terrorism, Islam is always being associated with it as if it is Islam that becomes the source of terrorism or that Islam is a religion that teaches terrorism.

I don't deny the fact that many acts of terror have been conducted by those persons who claim to be Muslims. They claimed that they acted on behalf of Muslims and Islam. For them, their act of terror is justifiable since Muslims have been suffering alots from injustices. Therefore, to fight these injusttices, they resort to terrorism.

For me, terrorism has no religion. It is neither Islam, Christianity, Jewish, Hinduism nor any other religion. Terrorism is an act by those mindless individuals who care nothing else than their personal gratification. Terrorism is a crime against humanity. There is no place for terrorism in this world. Thus, the current trend of associating terrorism and Islam is distasteful. Such remark by Tony Blair is unfortunate.

If we want to talk about terrorism, it should be general. There should not be any distinction between those acts of terror by individuals and those acts of terror by state/government. Both kinds of terror acts are condemnable and should be confronted with all cost. Terrorism has no religion. Singling out Islam as the only source of terrorism is just like putting Communism as the most frightenning threat to the world order during the Cold War era. It is a clear prejudice against a community.

World's Biggest Threat?

2006-10-29T19:58:00.000-08:00

Recently, I wrote this post amidst the controversy over North Korea's nuclear test. I argued that "...without writing off the possibility of a nuclear threat form North Korea, we have to be ready for any eventuality of such WMD to fall into the wrong hands. The nuclear threat is apparent but it is relatively lesser than the threat posed by a possible pre-emptive strike by the mighty US forces."

For me, as I have clearly written above, a nuclear threat from North Korea is an eventuality that everyone must aware of. Any deviation of nuclear technology from peaceful purposes into such WMD technology should be opposed at all cost. Moreover, putting harsh sanctions to North Korea for its nuclear ambition as has immediately been proposed relentlessly by the US after the nuclear test will, in my opinion, only make North Korea more determine to pursue the technology for security reasons.

Now try to digest this:

According to a poll conducted on some 1,000 people in Sweden recently, the United States is a greater threat to world peace than North Korea, according to Swedes surveyed in a poll aired on Sunday. Some 29 per cent of those surveyed said the US posed the biggest danger to peace, compared to 28 per cent who considered North Korea the top menace, according to the Temo poll broadcast on Sunday by Swedish television station Axess.

Iran placed third with 18 per cent, followed by Israel (six per cent), China (four per cent) and Russia (three per cent).

The result of this poll seemed to validate my perception that it is the US, with its concept of pre-emptive strike, that poses the worst threat to the world's peace than the North Korea's nuclear test or the Iranian ambition to pursue peaceful nuclear technology.

Eid Mubarak Ho!

2006-10-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Diwali is over. The thundering sounds of crackers and the colorful fireworks that filled up the dark sky throughout the night of Diwali have gone silent. All is quiet now. The most celebrated celebration in India has just gone by but another festival is soon coming up.

If the just concluded Diwali has been celebrated with full zest by the Hindus, it is Eid-ul-Fitr for the Muslims that is around the corner. It is the biggest celebration for Muslims the world over as a means of thanking God for the help and strength that they believe He gave them throughout the previous month of Ramadan to help them practice self-control. Eid ul-Fitr is a joyful celebration of the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory and peace, of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity.

Being a Muslim myself, I am very happy to welcome this Eid. Having gone through a month long fasting ritual from day break till dawn, it is a welcome relief for me as well as for all other Muslims. If the month long Ramadan is the time for reflection and contemplation, the day of Eid-ul-Fitr is the best time for celebration and the extension of brotherhood.

Thus I shall wish all Muslims a very happy Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid Mubarak Ho, Selamat Hari Idul Fitri, 1 Shawwal 1427 H.

Note:
Since this year's Ramadan in India was started later (Monday, 25 September 2006) than in any part of the world, the most likely celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr is on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 (if Ramadan is 29 days). Otherwise it is on Wednesday, 25 October, 2006 (if Ramadan is to be completed in 30 days). But regardless of when the Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated in India, I shall once again extend my warmest wish of Eid-ul-Fitr to all Muslims in the world. Happy Eid!

Diwali or Deepavali

2006-10-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Being in India for quite sometimes, I've become familiar with the various festivals celebrated throughout India. From January to December, various festivals are celebrated: Lohri, Makar Sankrati, Republic Day, Basant Panchmi, 10th Moharram, Shiv Ratri, Holi, Ram Navami, Id-ul Milad, Baisakhi, Raksha Bandhan and more. The list is endless and the celebration is endless.

It's October and the monsoon is gone. Autumn is setting in, another festival is celebrated in India. The Festival of Light or Diwali is celebrated with full zest. It is a total contrast from last year's Diwali. This year, no more Black Diwali.

Last year's Diwali was the blackest Diwali I've ever experienced during my nine years in India. Even though the sound of crackers is familiar and would always fill the night of every Diwali, but the sound of tripple bomb blasts in the Indian capital on the eve of last year's Diwali gave a very different feeling to the Diwali celebration. The bomb blasts that killed scores of innocent people shook the mood of the celebration. The usual upswing mood was absent and the last year's Diwali was kind of gloomy than this year's or any other Diwali.

Anyway, life cannot stand still, it must revolve and move on. So, even though the scars of terror can't be erased easily, but we have to move on. Let's enjoy the sound of crackers and the beauty of fireworks in this year's Diwali.

Kiran Desai: Youngest Woman to Win Man Booker Prize

2006-10-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

India has once again produce literary brilliant in the name of Kiran Desai. Born on 3 December 1971 to Anita Desai, Kiran Desai inherits the literary talent from her mother. Her win in this year's competition has made her the youngest ever woman to win the pretigious Man Booker Prize. Notable literary figures like Briton P H Newby, South African Nobel laureate J M Coetzee, Australian Peter Carey as well as Iris Murdoch, V S Naipaul and Salman Rushdie have won this literary award once or twice.

Kiran Desai's winning novel, The Inheritance of Loss, has been described as "a radiant, funny, moving familiy saga with maginificent humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political acuteness." It is also described as "as the best, sweetest, most delightful novel".

No wonder that the novel won this year's Man Booker Prize.

I wonder, when will an Indonesian writer ever win in this competition, the Man Booker International? Can Indonesia produce literary briliants India have done over the years? Would there be any other Pramoedya Ananta Toer in Indonesia?

Just a reminder, there were Salman Rushie, Arundhati Roy and now there is Kiran Desai, all from India, who have this prestigious literary competition.

More news and stories about this year's Man Booker Prize click here, here, here and here.

English Anyone?

2006-09-26T01:30:00.001-07:00

Try to digest this:

"By 2020, English will be a universal language of global communication but other languages, like Mandarin, could grow in prominence"

That is the result of a recent survey on internet leaders, activists, and analysts conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project. Asked about predictions in 2020, the majority of these people surveyed agreed that by 2020 English will be a universal language, no doubt about that.

Other predictions that recieved full backing of the respondents in this survey are:

- A low-cost global network will be thriving and creating new opportunities in a “flattening” world.

- Humans will remain in charge of technology, even as more activity is automated and “smart agents” proliferate. However, a significant 42% of survey respondents were pessimistic about humans’ ability to control the technology in the future. This significant majority agreed that dangers and dependencies will grow beyond our ability to stay in charge of technology. This was one of the major surprises in the survey.

- Virtual reality will be compelling enough to enhance worker productivity and also spawn new addiction problems.

- Tech “refuseniks” will emerge as a cultural group characterized by their choice to live off the network. Some will do this as a benign way to limit information overload, while others will commit acts of violence and terror against technology-inspired change.

- People will wittingly and unwittingly disclose more about themselves, gaining some benefits in the process even as they lose some privacy.

The result of this survey seems to support the "Flat World" theory of Tom Friedman. Besides, what Fathi has been encouraging us so far to communicate in English through our blogs seems to be valid. Thus, whatever reasons we might dig out to categorically reject English language and the superiority of English language as a universal medium, English language is not going to go anywhere. It is meant to be here to stay and we have to deal with it or we will lose the battle. So, English anyone?

For the complete result of the survey, click here.

Confronting The Devil

2006-09-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

"The devil came here yesterday and this place still smells of sulphur".
(President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela to Bush's speech at the UN General Assembly)

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has long been known for his outspoken and firm stance against the US administration. He is a fierce critic of the US and has been fighting teeth and nails against the "hegemony of the US" in this free world. The US "imperialism", according to Chavez, is "a threat to the survival of the human race." Thus he is vehemently against any injustice in the international policies of the US, especially towards the Third World.

Speaking in front of the heads of states and other dignitaries at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York recently, Chavez has created a new wave of controversy in the President Bush vs Rest of the World relationship. Quoting at different times left-wing US intellectual Noam Chomsky, Greek philosopher Aristotle and film director Alfred Hitchcock, Chavez called Bush “the devil”, "a liar" and "a tyrant". He further said that President Bush was talking at the meeting "as if he were the owner of the world." Thus he called for the drastic reform of the UN to reduce the US influence in the functioning of this international body.

This remark is by far the latest and the most controversial remark ever made by any head of states in a speech at a UN General Assembly against the US. Iranian President’s take on the US in his speech at the same forum the previous day was the first. This should not make us difficult to make up that both Chavez and Ahmadinejad are the most outspoken critics of the foreign policies of the US administration.

With the obvious facts in the Middle East and other parts of the world as well as President Bush attitude towards the rest of the world, especially towards Islam and Muslims, it is not surprising that verbal attacks on President Bush by Ahmadinejad and Chavez were recieved with warm applause. They know about these facts but they do not have enough courage to voice their own dissent and disapproval againts the US administration.

I think it is necessary for the rest of the world to realize all these facts and join hands to fight against any hegemonic tendencies of bigger bully to preserve "freedom and democracry" in this free world. Chavez and Ahmadinejad have given us example on how to take position in this matter. If President Bush really wants to spread "democracy and freedom" in the world, he should remember that in democracy, dialogue is the key to solve problems and differences, and not the use of force or threats of sanctions.

Besides, in democracy, everyone is equal. How will he spread democracy when Bush and his supporters think that they are the first among equals?

Fatwas for Sale

2006-09-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

Amidst protests and condemnations on the Pope's insensitive remarks on Islam by quoting a view of an "erudite Christian emperor" of 14th century around the world, in India, even though Muslims also joined the chorus in condemning the Pope a shameful incident has occured in the community. Muslim clerics in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh issued fatwas for a payment. This shameful incident has triggered condemnation of them by community leaders and protests in Meerut.

In this incident, the clerics issued fatwas on a variety of subjects, including the use of credit cards and camera phones by Muslims, acting in films, watching television and fatwas against the wearing of jeans by girls in Muslim-run institutes and the teaching of English in madarsas for the payment of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per fatwa.

Reacting to this incident, Muslim leaders have convened a meeting of clerics to decide whether action should be taken against those named in the incident. In a statement, Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani the general secretary of Islamic Fiqh Academy, an academy involved in this incident, expressed regret at the incident. He said the body had launched a probe and would take action against anyone found guilty.

As a Muslim, I feel ashamed by this incident. It reflected the shortsightedness of those who declared themselves as clerics. It is just like the way the Pope gave the title of “erudite” to Emperor Manuel II of Constantinople for his “understanding” of Islam.

If the Pope himself has finally apologized for his mistakes saying that he is deeply sorry for the incident, will then these clerics ever do the same for their indecent acts? Because if they do not apologize to the community and regret the mistake they have made, it will only be very shameful for the community as whole to have an association with such personalities. It is hypocrisy and stupidity at its worst.

This kind of incident should be a wake up call for the leaders in the Muslim community. Matters like the issuance of fatwas should be left to those who really understood the meaning of Islam and not to those who easily fall in to the trap of money and greed.

Blunder of the Pope

2006-09-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". (14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel II Paleologus)

In an unprecedented act recently, Pope Benedict XVI incorporated the above quotation in his lecture at Regensburg University in Germany. In a speech that was meant for discussing "faith and reason", the Pope has made a thinly-veiled attack on extremist Islam's justification for terrorism. His straightforward quotation of the above words has angered Muslims throughout the world. Muslim leaders strongly criticized him of using unflattering language about Islam and violence.

It is true that "violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul." And it is also true that "spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable." But in the world which is continuously being divided between "them" and "us", Pope's speech has only come to worsen the situation.

Furthermore, his "sympathy" towards Israel (... an Israel now deprived of its land and worship - paragraph 5) seemed to only fueled more distrust and anger among the Muslims towards the Pope. It seemed that the Pope was not sensitive enough to the plight and misery of the Palestinian people who have been suffering and humiliated under the occupation of Israel.

Surely, Pope Benedict XVI is no Pope John Paul II. Benedict XVI has taken a more skeptical, hard-nosed approach to Islam than did his predecessor. The 25-year long and meticulous works of Pope John Paul II to have dialogues with other religious communities, especially Islam, in order to build bridges and links with the Muslim community and to show the world that the general perception of Islam was false and that Muslims are peace-loving people, has been damaged by this incromprehensible act of Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope's remarks was a statement full of enmity and grudge.

The Danish cartoon controversy has just died down, Israel's attacks on Lebanon has just been concluded, peace and harmony seem to have just arrived. Then came the "Islamic fascists" remark from President Bush and now, the Pope's blunder on his inability to differentiate between Islam and Islamism. The damage has already been done. The trust is broken, the harmony is threatened. It is going to be an uphill task to re-build the broken trust. I think, only maturity and sincerity of selfless beings that would help to re-build this broken trust. But, would there be any selfless being? Heaven Knows.

Everyone Lives in Fear: J & K Abuses

2006-09-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since the militancy in Kashmir gained ground in 1989, more than 50,000 lives have been lost so far. No one knows how many more lives will be lost if the situation persists. Everyone in the Valley lives in fear due to this never ending militancy. Reports of human rights abuses in the region are abundant but a balance report on these abuses is few.

It is in its effort to present a balance report of abuses in the Valley that the US-based Human Rights Watch released a comprehensive report on the basis of two years research in the Valley from 2004 to 2006. Entitled with Everyone Lives in Fear: Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir, the report was released by HRW's Asia Director Brad Adams.

In this report, HRW wrote that there have been considerable evidence of abuses in the Valley by Pakistan, by the militants it has sponsored and by the Indian security forces deployed in the region. It says that "the Indian government's failure to end widespread impunity for human rights abuses committed both by its security forces and militants is fueling the cycle of violence in Jammu and Kashmir." At the same time, the report has also highlighted for the first time the role of Pakistan for the situation.

It says that "there is considerable evidence that over many years Pakistan has provided the Kashmiri militants with training, weapons, funding and sanctuary, though officially, Pakistan denies ever arming and training militants." Thus, it indicts Pakistan in this matter saying the "country remains accountable for abuses committed by militants that it has armed and trained." Pakistan and the militants in Kashmir are responsible for abuses in the Valley.

Similarly, the Indian security forces did not escape from the accusation. The report says that said extrajudicial executions by Indian security forces were common. Brad Adams said that "police and army officials have told Human Rights Watch that security forces often execute alleged militants instead of bringing them to trial in the belief that keeping hardcore militants in detention is a security risk." He added that "most of those summarily executed are falsely reported to have died during armed clashes between the army and the militants in encounter killings." The immunity given to security force personnel deployed in Kashmir encourages them to commit human rights violations.

This comprehensive report of human rights abuses in Kashmir certainly gives a balance perspective in this matter. It will also become a wake up call for India as the largest democracy in the world to tackle the problems in the Valley with full respect of human rights. To use the words of Brad Adams, it is certainly absurd that the world’s largest democracy, with a well-developed legal system and internationally recognized judiciary, has laws on its books that prevent members of its security forces from being prosecuted for human rights abuses. Thus, "it's time for the Indian government to repeal these laws and recommit itself to justice for victims of all abuses, whoever the perpetrator may be."

As for Pakistan and the militants in Kashmir, they "must end the bombings and the targeting of civilians". Because "continued abuses ensure that the cycle of violence will continue. And these abuses only add to the suffering of the people in whose name the militants are ostensibly fighting."

I hope that peace and tranquility in the Valley would be fully restored one day, sooner rather than later. As the world largest democracy with an age-old tradition of dialogue and argumentation, India should be able to resolve the problem in the Valley peacefully so that the people in the "Heaven on Earth" could live happily and peacefully. And Everyone Lives in Fear No More.

More discussions on this HRW report can be read here, here and here.

Malegaon Bomb Blast: Who did it?

2006-09-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

It was reported this afternoon that several bomb blasts occured in Malegaon, one of the big cities in northwest Maharashtra, in Nashik district of Maharashtra. So far, no exact number of casualities have been reported. But according to NDTV, at least 25 people have been confirmed dead and over 100 people are said to be injured. No official report is yet to be released by the authorities on the victims in these blasts. A statewide alert has been sounded by the Maharashtra police and mobile networks have been jammed in Malegaon for security reasons.

The bomb blast is a grim reminder of the July tragedy in Mumbai that killed more than 200 people and injuring hundreds others. The Mumbai blasts were allegedly conducted by local terror outfit with the help of foreign hand. However, the investigation process by the Indian authority has not yet reached any conclusive end. So far, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is the terrorist outfit that has been accussed to be responsible in the July Mumbai blasts.

Similarly, there has not been any terror outfit that claims responsibility in today's bomb blasts in Malegaon. The inconclusive investigation of the July Mumbai blasts followed by today's blasts in Malegaon would only add more headache to the authority to determine the mastermind behind these inhuman terror acts.

Moreover, today's blasts occured in a very sensitive period. Consider these facts:

The blast occured near a mosque after the conclusion of Friday prayer in the city with 75 percent of its population is Muslim; occured a day after the politization of the centenary celebration of the national song Vande Mataram in which some sections in the society, Muslims and Sikhs, opposed the mandatory singing of the song; occured a day after the celebration of Ganesh chaturthi; occured a week before the planned announcement of the judgement over the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case; occured brarely four month after the recovery of more than 13 kilogram of RDX in Malegaon in May; occured barely three months after the very sad tragedy of July 11 Mumbai bomb blasts.

Considering the above facts, today's blasts must have been used by certain group in the society to instigate disharmonious feeling between them. And it will very difficult for the authority to determine the culprits in this terror attack unless there is thorough investigations in this matter.

I personally condemned this inhuman act and do hope that the authority will be able to nab the culprits and bring them to justice as soon as possible. At the same time, I do hope that the communal harmony in the country will not be affected. No untoward incident should happen due to this tragedy. All members of the society should keep and preserve peace and tranquility in the country.

More news and report on the tragedy can be read here and here.

Breaking Microsoft Monopoly

2006-08-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

After making headlines in the local and international news two weeks ago for the ban on Pepsi and Coca Cola companies for their alleged unhealthy products, the Communist government in Kerala, one of India's southern states, made another headline this week for its decision to dump Microsoft products. Kerala government has launched a campaign to make the state a Microsoft-free zone.

To achieve this goal, V.S. Achuthanandan's government has unveiled an ambitious three-year project to promote Linux, a free software available around the world free of charge, in all state-funded schools and colleges. As an initial step, the government plans to dump Microsoft products in 12,500 high school in the state. The next target will be colleges and Akhsaya centers. Akhsaya is a campaign to bridge the digital divide and make the state e-literate.

But what is behind all this idea of dumping Microsoft products?

Answering to this query, Kerala's education Minister, M.A. Baby said that Kerala is not against Microsoft but it is against the monopolistic tendencies of Microsoft in the field of information and technology. Furthermore, he said that being a democratic and progressive government, it wants to encourage the spread of free software and fight against monopoly.

It is the drive against monopoly, and not against the technology, that spurred this idea. Microsoft is not being ban in Kerala but it is the free software that is being encouraged. And since the announcement was not part of an ideological campaign of a Communist government against Western-made products, the Kerala government hoped that the move would not further unsettle foreign investors in this state.

"We have great respect for the contribution made by the United States and its European allies in the fields of art and literature and culture. At the same time we are not happy with the monopolistic and imperialistic moves, both in political and economic spheres, made by these nations," M.A. Baby said.

For the record, the three months old government in Kerala has been struggling to deal with the evils faced by the previous government. Led by the champion of the middle class, the Communist government is now feeling the pinch of power. It is no wonder that a survey conducted by a local tv channel showed the fast plummeting popularity rate of the Chief Minister.

It remains to be seen, however, how successful this ambitious project will go. Monopoly kills healthy competition. The monopolistic tendencies of Microsoft in the field of information and technology worldwide have created jealousy and absence of competition. Thus even though the decision by the Kerala government to fight against monopoly would raise some eyebrows and doubt on the future prospect of foreign investment in the state, but the move should be encouraged to create healthier environment for business and competition. After all, there should be no monopoly in democracy.

Ethnic Profiling = Racism

2006-08-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

Recently, I wrote an article about the increasing prejudice on non-white (brown-skinned) people in the West which was published by Agoravox. The increasing phobia of terror threats in Europe and America has made the governments in these countries to increase their security measures by adopting a method called passenger profiling for all air traverllers. People with 'disticnt appearance' would be profiled and screened closely to ensure that no possible harm is going to happen. In practice, however, non-whites (brown-skinned people of Asian decent or Middle Eastern look) are mostly the target of this method thus came the term 'ethnic profiling.'

The profiling of only brown-skinned people in this regard amounts to the unjustifiable generalization of equating them as terrorists. True that terrorist acts in recent times are mostly conducted by non-whites but it does not mean that all non-whites are terrorists. Thus, painting the whole community or ethnic group in this picture is an utter act of racism at its worst.

A recent poll by Quinnipiac University found that a majority of Americans approve of ethnic profiling at airports and subways to prevent terrorist attacks. 60 per cent of respondents believe that authorities should be allowed to single out people who look like Middle Eastern for security screening. Only 37 per cent opposed it in the poll which has a margin of error of plus/minus three per cent. As many as 68 per cent of men supported and 37 per cent opposed profiling while in the case of women the respective numbers were 52 per cent and 42 per cent.

This is an utter example of racism. It will only increase the phobia about terrorist attacks and further isolation of certain group of community or ethnicity from the mainstream community. It will further widen the gap betwen 'us' and 'them'.

For security reason, I agree with passenger profiling process. Because with tighter security measures, any unwanted envetuality could be avoided. But it should not go into an extent that the process will give inconvinience and psychological distress to the travellers. Thus, in my opinion, the profiling should apply to everyone on the basis of their behavior, and not on the basis of their skin color or ethnic background. The example given in my article is enough to discourage this practice of ethnic profiling.

Passenger profiling is okay but ethnic profiling is BIG NO.

Advantage English [So Far]

2006-08-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Recently, my good friend Fatih wrote a post about blogging in English. He gave ten reasons why he chose to blog in English instead of Indonesian or other languages. You can read the post and its various comments here.

From all of his ten reasons, I like his second and tenth points [2. English is undoubtedly understood --though not necessarily spoken or written--by many, if not by most, influential people in the world. Hence larger audience, more visibility and influence of some sort, and; 10. Blogging in English, like blogging in any other languages including Bahasa Indonesia, is basically history in the making. The difference is by blogging in English you are making history in front of many faces and backgrounds from many countries and therefore it adds more to your credibility.]

English is not my native language, neither is Bahasa Indonesia. But I speak both languages. In blogosphere, I use both the languages to convey my messages, my views and my comments. I believe that by using both languages I can reach broader audiences, not only Bahasa Indonesia-speaking audiences but also those English-speaking audiences. I wrote mostly on politics and society.

In this regard, I agree with Indra's opinion that "... both are equally important, actually. [and] it depends on what is the topic of the articles we are writing, and who are the target audiences."

Recently, I wrote an article on Myanmar and was published by the Agoravox. To my surprise, the very next day after the publication of the article, I got an email from Ba Maw, a Producer in BBC Burmese Service telling me that he was really interested in my article and wanted to conduct an interview with me regarding the topic.

I gladly accepted his offer and he called me up soon after receiving my reply. In the interview, we had a discussion about Myanmar and its politics for about 20 to 25 minutes over the phone. The producer, a native of Myanmar, and I conversed in ENGLISH, and not in Bahasa Indonesia or in Burmese or in any other language, throughout the interview. It was a such an experience for me. English has exposed me to wider and larger audiences.

I wonder, would there be any interest by the BBC Burmese Service, or any other group for that matter, had my article not been written in English, say in Bahasa Indonesia? I bet not. Had I been written the article in Bahasa Indonesia, it would only have served the interest of those Bahasa Indonesia-speaking audience. It would neither be published by the Agoravox nor be read by English-speaking audience.

This presonal experience of mine somehow validates Fatih's second argument quoted above. Thus, so far, English has a better edge as compared to other languages. It is advantage English.

Reining in Horn-ism in India

2006-08-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

Being in India for quite sometimes, I have, somehow, become accostumed with India and Indian behaviours. The food, the people, the traffic, the weather, anything about India is familiar to me. But one thing that I still find it difficult to get along with is the Indian habit of blowing their vehicle's horn unnecessarily. Everytime I heard this blaring sound, I feel like to ignore it and keep the lane for myself. But sometimes, I just let it go and once the vehicle is in front of me, I blow the horn myself to see any reaction.

The most likely reaction from him/her is his/her ignorance to the sound of my horn. But some of them feel the same way I feel. They get irritated with the sound of the horn and give way to me to pass him/her. Usually, I just keep blowing the horn without any intention to take over. I just want him/her to know that being disturbed by the continuous and blaring sound of a horn is not at all comfortable. And I know that it is pollution at its worst.

Thus, it is interesting to know that the government has taken some steps to rule out or at least to minimize this noise pollution. In a report today, it was stated that in Mumbai, a leading city-based architect has sounded the horn against vehicles violating rules on noise pollution. He wants stronger actions taken by the authority against the violators to reduce pollution. The fact that the law of the land is so weak - the fine for the offence, as per the Central Motor Vehicles Rules and Motor Vehicles Act, is a mere Rs500 - many offenders cough up easily the paltry sum and continue to commit the offence.

I think the move should be welcome. With the ever-increasing number of motor vehicles in the metros in India and the fact that there is no improvement in the 'road manner', especially to keep down the noise pollution, it is necessary to ask the authority to rein in the violators and impose stronger rules as well as to educate the motorists about it. Because I believe that with a stronger rule, it will deter people to violate it.

For the complete report on this topic read here

Death of a Maestro: Bismillah Khan

2006-08-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

India's shehnai (flute-like musical instrument) maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan passed away due to a heart attack in Varanasi early morning on Monday. He was 90.

Khan was admitted to the Heritage Hospital on August 17 for treatment of electrolyte imbalance, family sources said.

The hospital authorities had even talked off discharging him in three to four days as he was improving day by day. However, his health deteriorated after midnight and he died around 2.30 am, they added. The body has been taken to his residence at Harh Sarai in the city. The funeral is likely to take place in the evening. The shehnai maestro is survived by his five sons and three daughters.

Born on March 21, 1916 into a family of court musicians and later trained under his uncle, the late Ali Bux 'Vilayatu,' a shehnai player attached to Varanasi's Vishwanath temple.

On India's first Republic Day, Khan had enthralled audiences with a sterling performance from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

During his long and fruitful career as an artiste, he regaled music lovers at performances across the globe. Apart from his trips to Afghanistan, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Canada, West Africa, USA, USSR, Japan and Hong Kong, Khan had also visited almost every capital city across the world. Khan was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2001.

He was also honoured with the Sangeet Natak Academi Award, the Tansen Award and the prestigious Padma Vibhushan.

A peek on his life and unfulfilled wish is here and here.
Reports on his death is here and here.

Faith Over Reasons

2006-08-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

In India, miracles do play a part in the minds of the people. This "divine intervention" becomes an integral part of the different faiths and beliefs that exist side by side in India. Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis believe in it. They put miracle as some kind of divine power or divine intervention that is beyond any human reason. Miracle is somehthing to be believed in and not something that needs any logical or rational explanation. It is in this context that any natural phenomenon that defies common sense perceives as miracle.

On Friday last week, people witnessed a rare natural phenomenon in Mahim Creek in Mumbai in which the naturally salty sea water there turned sweet. This "unusual" phenomenon has attracted huge crowds of different faiths and beliefs, numbering in thousands, to throng the beach to witness the "miracle". And believing it as miracle, they drink and bath in the sea water known to be one of India's filthiest water.

Mahim water contaminated with animal, human, and industrial waste. 1000 million litres of sewage flows into Mahim Creek daily. One million streptococci present in every 100 ml of water there. A glassfull of water from Mahim is crawling with germs. Thus according to the National Environmental and Engineering Researh Institute the water in Mahim Creek is not even fit to bathe in, let alone drinking it. It has always been Mumbai's most polluted creek.

However, despite all this facts, the phenomenon found in the sea water in Mahim has broken all logical reasons and people saw it as miracle. They wanted to taste the miracle by bathing in it and drink the water in the hope of gaining any "miracle" form it. They even bottled and sold this murky sea water. A visitor even said that the water is like Ganga Jal (holy Ganga Water) and took it home to purify the house with it. Others claimed that the water has the curing capability for illness and health problems.

Rejecting the phenomenon as a natural phenomenon during monsoon season, Director of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa said that during active monsoon, freshwater mixes with sea water and reduces its salinity. It is thus a routine affair along coastlines. And in the case of Mahim Creek, the inflow from the Mithi River did the trick. The low tide in the Friday night allowed the fresh water influence particluarly noticeable: turning the usually salty sea water into sweet.

In support of this theory, similar phenomenon also occurred in Gujarat at the Teethal beach in Valsad district. Because of the monsoon two rivers Auranga and Banki were in spate and were flowing into the sea in the region thus affecting the salinity of the sea water there.

This rational explanation on this natural phenomenon seems to be going through deaf ears. Thousands of people from different walks of life and beliefs came to witness the "miracle" of "Mithi" sea (sweet sea). They keep on coming to seek blessing from this divine power. And in what is soon becoming a battle between religious belief and scientific rationale, at least for now religion seems to be winning.

Other "miracle" on idols drinking milk can be read here and here.
Responses from the authority is here and here.

Empowering People with RTI

2006-08-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

On May 12, 2005, the Indian Parliament passed the long-awaited Right To Information Bill (RTI Bill). It marks a victory for the National Advisory Council that was instrumental in drafting the bill and civil society organisations that have been campaigning for the right to information to be available to people right across the country.

On June 15, the Bill was enacted as a Law known as Right to Information Act. And on October 12, 2005 (120th day of its enactment on 15 June, 2005) the Act came into force.

The RTI Act empowers Indian citizens with the right to demand access to government information. It helps the people to access information under the control of public authorities (covering both central and state governments, panchayati raj institutions, local bodies and recipients of government grants). It is hoped that the law, which lays down the architecture for accessing information in a simple, time-bound and inexpensive manner, will eliminate corruption and usher in an era of better governance.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the country’s civil servants to view the law in a positive light. They should not see it as a “draconian law for paralysing government but as an instrument for improving government-citizen interfacing, resulting in friendly, caring and effective functioning”. “After all, we, the elected representatives, bow to the wishes of the people and have come to no harm. So it will be with honest, hard-working civil servants,” he said.

However, after coming up with the landmark Right to Information Act, the Indian government is now seeking to curb its effectiveness by introducing an amendment that restricts access to file notings. The Indian Cabinet has approved key amendments to the landmark Right to Information Act that will restrict citizens’ access to ‘notings’ made by government officials on all files except those related to social and development projects. Cabinet notes on policy deliberations will also be outside the purview of the law, according to the proposed amendments.

The bureaucracy has been pushing for this amendment since late-2005, determined to yank back the iron curtain of official secrecy that was lifted by the landmark RTI Act when it came into force in October 2005, ushering in the promise of better governance and transparency in official functioning.

Expectedly, activists are dismayed by the development that, they say, will “take the life out of the law”. They have announced their intention to fight the amendments when they are introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. Furthermore, the move has been called “retrograde” by activists who claim it’s being incorporated to shield corruption and the arbitrary use of power.

By capitulating to sustained pressure from the Indian bureaucracy, which has demanded that file notings made by civil servants be kept out of the ambit of the law, the government has effectively robbed the legislation of its teeth.

This developing scenario caught up the eyes of the public and soon support to stop the Government's move to amend the RTI Act grew rapidly from all corner of the country. From Supreme Court jurists to Members of Parliament (MPs), students and journalists joining social activists, the nationwide movement to oppose the government’s move to amend the pioneering Right to Information Act 2005 is rapidly gathering steam. Leading RTI activists like Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey and Padma Bhushan Anna Hazare began indefinite hunger strikes to protest changes in the Act that the government intends to introduce in the current monsoon session of Parliament.

After weeks of protests, rallies and signature campaigns to oppose the amendment of the RTI Act, it finally paid off. On Saturady, 19 August 2006, the Government has agreed to withdraw the amendments to the Right to Information Act. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri said that following a decision taken by PM Manmohan Singh, the amendment bill was not likely to be introduced in the current session of Parliament, which concludes on August 25.

This means that the government has also decided to drop file notings exemption, and that file notings can be accessed.

The decision by the Government to drop the amendment plan is a victory for the Indian people and for democracy. Through RTI Act people are empowered with a powerful tool to control the fuctioning of the government. The RTI acts as a public control management in which this will eliminate corruption and usher in an era of better governance. Now the tool is there and the government is ready to be controlled. Thus it is high time for the people to know more about the RTI and how to use it as effective as possible so that the aim of RTI will not be diluted.

India is Bird-Flu Free

2006-08-14T12:23:00.001-07:00

It is now official: India is bird-flu free country. The Indian government declared itself on Saturday that India is a "bird-flu free country" based on the report of the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL). The report has been sent to the France-based international agency OIE (Office des Internationale Epijotis) for formal international acceptance of India's status.

The outbreak of this deadly desease was detected in India early this year. The H5NI virus made inroads into the poultry farms of India in the early months of 2006. The traces of this deadly virus was found in poultry farms in Navapur, Maharashtra and soon created confusion and scare among the people. Even though the trace of the virus is found only in the Navapur area, but precautionary measures have been taken all over India. Tests have been conducted on suspected livestock in the poultry farms to confirm the outbreak of the disease. And after a series of specific tests from 279 poultry samples it was confirmed that the bird flu has finally hit India.

Responding to this deadly threat of birdflu, the Maharashtra govt., with the support from New Delhi, cordoned off a 3-km radius around infected farms at Navapur in Nandubar, Maharashtra. All transport and trading of poultry banned in the area. Immediate culling and vaccinations of livestock were taken in infected areas to prevent the spread of the virus. Any unusual sickness or death among poultry was reported to the Centre.

At the same time, the Indian government has stockpiled 50,000 courses of Tamiflu and was procuring another 20,000. Medicine to treat 1,100 people has immediately been sent to Maharashtra and Gujarat. In Delhi, all poultry entering the city was routed through the wholesale market in Ghazipur. Big hospitals like AIIMS were ready with isolation wards and protective gear.

This instant and widespread culling of the poultry and destruction of poultry products, disinfection of the affected areas and administration of the Tamiflu drug to farm workers and other persons helped in preventing the disease from being transmitted to human beings. According to Indian official in the central body dealing with the crisis, since the March outbreak there has been no incidence of bird flu in the country. Samples collected from all states where there was a suspicion of avian influenza had tested negative. Furthermore, there have been no reported cases of bird-flu in India the past two-and-a-half months.

Avian flu is believed to have come to India through migratory birds who flock here in their tens of thousands each winter from as far afield as Siberia and western Europe. Early onset of summer this year gave immense help in India's fight against the desease. The change of weather prevented the possibility of the migratory birds to come and stay in India for a long period thus preventing any prolonged direct contact with local birds.

The natural cycle of weather from winter to summer and the immediate responses from the Indian government prevented the spread of the deasease thus allowing India to declare itself as a birdflu free county.

However, authorities remains alert and had issued an alert warning for next winter, especially at the country's 200 or so migratory bird sanctuaries. Because scientists fear the deadly H5N1 strain found in the latest outbreak of birdflu in India (April 2006) could evolve into a virus which can pass easily from person to person, triggering a pandemic that could kill millions. Although the virus is reported to transmit from only birds to human, a suspected incident of human-to-human transmission was reported from Indonesia where at least five members of a family were killed by the disease.

Thus to avoid any eventuality in this matter, the Indian government has taken all necessary and preventive steps to ensure that no outbreak of birdflu ever surface again in India. For now, while still awaiting for the approval from the France based OIE (Office des Internationale Epijotis) for formal international acceptance of India's status as a bird flu free country, the Union Heath Ministry declared India a bird flu free country.

Prejudice on Muslims in US

2006-08-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

A recently concluded poll of more than 1,000 Americans by USA TODAY/Gallup found that there is strong anti-Muslim feelings among Americans. Furthermore, according to American Psychological Association, this finding has contributed to the decreasing mental health of US Muslims.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll said they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims. The same percentage favored requiring Muslims, including U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID "as a means of preventing terrorist attacks in the United States." About one-third said U.S. Muslims were sympathetic to al-Qaeda, and 22% said they wouldn't want Muslims as neighbors.

Verbal harassment and discrimination correlate with worse mental health in studies of Muslims and Arab-Americans since 9/11, says psychologist Mona Amer of Yale University School of Medicine.

In her new study of 611 adults, thought to be the largest ever done on Arab-Americans, they had much worse mental health than Americans overall. About half had symptoms of clinical depression, compared with 20% in an average U.S. group, Amer says.

Muslims, who made up 70% of the study's participants, had poorer mental health than Christians. Those less likely to be depressed or anxious were people who kept their ethnic or religious ties but also had relationships with other people in the community. And more Christians than Muslims lived this "integrated" lifestyle, Amer says.

Even though since 9/11 tragedy, Muslim groups have greatly expanded their outreach efforts, offering educational seminars on their religion and cultural practices to audiences such as the police, private companies, hospital workers, teachers, students and therapists, but the result of this poll gave unpleasant sign of hostility and mental stress among Muslims. The fact that 58% of those participated in the Poll said they had never met a Muslim is strong enough to support an argument that their ignorance about Islam and isolation from Muslims can only foment trouble.

Thus, if the US government is sincere enough to make amend to the situation, it should educate non-Muslim Americans more about Islam and Muslims. A suggestion from the poll that Muslims in the USA might receive more favorable treatment if more Americans knew them is one promising start to improve the situation. Furthermore, the willingness of American Muslims to be in contact with their American fellows of other religions would only boost this effort to understand more about Islam and Muslim in order to improve the situation and the relation between Muslims and non-Muslims in US.

However, it remains to be seen how sincere is the efforts of the current US administration to improve the situation. If the administration fails to take realistic measures based on the current findings to improve the situation, Islamophobia and mental stress among Muslims would only increase. At the same time hostility between the different communities would result in catastrophe. But if the administration is sincere enough in their efforts, I believe Islamophobia could be put to rest and the world would be a better place for all.

Jakarta's Environment Friendly Bajaj

2006-08-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

It is interesting that the Jakarta Governor, Sutiyoso, has decided to lessen the pollution in the city. By importing the spacier, quieter, greener and environment friendly bajaj three-wheeler (auto rickshaw) from India, he has taken a big leap in his effort to make the citizens in the city breath cleaner air. Jakartans are asked to say Goodbye to the dark puffing smoke and the loud roaring noise of the orange bajaj and say Hello to the new clean and quiet compressed natural gas (CNG)-fueled blue bajaj. We must applaud this effort. Don't we want cleaner air for us?

I still remember the days when auto rickshaws in New Delhi were still using gasoline as their fuel. Being in India for the past decade, I have witnessed the big leap taken by the government in New Delhi to improve pollution situation in the Indian capital. Until 2000, the auto rickshaws operated in the capital roads were so noisy and emitting alot of smoke due to its gasoline-based feul. But with the introduction of CNG-run auto rickshaws in 2001, thing changed dramatically. Not only the pollution level reduced but the new auto rickshaws are spacier, quieter and environment friendly.

However, even though this transition from gasoline to CNG has reduced pollution level in the capital to a significant degree, but it was not a smooth transition. The early days of CNG-based auto rickshaws were full of long queues in CNG stations. The limited number of CNG stations at that time had been the major drawback in this CNG drive. Drivers had been complaining about all this difficulty. Because they have to spent great amount of their time to just re-fill their gas tube. That was also the main reason why many of auto rickshaw drivers I talked to in New Delhi felt reluctant to swtich into a CNG-based autorickshaw.

To end the woes of these drivers, the Delhi government decided to open up more and more CNG station to smoothen the refilling of CNG tubes thus gradually minimizing the time consumed by these drivers to refill their CNG tubes. By 2003, things changed dramatically: drivers were happy with the CNG based vehicles. Now, 2006, not only the auto rickshaws but buses and taxis in Indian capital have been using CNG for their daily operation.

Thus, to avoid similar situation in Jakarta, Sutiyoso must prepare in advance the availability of CNG station operating in the capital before rolling out his grand plan to reduce pollution. If, as it is claimed by Nasikin, a bajaj owner, that currently there are not enough gas stations to provide the CNG the new bajaj required [of the 25 filling stations that provide CNG, 17 are defunct, three are not operating, means only five are actually in operation], it would be tough time ahead for the drivers of CNG-run auto rickshaws. Imagining to be in long queues just to refill their gas tube would be enough to put these drivers off from switching into the new environment friendly auto rickshaws.

All the 25 filling stations that provide CNG must be funtioning to avoid this nightmare. A plan to reactivate the 17 stations must immediately be implemented. At the same time, additional filling stations should be build in order to fulfill the need of 5000 CNG-run autorickshaws planned to be in operation.

Only then, smiles would fill the faces of the drivers of the new auto rickshaws and finally, the Jakartans would be able to say Goodbye to gasoline based auto rickshaws and Hello to CNG-run auto rickshaws.

India Submerged

2006-08-09T03:24:00.000-07:00

Could you please stop pouring for now? The water now is too much to handle. That's I think the prayer of those thousands of people in different parts of India who have been affected by the incessant rain of the monsoon season. But the rain gods seemed to be in no mood to listen to the prayer and calm down.

From Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh to Chattishgarh the incessant rain has threatened the livelihood of thousands of people. There have been flood everywhere. People stranded, no food, no clean water, tough time for everyone in the areas hit by the flood.

So far, 106 people have been killed due to flood in Andhra Pradesh, 70 more in Maharashtra and more than 300,000 thousand people have been evacuated to safer places. At the same time, there have been thousands of dollar loss in crop and property. Relief operations by the Air Force and the Navy have been in full swing to help those stranded in their houses and apartments. Food, water and other daily essentials have been collected by various organizations and agencies to be given to the adminstration for futher process of distribution.

Reacting to this natural calamity, the PM have spoken to the Chief Ministers of the states affected by the flood and the PMO has offered to immediately release the Calamity Relief Funds for them. At the same time, the Home Ministry has been ready to provide all support for flood relief operations.

The relatively quick response to assess the problems in these states and immediate relief operations conducted by the State administrations as well as by the Center should be fully supported and appreciated. A collective effort to help those affected by the flood should help the speedy process of relief operations and recovery.

Let's hope that the rain wil stop soon and let the normal life resume.

For more news on flood and relief efforts in India, click here and here.

Terrorist in Sport?

2006-08-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

On pitch war of words, or I may quote what Matterazi said as common "thing" in footbal games, sometimes results in controversial retributions with severe consequences. And this so-called war of words does not belong to the game of football only but it occurs in all other sporting competitions. The consequence is harsh enough to actually deter any sportsman to be involved in this kind of psychological battle. Let's take Zinedine Zidane's marching order in the final of 2006 World Cup in Germany for an example.

Zidane is a footbal genius ever produced by French in the last decade or so. He is such a personality and inspiration that his absennce in the early stages of 2006 World Cup qualification almost cost the French team its berth in the final 32. His presence in the team immediately boosted the team's morale and brought back its confidence that it finally secured a place for the World Cup final in Germany last July and went further to reach the final against Italy. The French team subsequently lost to Italy in penalty.

The point that I wanted to bring here is that even a Zidane, a football genius of his generation, fell victim to this on pitch war of words. Football lovers will never forget the sad ending of an illustrious career of a footballer like Zidane. He was sent off in the World Cup Final against Italy for head-butting Italian defender, Marco Matterazi. The reason: on pitch war of words. Matterazi's words to Zidane were such that even a Zidane could lost his temper that forced him to leave the pitch when his team needed him the most.

What did actually Matterazi say to Zidane? No one really knew exactly what he said to Zidane. Both Zidane and Matterazi never told the real words used in the 'on pitch war of words' to the public. Some said it was an insult to Zidane's mother, wife or something worse than that: accusing Zidane of being a son of terrorist.

Matterazi denied all those things but admitted that he insulted Zidane since it is common among footballers to use the tactic to psychologically downgrade his opponent.

If this practice is spotted by the referee, the consequence is either a warning or a straight marching order, a red card. A retaliatory action that involves physical abuse or attack will result in a direct red card. Zidane physically retaliated to Matterazi's insult thus resulting in his marching order and three match ban and some fines from the footabal governing body. Similtary, for his part, Matterazi got a two match ban from FIFA.

If the controversy involves players on the field, the referee has the privilege to put things in order and further investigation will be taken up by sport's governing body. But if it is somebody else, say a commentator, who will take the responsibility?

A commentator is hired to guide viewers to enjoy the game and not to indulge in some irresponsible activities like giving derogatory remarks to the players on the field. It is such a sad thing for a commentator to give derogatory remark to players. And this is what happened to the game of cricket today: a tv commentator gave a controversial and derogatory remark to a player on field.

Dean Jones, former Australian batsman, worked as a commentator for TEN Sports. He has been doing great job so far. But today he made a gross mistake when he gave a derogatory remark, live on tv, to Hashim Amla, a Muslim South African cricketer, who was playing a test match with his team against the Sri Lankan cricket team in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Jones branded Amla a terrorist for his overgrown beard and clean-shaven head.

What is wrong of being a Muslim with an overgrown beard? Who is the terrorist and how do we know about a terrorist? Can we judge a terrorist only from the physical appearance? Or there is other way to describe about terrorist? Tell me Mr Jones!

I am not in a state of denial that in the sections of Muslim community, there are extremists who dare to take extreme steps to achieve their goals. There have been proof about it. But this extremism does not confine to Muslim community only, it is found in all other communities, be it Christian, Hindu, Sikh or any other religious community.

So for a Dean Jones to brand Hashim Amla a terrorist is an uncharacteristic attitude of a sane human being. Immediate sacking of Jones by TEN Sports is welcomed and the plan by Cricket South Africa to report the matter to the ICC is the right step taken to put things in order.

As a sport lover, it is very sad to know about this kind of incident or any other incident like doping or cheating by sportsmen. Sport should be full of sportsmanship attitude and healthy competition. And for anyone involves in this field should realize about it and not to indulge in activities that could degrade the value of sportsmanship. Let sport be sport, do not corrupt sport.

I love sport.

Preventing Tsunami and Corruption in Indonesia

2006-08-03T00:16:00.000-07:00

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, the Indonesian State Minister for Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman explained about government's plan to speed up the installation of a tsunami early warning system across the archipelago.

He said that following the devastating 2004 tsunami in Aceh and last month's tsunami along the southern coast of Java, the government has pledged to immediately build structure and culture to responds to tsunami. According to him, the full implementation of the scenario will cost about Rp 1.2 trillion, which covers both structure and culture. The latter costs more than the technology because it involves people and it's a continuous program.

All the money will come from the state budget, starting this year to 2009. But the President wants to speed it up to 2008. The Finance Ministry, the National Planning Agency and the House of Representatives all have given the green light to the budget allocation.

As I have written in my previous post, even though the Government knew about the threat of tsunami along the southern coastal line of Java after the massive quake that rocked the Indonesian capital last month, the government seemed to unable to respond to it immediately to save lives. The absence of a tsunami warning system in the area hit by tsunami has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives and millions of dollars of properties.

The 2004 Aceh tsunami seemed to matter a little in the minds of Indonesian administrators. They have been reluctant to quickly set up a working tsunami warning system and to educate people about the danger and threats caused by tsunami. This current effort by the government to "speed up" the establishment of a tsunami warning system throughout the archipelago seems to me as an effort to make amend to their lackluster response to the threat of tsunami.

Even though this effort comes relatively late, but I have to appreciate the government's decision to "speed up" the establishment of a working tsunami warning system in the archipelago. Indonesia is located along the line of the dangerous ring of fire in which earthquake, tsunami and other natural calamities are not alien. Government's preparedness from the threats of these disasters and people's awareness about it should become the priority to save lives and ensure the safety of the people in the archipelago.

In the end, it remains to be seen how "fast" will this process take place and how big will the distraction to obstruct this process come up. Because the Rp. 1.2 trillion allocated by the government for this mega project is a big amount of money that comes from the taxpayers pockets. It is a public money. With the corruption culture is still very much rampant in Indonesia and the government has been relatively reluctant to eradicate it, a successfull guarantee of a mega project like the one proposed by the Minister is still far from reality. Unless there is huge moral responsibility among the administrators to genuinely serve the public, corruption will only become the biggest threat for saving lives in the archipelago.

Sovereign Independency in the Flat World

2006-07-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, there was a comment from Sam who said, "India cannot take care of Mumbai blasts, and you are talking about a power. Manmohan Singh's words dont count, they are just to give assurances to muslims that we care about lebanon, and we are with you."

He further said, "It (India) is not a power yet and will not be in next 15 years, ( (President) Kalam's date for India to become developed nation ). Though he is trying hard, but Indian politicians wont let it happen." He concluded his comment by saying, "Regarding Alliance with US, I think that directional flow is going on from a long time now."

He then asked me about my thought on it. Through this post, I will give my thought on this comment.

For me, I see the blasts in Mumbai on 11/7 as a very unfortunate tragedy that could have been prevented, both by the local as well as the Central government. I, somehow, agree with Sam's view that India cannot take care of Mumbai blasts. Because even though the current government in New Delhi is a coalition government that is always under pressure both from its coalition partners and opposition, but they understandably have far greater responsibility to public safety and security than saving the coalition.

The terror attacks in Sarojini Market and Pahar Ganj in New Delhi last year, on Varanasi Railway Station as well as on the Hindu temple there last March in which many innocent civilians have been killed should have become alarming signals to the government and the intelligence that the terrorists are shifting their targets for more casuality. Similarly, the pubic should have been more aware themselves about any possibility of terror attacks on them, especially in railway stations and other crowded places like places of worships or market places.

In this case, the government is clearly at fault in which it was unable to assure public safety and security. Instead, they are now looking for scapegoat but never admitted their intelligence's mistake and the NSA's inability to zero in on threats to India. The government is also unable to educate the public about the growing threats on their lives by terror attacks. At the end, the public has to suffer and bear the brunt of the terror attack.

Moving on the second and third points of Sam's comment, I see, and I believe, that even though India is clearly in great difficulty in facing the terror threats but the potentials for India to improve in this front and emerge as the victor in this battle is huge. Similarly, in this flat world, India's potentials to be a superpower is undeniable. India's economic and technological prowess are growing every day and these potentials could act as the capitals for India's quest to be a superpower.

Even though glitches and shortcomings are as very much apparent as the potentials, but if India is really ambitious enough to defeat these distractions, the Vision 2020 could be realized. The democratic setup is another important aspect that needs to remember. Even though, as Sam said that "the (Indian) politicians won't let it happen," but I believe that in democracy, and India has a strong tradition of democracy, development is the key target and not the perpetuation of status quo. Indians have more say on this than the politicians.

Lastly, on India's response to the Mideast crisis and the Indo-US relation, I see PM Singh's comment as India's shift from its traditional stance and position in the region. It is shifting rather heavily in favor of the US's national interests in which Israel is the foremost US ally in the region. For me, this tilting balance in India's foreign policy in the Mideast is rather unfortunate for India's long term purposes, especially in regards with its growing energy needs to sustain its robust economic growth.

As I have said earlier in my post, it is upto India, or any other countries in the world who have close tie with Washington, to keep their independence intact and not to be a puppet of the US national interests. I have no problem in "this directional flow" of an Indo-US relation. Because I believe that in the flat world, no one is capable to stay isolated and everyone must engage others in order to survive and grow healthily amidst stiff competition.

The point that I wanted to raise was that independency of a sovereign nation, like India or say Indonesia, must be kept intact amidst pressures and pulls in a flat world. Multilateralism must prevails in order to keep unilateralism at bay. Who wants to live in a unilateral world anyway? Certainly not me!

India: Aping Uncle Sam?

2006-07-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

"There should be an immediate ceasefire so that the destruction of Lebanon is ended to facilitate humanitarian assistance."

Those were the words of the Indian PM Manmohan Singh on Thursday as a response to the current crisis in the Middle East. He further stated that for diplomacy to succeed, the negotiated solution should be comprehensive and on a long-term basis that involves and addresses the concerns of all parties in the region.

PM Singh also expressed his concern at the killing and suffering of innocent civilians including women and children in Lebanon. At the same time, he announced that India will contribute Rs 10 crore for relief efforts to rebuild Lebanon.

India has been declaring itself as a major power in the world. Their position in the international politics should be reckoned with. BUT it definitely fall short from this position, especially with regard to the Middle East crisis that involves Israel and Hizbullah in which many innocent civilians have fallen victims.

Indian government's stance on this matter can be clearly seen from this PM's statement. Its independency as an emerging power in the new world is diminishing very quickly with its newly found close, "strategic alliance" with Washington. India is now aping Uncle Sam's action and position on Middle East. India's cozy alliance with Washington has made it unableto keep its neutrality.

It is very sad to see this development. India has long been known for its neutrality and independency in international forum. But ever since the nuclear agreement with the US has been signed, and recently approved by the US House of Representatives, Indian government's neutrality is eroding. Its conscience has been lost in the maze of promises by Washington to help India enhance its nuclear technology.

If this development continues, multilateralism in international politics would only become a dream. As the sole superpower in the new world, the US will continue to assert its dominance and protect its interests with all costs. India's dream and ambition to become a major power in the new world would soon diminish if the current situation prevails. BUT we have to remember that India is a democracy and in democracy, opposition group is guarding the the balance of the system. Even though the current opposition, the NDA, is in limbo and is unable to assert itself as a strong opposition to the government, but it is the Left parties, the coalition partners of the Congress-led UPA government, that have been acting as the "police" to the government and have been keeping the pressure on as long as possible.

It remains to be seen, however, how far this diversion in India's track in international politics goes. Opposition is there, chances to change the course is very much abundant. But for now, the Indian government certainly is going with the Uncle's way.

India Blogspot.Com Ban: A Technological Error

2006-07-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

In a daily poll by an Indian newspaper, Hindustan Times, it asked: Is a balance possible between civil liberties and security impertaives in crisis situations? The result: 50 % says YES and 43.83 % says NO. This poll was conducted by the Times in the light of the on going debate about the right of the government to block/censor public's right to information (internet) on grounds of national security.

At the same time, after two days of angry inquiries and accusations of censorship, the Indian government tried to explain Thursday, 20 July 2006, why it had ordered blog sites blocked, calling it "a technological error". An Indian government offical says that because of a technological error, the Indian internet providers went beyond what was expected of them, which in turn resulted in the unfortunate blocking of all blogs.

Referring to its instructions issued to block 17 websites on grounds of national security, the DoT said that it had come its notice that in some cases the parent website had been blocked in contravention to what was stated in its order. Thus, to make amend, the Department of Telecommunications has instructed all internet service providers to provide an "unhindered access" to Net users except for some specified webpages which have been specifically mentioned in its orders issued from time to time.

The acknowledgement of an error on the part of the Indian government is seen as a wise and timely decision to normalize the situation. Furthermore, this acknowledgement of error and decision to allow an unhindered access to information by the public confirm that in a democratic society, freedom of speech and freedom of expression, even though they are not absolute, are guaranteed by the Constitution and the government must strictly follow the Constitution. Long live democracy.

20 Minutes Before Tsunami: They Knew It

2006-07-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

In my previous post on the Monday tragedy in West Java in which a 7.7 magnitudes earthquake centered in the seabed of the Indian Ocean resulted in the mild but devastating tsunami in the southern coastal lines of Java that killed more than 500 people and injuring many others as well as devastating the livelihood and properties of the people living in the areas, I wrote that "... the authority immediately issued a tsunami warning to the people in the coastal areas, asking them to leave their homes for higher ground for any eventual tsunami."

However, I made a mistake when I wrote about this government's immediate response about any eventual tsunami that might strike the coastal areas after the earthquake that reached as far as the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. The fact is that it was the Indonesian Transport Minister, Hatta Rajasa, who issued an instruction to the people in the coastal areas already being hit by the tsunami to retreat to higher ground for their safety. He did not issue this instruction before the tsunami hit. His instruction came late in which the tsunami has already occurred and taken victims of innocent people and their property.

Later it was reported that the warning about any possible tsunami actually came to be known by the Minister of Research and Technology, Kusmayanto Kadiman, through an SMS from the Japanese Meteorological Department 20 minutes before the actual tsunami hit the beach of Pangandaran, Cilacap and its neighboring areas. He even received similar warning from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. But he did not inform anyone about this information and instead only reveal about the SMS after the tragedy struck. No official warning about this tsunami. The government knew about the danger but they did not announce it.

Many residents and tourists on the southern Java coast recognised the signs of tsunami when the sea water receded suddenly, leaving sea creatures like fish floating in to the air, and fled to higher ground. Huge waves then came crashing ashore, devastating anything lays in its way. For the record, no tsunami warning system has been set up for the southern coast of Java. An Indonesian warning system was supposed to be up and running by now after the 2004 tsunami, the worst on record, but it has stalled. No clear reason given by the government.

Had there been tsunami warning system running in the areas hit by the quake, and had the Indonesian Minister who knew about the danger of tsunami informed the public and asked them to immediately leave for higher ground for their safety, the huge toll of this natural disaster could have been avoided.

The Indonesian officials failed to issue a tsunami warning despite receiving data about it. They said that they were too busy monitoring the aftershocks of this 7.7 magnitude quake. The Minister further said that if it (tsunami) did not occur, what would have happened?

Answering reporters' questions as to why no warning was issued on Monday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla claimed there was no need because most people had fled inland after the earthquake, fearing a tsunami. However, of dozens of people interviewed by The Associated Press in Pangandaran on Tuesday, only one person said he felt a slight tremor. None said there was a mass movement of people to higher ground before the tsunami, though some residents recognized the danger when they saw the wall of water approaching.

The Indonesian government definitely has some moral responsibility on this disaster. Aceh’s tsunami should have become the best teacher to avoid similar catastrophe in the islands. But it seemed that the government is very slow to react. Playing down the imminent danger of disaster on the pretext of “being busy monitoring the aftershocks” and claimed that “there was no need to inform the public believing that most people had fled inland after the earthquake, fearing a tsunami” are totally unacceptable.

Thus, in my opinion, the Research and Technology Minister, or even the Vice President Kalla, should resign on moral ground for the failure of informing the public in advance about the imminent danger of tsunami that resulted in the death of more than 500 people and the lost of millions of dollars of property. The government as a whole has to be held morally responsible in this tsunami disaster.

How to Beat the Ban

2006-07-19T02:23:00.000-07:00

The Indian DoT's decision to block popular sites like blogspot.com and typepad.com in their effort to curtailing the movement of terrorists in the virtual world has definitely affected regular and innocent users like me. I have been unable to open my blogspot.com site until today. This decision by a democratic government like India definitely amounts to the curtailment of its citizen's right of freedom of speech.

Even though I am not an Indian citizen, but by being a resident of New Delhi, I definitely feel that my personal right has been violated by the government. In my opinion, only a non-democratic country like China can practice this kind of draconian censorship.

I understand that in India, even though freedom of speech is guaranteed by the Article 19 of Indian Constitution, but it is not absolute. The government does have the right to regulate it in the interest of security and public morality. But the present action is based on sheer ignorance, besides being grossly disproportionate.

Luckily, this disproportionate ban being imposed by the DoT is not that severe in which I can somehow manage to access the blogspot.com site by using the help of this site. I can now open up my blogspot.com again without any problem.

Besides, if anyone of you bloggers have the same probelm as me, you can try to open your blog by using this site. Just write the address (URL) of your site in the given space and you would be able to see your blocked personal site. This two methods are the simplest of several other ways to skirt the ban.

Other method to skirt of the ban is by subscribing to the blog from an RSS reader. Newsgator.com and bloglines.com are the most widely used RSS reader. Subscribe to it and you will be free from the ban. Lastly, the slightly complicated way to evade the ban is by opening translation tool like babelfish.yahoo.com or translate.google.com. Enter the site to be translated to a non-English language, say German. When the translated page opens, change the langnage code in the title bar from 'de' (for Deutsche or German) to 'en' (for English). Then you'll all be free to open, surf and enjoy the prohibited site. Happy Blogging.

Quake and Tsunami in Java - Brief Update

2006-07-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

The death toll of the quake that hit the western part of Java Island and the tsunami that swept the areas in the southern coastal line on Monday has increased dramatically, touching the 500 number and still counting. Among the deads are several foreign tourists who were visiting the Pangandaran Beach, a popular tourist spot in West Java.

Besides, about 700 people were injured and 187 remained missing, according to the latest figures compiled by the Indonesian ministry's disaster relief coordinating post. The highest toll was recorded in the beach resort area of Pangandaran, where 118 people were killed, the figures showed.

Ambulances and Indonesian military vehicles raced back and forth from the coast to inland hospitals carrying patients throughout the day Tuesday, while bodies continued to wash up on the beach. Officials from the Indonesian Social Welfare Ministry made preparations to take rubber speed boats out early Wednesday morning to search for more bodies, which they said they expect to find, indicating the death toll could still increase.

About 40,000 people have abandoned their homes for higher ground, according to Indonesia's disaster coordination unit, making it difficult to tally the numbers of missing, injured or dead.

Residents said the Indonesian military arrived in the area of Pangandaran just hours after the waves struck, clearing roads and transporting villagers to safety.

Local and international aid organizations also began trickling in Tuesday. But many relief groups, which are already working at maximum capacity after a May 27 earthquake near Yogyakarta in Central Java killed 5,700 people and left more than a million homeless, said they planned to wait a few more days to assess the area's need before redistributing their resources from Yogyakarta or from Banda Aceh, where a much larger tsunami killed 170,000 people in 2004.

For the latest update on this natural disaster, click here

Blogspot Banned in Delhi

2006-07-18T03:57:00.000-07:00

Post Mumbai bombing 11/7 that killed more than two hundred innocent civilians, the Indian government has stepped up its intelligence by cracking down on bloggers. The Department of Telecomunication issued a fiat to block several IP numbers in India. Two sources, one inside the Government of India and the other kind of inside/outside have confirmed that ISPs are being instructed to ‘control’ access to blogspot. It seems that some blogs are being used by some terror units to communicate.

A DoT official admitted that they had asked ISPs to block a few sites saying that members of certain banned organizations were using certain blogs to transmit messages to members. And unlike e-mails that can be tracked, blogs cannot be tracked. Which is why, a clampdown was essential, he reasoned.

IP numbers are being physically located and identified. All should come back to normal once this operation is over. There is no complete ban on all bloggers in place. Livejournal, Wordpress and Multiply have been spared. No reason given.

However, I became the unlucky blogger this time around. It seemed that my ISP in New Delhi has decided to ban the access to blogspot.com from my IP address since two days back. I have been trying to access the site but to no avail. It was only this morning when I read my morning paper that I realized this problem. Poor me.

Even though I feel that this crackdown by the government in a democratic country like India amounts to repression of free speech and the government has overstepped its bounds, but I do hope that this exercise would yield some meaningful result to solve the puzzle surrounding the terrorist threats in India.

Quake and Tsunami Hit Java

2006-07-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

On Monday afternoon, at around 3:19 PM local time, a strong earthquake of 7.2 magnitudes (USGS record) rocked the Indonesian capital, Jakarta in the western part of the Java Island causing tall buildings to sway and creating panic to the people in the capital. An hour later, an aftershock of 6.1 magnitudes struck again. The epicenter of the quake was 33 km deep in the seabed of the Indian Ocean, 240 km southwest of Java’s western coast.

Reacting to this strong quake, the authority immediately issued a tsunami warning to the people in the coastal areas, asking them to leave their homes for higher ground for any eventual tsunami. Soon after this warning, three to five metre high tsunami crashing into a beach resort in Pangandaran in West Java Island, killing at least five people and causing extensive damage to hotels and houses.

Besides hitting the coastal areas in West Java Province like Pangandaran and Ciamis, the tsunami also hit the coastal areas in Central Java Province like Kebumen and Cilacap. The tsunami alert is high along the southern coastal line of Java Island.

On learning about the tsunami that struck areas in the southern coastal line of Java Island, the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, held a press conference in which he urged residents in the coastal areas to move to safe places in orderly fashion for their safety. He said that the search is going on for those who are reported to be still missing and the dead and the injured are to be taken care of by the government. He added that military and rescue teams had been dispatched to the disaster zone to help the relief process.

Just two months ago, in late May 2006, strong earthquake rocked the city of Bantul, killing thousands of innocent people and making thousand others homeless. Two years ago, a very strong earthquake and a catastrophic tsunami hit the volatile Aceh Povince in the western most of Sumatra Island killing more than 150 thousand people in Aceh Province alone and thousand more in the neighboring countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, as well as the east coast of Africa.

Indonesia lies in the ring of fire in which natural disaster is a phenomenon the Indonesian people have to live with. It is the responsibility of the government to take immediate actions to ensure the safety and well being of the people. The Aceh tsunami has given the authority a painful and expensive experience to deal with this kind of disaster. An effective disaster management agency would surely help in tackling the situation and guaranteeing an immediate return to normalcy.

Isolating Terrorists

2006-07-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

In the backdrop of the latest terror attacks that struck Mumbai, the economic capital of India, and Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, last Tuesday that killed more than 200 people and injuring more than 800 others, the Indian PM Manmohan Singh has asked the international community to isolate terrorists anywhere irrespective of the cause they are fighting for and the group or country they get support from.

He said that the international community must isolate and condemn terrorists wherever they attack, whatever their cause and whichever country or group provides them sustenance and support. His statement was issued before his departure to St. Petersburg to attend the Outreach Session of the G-8 summit on Monday. He also added that he would impress upon the world leaders attending the Summit the need for 'zero tolerance' against terrorism anywhere including isolation of terrorists by the international community.

Singh’s call to isolate terrorism came at a time when India is trying its level best to fight this global menace called terrorism in its own backyard. As a member of the international community, India feels the pain of terrorist attacks the world over. From Madrid to Mumbai, Beslan to Bali, London to Lebanon, from Asia to America, terrorism has become a horror that kills thousands of innocent people.

Terrorists strike whenever they want, wherever they want and without any announcement. Their targets: common people, the innocents. These are the people who just try to live a normal life in peace and harmony with a lot of tolerance with other members of their community. Their simplicity of being and belief towards a life full of tolerance and harmony make them the softest target for any terror attack. The repeated terror attacks have made these people more vulnerable and even helpless.

Thus it is the responsibility of the states, the leaders and the international community to ensure the security and safety of these innocent lives. The time is ripe for the world leaders to work together and to come out with cohesive action and a credible strategy to effectively combat global terrorism. The current G-8 summit in St. Petersburg is the perfect moment to forge an international alliance to combat this terror menace.

The proposal to create a zero tolerance by PM Singh is one of the better ways to combat terrorism. Because by internationally isolating the suspected terror groups or countries that sponsor terrorism an international buffer of security against terrorist attacks could be created and nurtured significantly to weaken and diminish the possible terror threats. The question now is how this proposal can be worked out?

In my opinion, it is the responsibility of the world leaders to be more sensitive toward this issue of terrorism and the safety of the innocents. The lack of sensitivity in these leaders to fight the menace and their eagerness to implement their personal agendas at a time when public safety and security are at stake have so far put the fight against terrorism in the back seat. Their greed has overpowered their conscience.

Thus before this noble proposal of isolating terrorists could be implemented, the conscience of the leaders must first returns and then real actions based on conscience and moral responsibility towards the public could only be taken. Without any real conscience appears in the back of the minds of these leaders, the fight against terrorism will only be shadowed by pre-emptive or disproportionate attacks, arrests, and killings of innocent civilians targeted as terrorist suspects. And if the world leaders fail to recognize this absence of conscience and unable to shelve their personal agendas for more important public agendas of safety and security, defeating terrorism will only be a dream that never comes true.

A day of Terror in India: Mumbai and Srinagar Blasts

2006-07-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 seems to be a black day in India. In the morning violence returned to Kashmir Valley when grenade attacks in Srinagar killed 8 innocent civilians and injuring more than dozen others. This series of grenade attacks have shattered the peace in the valley. The tourists that are returning back to the Valley seem to have been the new target of the terror attacks. Today’s attack was the sixth attack on tourists in the Kashmir Valley since the beginning of this year's tourist season.

When the governments in New Delhi and in the Valley seem to have a control of the situation, bigger terror attack hit India’s economic capital, Mumbai. Seven blasts took place in different railway stations in the city this evening. The first blast occurred in a local train near Khar Railway station at 6:09 pm (IST), which left several people injured. This was followed by several other blasts at Bandra station, Matunga, Jogeshwari and Borivali. This series of blasts in Mumbai have killed more than 140 people (146 is the number when this article is written) and injuring many others (approximately 430 people).

In response to this terror attack, an emergency meeting attended by the Indian PM and other high-ranking officers was immediately held in New Delhi early in the evening. After the meeting, Indian Home Minister, Shivraj Patel, read out a statement from the PM Manmoham Singh. The statement says:

"The series of blasts in Jammu and Kashmir and in Mumbai are shocking and cowardly attempts to spread a feeling of fear and terror among our citizens. My heart reaches out and grieves for all those affected by these blasts and who have lost their near and dear. I condemn these shameful acts aimed at our peace loving people".

Meanwhile, immediately after this series of blasts in Mumbai occurred, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh announced a compensation of Rs one lakh for those killed and Rs 50,000 for those injured. He also appealed to people to maintain calm and not venture out unless required.

Other Indian leaders, like the Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi has also expressed her shock over the blasts. She also asked the Maharashtra government to tighten security measures and ensure maintenance of peace and harmony. President APJ Abdul Kalam also condemned the blasts in Srinagar and Mumbai, saying that the blasts are inhuman acts conducted by those irresponsible personalities.

So far, no terrorist group has taken the responsibility on these attacks and the government has not pointed any finger yet to any terrorist groups known to have been conducting this kind of act of terrorism in the country. The government is taking its time to investigate and observe the matter carefully before taking an official conclusion on this tragedy.

For now, it is a very sad day in India. The tragedy has killed many innocent people and could threaten the peace and harmony in the society that has a long history of violence. Thus, to avoid any untoward incidents after this tragedy, the government should tighten the security measures throughout the country and ensure the maintenance of peace and harmony. At the same time, it should work hard with all its capability to capture the culprits of this inhuman act.

Dragging Israel to International Court of Justice?

2006-07-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

In January 2006, Hamas won a landslide victory in democratic legislative elections in Palestine. As a hard-line Islamic group, Hamas took over the baton of leadership in Palestine from the Fatah faction, and its victory evoked mixed responses from different quarters. In the Muslim world the victory was a sign that Islam and democracy are not necessarily contradictory.

While the West, especially the U.S., Israel and their allies in Europe, rejected this victory and immediately distanced themselves from the possibility of dealing with a Hamas-led government in Palestine. They went even further, cutting off all financial aid and banking channels to the Palestinian Authority, an important lifeline for the functioning of any government in Palestine, once Hamas formed a new government.

The boycott and closure of financial aid and banking channels crippled the new government in Palestine.

At the same time, the change of guard in Israel in late March 2006 from Ariel Sharon to Ehud Olmert seemed to have hardened the determination by the Israeli government to unilaterally define its national borders. Having secured majority support in the Knesset, Olmert vowed not to negotiate with "terror groups" (Hamas). He stubbornly continued Sharon's effort to unilaterally define Israel's national borders, regardless of objections from the Palestinian Authority.

And when the atmosphere of hostility between Israel and Palestine seemed to be easing a bit, partly due to the unilateral cease-fire enforced by Hamas and the changing attitude of its leadership toward Israel, in which Hamas leaders seemed to be ready to take a pragmatic stance for the sake of the Palestinian people, Israel triggered a new conflict with Palestine.

Not satisfied with its political and economic stranglehold on Palestine, Israel is now trying to grab more territory from the Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister Olmert announced recently in Washington that a Greater Israel will be created by 2010 as a final settlement of the Palestinian issue. The Israeli state plans to annex formally the whole of Jerusalem and significant portions of the West Bank, including those already gobbled up by the "apartheid wall", which Israel is constructing at breakneck speed.

Israel started its grandiose plan with an attack on innocent holiday-makers on a Gaza beach, killing 10 Palestinians and injuring many others, hoping to instigate a reaction from the Palestinians. It went even further by conducting a series of air strikes in Gaza in which more innocent civilians were killed and public infrastructure damaged, besides the illegal arrest of Hamas legislators. This was all in response to the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants in Gaza. These attacks could precipitate another intifada in Palestine and formally ended the cease-fire between Hamas and the Israeli state.

Regardless of the status of Hamas in the eyes of Israel and its allies, they are the legitimate elected representatives of the Palestinians. On the contrary, the grandiose plan of Prime Minister Olmert to create a Greater Israel, and the recent attacks by Israeli forces on innocent civilians and public infrastructure in Palestine, including power and water plants and government buildings, are in violation of international law. The attacks have engendered a humanitarian crisis in Palestine.

In response to these heinous attacks on innocent civilians, the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority plans to take the legal route, filing a petition against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, accusing Israel of "war crimes against Palestinians".

It is a test for international institutions and the international community, to react positively and provide justice for people who have been the victims of injustices. Bringing the matter of Israel and Palestine to the ICJ can also be a way to settle the conflict in the region once and for all.

If justice can be done for the people of Palestine, further violence and humanitarian crises in the region could be avoided. But if bias and partiality prevail, the crisis will only worsen and the violence escalate. The current Israeli offensive has enough force to trigger a third intifada by militant groups in Palestine.

This post was published in The Jakarta Post on Saturday, 8 July 2006. The title was Dragging Israel to the ICJ.

Tracking Drugs and Narcotics in Indonesia

2006-06-25T04:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was little bit shocked to find a news article in one of India’s leading daily, the Hindustan Times, about the arrest of a drug peddler in a busy Nizamuddin Railway Station. Three kilograms of heroin was recovered from the arrested drug peddler. The alertness of the Indian police had led to this successful capture.

Drug trafficking is not an odd phenomenon in India. Various groups or individual drug traffickers have long been using India as a hub to keep the flow of drugs in Asia to Africa, Europe, America or vice-versa in check. And according to the recent finding, a new trend has come up in which the drug is sent to China and Southeast Asia through India as well. African nationals, especially the Nigerians, have long been associated with this drug trafficking. Many of them have been caught smuggling drugs in or out of India. It is no longer shocking for me to find out a news report on this case.

But yesterday’s news was different from other similar news I have read before. The news read: “A 30-year old Indonesian national by the name of Veronica was arrested by officials of the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) with three kilograms of fine quality of heroin. The capture supports the recent finding that a new trend has been adopted by drug traffickers to use woman to smuggle heroin from India to East Asian countries, including Indonesia.”

Today, when I was browsing the Media Indonesia daily, I found out another shocking statistic figures. It read: “Dari riset yang dilakukan Badan Narkotika Nasional (BNN), tidak kurang 1,7 ton narkoba jenis heroin masuk ke Indoensia setiap bulan.” (According to the research by the National Narcotic Body, at least 1.7 tons of heroin enters Indonesia every month).

Furthermore, the report says, “… sebanyak 15 ribu pecandu Indonesia mati sia-sia setiap tahunnya. [dan] … 1,5 persen (3,2 juta) dari 200 juta penduduk Indonesia menjadi pelaku penyalahgunaan narkoba. Sebanyak 63 persen penyalahguna narkoba pertama kali mencoba pada usia 15-24 tahun, dan satu di antara 10 responden mengaku menggunakan/mengonsumsi Narkoba pertama kali pada usia berusia kurang dari 15 tahun.” (… at least 15 thousands drug users in Indonesia died every year. [and] … 1.5 percent (3.2 millions) from 200 millions of Indonesian population are drug users. 63 percent of these drug users belong to the age group of 15 – 24 years, and one out of ten of the respondents admitted that they tried to use/consume the drug for the first time before reaching the age of 15).

What can we say about these things? Shocking? Worrying? Or Threatening?

The arrest of an Indonesian national in New Delhi certainly gave an indication of how drugs and narcotics are being transfered and spread. The use of woman in this case, as well as in other cases of arrests and captures related to drug trafficking in India, indicates the changing method of drug trafficking. At the same time, the statistical figure given by the BNN is ‘fantastic’, or I may say worrying and threatening. If it continues this way, I wonder, where Indonesia’s future is heading.

Will the release of Ba'asyir renew the terror threat in Indonesia?

2006-06-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

On 14 June Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the leader of the Ngruki Islamic boarding school in Sukoharjo, Central Java, was freed from Cipinang jail in Jakarta after completing a 30-month jail term for criminal conspiracy.

His supporters gave him a hero's welcome, although he has long been linked with the shadowy terror network Jamaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-supported terrorist group in Southeast Asia. Most of the leaders of this group have either been arrested or killed by the Indonesian authorities in the drive to eradicate terror threats in the past few years. The most recent success was the ambush on Dr. Azhari bin Husin's hideout in East Java, which led to his death.

Even though the court cleared Ba'asyir of all terror related charges in 2003 and 2005, his radical Islamic views have worried many quarters in society and the world. His hard-line stance has also branded him the spiritual leader of JI, which has been responsible for several deadly bombings in Indonesia since the Bali attack in 2002. Moreover, his vow to continue the fight for the implementation of sharia in Indonesia upon his release from jail is likely to influence the dormant terror attacks in Indonesia by radical Muslim groups.

The U.S. and Australia have expressed their concern over Ba'asyir's release from jail. The two countries were disappointed with the fact that Ba'asyir only served a short period of his term for alleged "sinister conspiracy" in connection with terror activities in Indonesia. They believe his radical views on Islam might have encouraged perpetrators of terrorism in Indonesia.

How much will the release of Ba'asyir influence terror activities in Indonesia? Should his release be cause for concern for possible new waves of terror attacks? How should the Indonesian authorities react to these possibilities?

To answer all those questions, we should start with the assumption that Ba'asyir is just a clergyman who has strong views on Islam and how Islam should be implemented in Indonesia. He was not put in jail because his involvement in the terror activities of JI in Indonesia was proven. The judges found Ba'asyir "knew the perpetrators" and that his words "might have encouraged" them to conduct suicide bombings.

From these two statements, we can see the doubt in the minds of the judges about any direct involvement of Ba'asyir in the terror activities of JI. In my opinion, knowing a person who commits a crime does not necessarily imply that we are a part of any crime committed by him. Our views on certain matters that might influence the minds of perpetrators to commit a crime should not make us a party of the crime either. Unless there is any proven direct link between the two parties, we cannot be held responsible for the crime. The perpetrators commit the crime based on their own understanding and capability of conducting such an action.

The public opinion that connects Ba'asyir and the JI terror network, in my opinion, is the result of the continuing pressure the U.S. and Australia are placing on the Indonesian authorities to find a perfect scapegoat for the terror attacks in Indonesia. It is like accusing Saddam Hussein of masterminding the terror attacks by the al-Qaeda in the U.S. Ba'asyir's radical views on Islam are the perfect pretext on which implicate him in the acts of terrorism in Indonesia.

Regarding any possible renewal of terror attacks in Indonesia after Ba'asyir's release, the likelihood has been exaggerated. With or without Ba'asyir's presence any terror groups could possibly strike here. But Ba'asyir is a figure to watch closely. His radical views on Islam and his vow to fight for the implementation of sharia in Indonesia can be interpreted as a possible danger to the unity of a plural Indonesia.

However, there should be no exaggeration in taking care of his presence. His radical Islamic views are not solely his privilege but are shared by many different radical Muslim groups in Indonesia. He is just a variant and a part of a bigger radical minority in the Muslim community in Indonesia.

It is the government's work to contain any possible terror attacks in Indonesia. The current anti-terror department has so far done quite a good job fighting terrorism. The arrest of the perpetrators of terror attacks like Amrozi, the killing of Azhari and the recent, nearly successful, effort to capture Noordin M. Top have proven the serious attitude of the government to eradicating terrorism and ensuring the safety and security of the Indonesian people.

Terrorism does not have a religion. With or without Ba'asyir, terror threats are very much present in any society. Only a vigilant authority with a cooperative society can defeat the threat of terrorism.

At the same time, moderation of views on certain subject, for example on Islam, should be of better benefit to ensure unity and pluralism in a democratic and plural society like Indonesia. Finally, even though we live in a globalized world in which everything is interconnected, Indonesia as a sovereign nation should not budge under the pressures and demands of foreign powers. Indonesia has a life and a system of its own and must be confident of its capability to uphold the law and maintain order.

Published in The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, 21 June 2006

http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20060621.E03

Legalizing A Right to Die?

2006-06-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

In one of the scenes in the Oscar winning movie “Million Dollar Baby”, the terminally ill Hillary Swank, who played a lead role as a tough woman boxer, pleaded to her coach to pull the plug on her life support so that she could die in peace instead of lying motionless in the hospital bed without any hope of ever live a normal life again. At the end of the movie, she was finally administered a drug by her coach that led to her death. She chose to die through a mercy killing than to live a lifeless life in a hospital bed.

It is in this unresolved debate of legalizing mercy killing to the terminally ill patients that the Indian government is toiling with the idea of legalizing this right to die. The law commission of India has recently submitted a proposal to the health ministry for an opinion in this matter. It has recommended that the law needs to protect terminally ill patients and if they refuse medical treatment they should not be charged with attempt to commit suicide.

So far, the only country that legally guarantees euthanasia is the Nederland. India would be another country that legalizes this right if the current proposal is approved. The question now is, if euthanasia is made legal in India who takes the final call? The patient or the doctor?

According to the proposal by the law commission of India, it is the patient or his/her family that would request his/her doctor for this mercy killing. If the doctor agrees then he/she must approach a government-appointed three member expert committee of doctors which then has to concur. Once the procedures have been followed, only then the mercy killing could be administered.

This proposal of legalizing euthanasia has resulted in pros and cons in a poor and large country like India where medical facilities are not the same and not all Indians can afford the available health treatments. Because if the Indian government decided to legalize euthanasia, it could tempt patients and families who cannot afford the high cost of medical treatments to take the easier way out, even if it means death.

Thus, to avoid any unwanted eventuality of legal mercy killing and before rushing the proposal into the constitution, the government of India will have to kill all possibilities of abuse, especially to give more safeguards to protect patients like the aged or even women. The failure of providing proper guidelines in this matter could only lead to the abuse of this yet unresolved debate of mercy killing.

Zarqawi Killed, What’s Next?

2006-06-08T02:24:00.000-07:00

Today, in an airstrike by the US military near Baquba, in South Baghdad, the self-proclaimed Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed along with seven of his close aides. He was holding a meeting in a safehouse when the airstrike was launched. He was the most notorious insurgent leader in Iraq and had been leading local insurgency against the US occupation force in Iraq.

The question now is, what’s next after his departure?

The successful military operation against Zarqawi that led into his killing today was termed as “a great day” by the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. Recognizing the importance of Zarqawi’s capture to the fight against insurgency in Iraq, the ambassador as well as the Iraqi PM said that there are still difficult days ahead. The successful operation against Zarqawi is just the beginning of what many termed as a long-term fight against terrorism and insurgency in Iraq.

The dead of Zarqawi is definitely a blow to the leadership of A-Qaeda in Iraq. Zarqawi was the face of insurgency in Iraq and represented the resistance of the Iraqi towards American led invasion. But to say that his death is a signal to the end to the insurgency movement there is deceiving, or a mistake. Because there is always possibility that his death would lead to the rise of another insurgency leader to fit into Zarqawi’s boots and continue the struggle against the occupation forces.

A lot of homework needs to be completed sooner than later before the new Iraqi government can succeed in putting things in order. Zarqawi’s death today is definitely an important moment for the Iraqi government as well as the US led forces Iraq in the struggle to curb insurgency there. But the already entrenched sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi’ah Muslims in the post-Saddam Iraq would be more difficult to control. Zarqawi’s death would lead into the emergence of different groups/leaders to take the leading role in the fight against the occupation forces in Iraq.

Unless there are concrete steps taken by the US-backed Iraqi government to ensure the safety and security of the Iraqi people, insurgency would stay and many more innocent people would suffer than before. It is time for the Iraqi government to formulate an agenda that would satisfy the aspirations of different groups in the Iraqi society so as to ensure the end of insurgency. At the same time, a clear timetable for the pullout of occupation forces in Iraq should be made so as to let the Iraqi people to decide their own future.

I believe with the pullout of the occupation forces from Iraq, the insurgency situation would decrease as people from different factions in Iraq would join hands to build their own country, far from the interference and involvement of foreign forces. Skepticism on the possible break up of Iraq as a country once the occupation forces left should be dismissed so as to give a chance to the Iraqi people to decide their own future.

Rahul Mahajan: Falling in Bad Company?

2006-06-05T03:22:00.000-07:00

“Such mistakes happen in young age. Chances of such mistakes are possible when you fall in bad company and that’s what happened to Rahul”.

The above words came from none other than Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the ex-Indian PM and the towering leader of the BJP. This is a statement to defend Rahul Mahajan, the son of late Pramod Mahajan, from the accusation of becoming a drug user. Rahul Mahajan has been hospitalized after a suspected consumption of a deadly mix of coke and champagne that took the life of Vivek Moitra, the long time personal aid of the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

The apologetic view of Vajpayee is an interesting case since the party, the BJP, has tried to distance itself from the controversy that surrounds Rahul’s suspected drug abuse case. Who is Rahul Mahajan and who is his company? If his current situation if because of his bad company then who is this bad company?

Pramod Mahajan was an influential leader of the BJP and had been declared as the next Laxman of the party by Vajpayee. He was the master strategist of the BJP and his role in the party was indispensable. However, his tragic and sudden demise at the hands of his own brother has left the party to search for another ‘Mahajan’.

Rahul Mahajan grew up under the guidance of his father and has been in close companion with his father’s inner circle like Vivek Moitra and the likes. If now Vajpayee said that Rahul’s incident was caused by his bad companionship, who is this bad companion? This statement seems to have given a glimpse on the reality that there has been bad companion in the life of Rahul Mahajan. It seems that Vajpayee’s statement reflects the ‘other’ Pramod Mahajan, a bad companion for his son, Rahul.

If only this statement is true, that Rahul’s incident is due to his bad companion, how would this do justice to the situation? ‘Fixing’ him through his father’s party, in my opinion, would only plunge him further into worse companion; forgiving him for his mistake of drug abuse would only show injustice to the lesser mortals who would have been beaten or taken to custody without any second hesitation.

The best option possible to fix things up is by letting the police to investigate the matter and take necessary actions to bring the defaulters to justice, no matter who he/she is. The law should be applicable to everyone and everyone should be treated equally in the eyes of the law. This equal treatment before the law of the land would set an example for those who think that his/her political connection/money would put him/her above the law. The failure to do justice to this situation would only send a wrong signal to the people that there is really inequality before the law.

As for the ‘bad company’, they should be corrected so as to give good company and inspiration to the young generation.

The "Ring of Fire" Shakes the Archipelago

2006-05-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning, 27 May 2006 at 5:54 AM, when most of the innocent souls were still in their deep sleep, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter Scale rocked the ancient city of Yogyakarta and the Central Java province, causing more than 2500 people died, still counting, and thousands others injured. The quake also damaged thousands of houses, government buildings, bridges, airport as well as the ancient Hindu temple of Prambanan.

With the memory of the dreadful tsunami in Aceh in December 2004 still fresh in the minds of Indonesians, the quake has caused panics among the quake victims who ran towards higher grounds to avoid any tsunami that might follow this deadly disaster. The close proximity of Yogyakarta, 30 km from the sea, has sent this panic signal to these people. Thankfully, there was no sign of any tsunami in sight since the epicenter of the quake was close to the Mount Merapi, an active volcano in Central Java that has been showing strong activity of eruption in the past weeks.

In response to this natural disaster, President Yudhoyono has ordered the Indonesian military to help the evacuation efforts of the victims. Medical helps were also pouring in to provide help and assistance to the victims. International communities also reacted quickly to offer their helps and assistance to the Indonesian government to tackle this natural disaster.

The relatively quick response from the Indonesian government and the international community towards tackling this disaster is hope to quickly ease the burden of the quake survivors in rebuilding their livelihood. At the same time, realizing the severity of this disaster, all elements in Indonesian society must be united and work together in helping their fellow countrymen to rebuild their lives. The different factions and groups that have been sending their representatives and volunteers to help the quake victims must not take credit for themselves but instead must work for the sake of humanity.

Indonesia is Fourth Largest Democracy?

2006-05-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

I am quite perplexed by The Jakarta Post report on May 15 (Vigorous monitoring necessary for secrecy law), which says Indonesia is "... the fourth largest democracy in the world."

This statement seems to contradict various reports from national as well as international news agencies that Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world, with the first and second positions occupied by India and the U.S., respectively.

How did this statement get into this story? Is there any proof for this assertion that Indonesia is the fourth largest democracy? If China, which is dominated by one party, is regarded as a democratic country, then it certainly deserves the top position as the world's largest democracy with India, U.S. and Indonesia next.

Does anyone agree with the statement that China is the largest democracy and Indonesia is the fourth largest? I hope nobody does.

www.thejakartapost.com/onlineletters.asp

Tested Once Again

2006-04-14T09:32:00.001-07:00

Today is another sad day in India. Innocent people were killed and several others were injured when grenade attacks and bomb blasts occurred in different parts of India. Acts of terror by irresponsible personalities have once again tried to destroy the unity and communal harmony of different communities in India.

If in the early afternoon grenade attacks by terrorist group occurred in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir State, and killed 5 people and injured several others, the Indian Capital New Delhi was shocked when twin blasts occurred in the Old City area. No fatal casualty was however reported in the Delhi blasts but dozen of innocent people were injured due to these explosions. The Delhi bomb blasts occurred barely a month after the bomb blast in a crowded temple that killed some innocent people in the holy city of Varanasi.

If the Varanasi bombs were exploded in a crowded temple and railway station, the Delhi blasts took place inside the grand mosque, Jama Masjid, built by the Mughal ruler in the 17th century. The timing and the place in which the bombs were planted surely indicated certain purpose by certain elements in the society to malign the fabric of social and communal harmony in the city.

This twin bomb blasts came as a grim reminder of similar bomb blasts in the crowded markets in New Delhi a few months back on the eve of Hindu and Muslim festivals of Diwali and Ied-ul-Fitr. The 29/10/2005 Delhi bomb blasts killed more than 50 innocent people and injured many others.

However, both the 29/10 Delhi blasts as well as the bomb blasts in Varanasi on the eve of the Hindu festival of Holi failed to arouse any communal sentiment between communities and instead strengthen the bond shared by them. Even though certain group in the Indian society has reacted angrily and tried to arouse communal sentiment but the maturity of people in Delhi and the long history of communal harmony in Varanasi proved to have passed the test and thus the main purpose of these bomb blasts failed to deliver.

The people bounced back from their fear and led a normal life as if nothing had happened. Today’s twin bomb blasts in Jama Masjid is hoped to have similar response from the Delhi people in particular and the Indian people in general. If the people can react the way they have reacted to the previous attempts by irresponsible elements in the society to destroy the communal harmony, this latest attempt of terror to arouse communal sentiment will be reduced to nothing.

To achieve this goal, all members of different communities in India must understand that they cannot become the victims of hatred and violence anymore. The painful history of Partition in 1947 as well as several other communal violence in an independent India should become priceless lessons that need to be looked upon. The Indian people must act maturely and show to the world that terrorism will never win any war against them.

At the same time, the government must also assure the people that those persons responsible for this heinous acts of terror must be held responsible for their crime and ensure that the safety of the people and the unity of the nation cannot be destroyed by mere acts of terror. The tested secular fabric of the nation should be tightly guarded and preserved at all cost. Communalism should not win against secularism.

In a diverse society like India in which different communities possessing different languages, cultures, traditions as well as different faiths live together as a single nation, only secularism will guarantee its unity and the functioning of the system. Communalism and communal hatred will only contribute to the disintegration of the nation and the suffering of the people. It will only lead to a tragedy of humanity.

Between Celebrities, Politicians and Commoners

2006-04-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

India is a democratic country. Everyone is equal before the law of the land. Yet injustices and different treatments in the eyes of the law upon different sections in the society are rampant in the country that is known for its size as the biggest democracy in the world. To proof this allegation, let’s consider the following cases.

In February 2006, after seven years of waiting, the main accused in the Jessica Lall murder case was acquitted from all charges. The reason of the acquittal was said to be the lack of evidence to support the charge against the accused. For the record, the murder took place in a party attended by hundreds of people from affluent sections of the society. Jessica Lall was a model that belonged to a middle class family while the accused was a son of a powerful politician.

This week, in a fast track court, an ex-police constable in Mumbai was found guilty of raping a college girl one year ago even though physical evidence to support the allegation against him was minimum. No semen was found on the girl’s body or clothes. Medical report also doubted any sexual assault on the girl. Yet the poor ex-constable was found guilty and sentenced to jail for his crime.

On Monday, 10 April 2006, after more than eight years of judicial process, Salman Khan, a Bollywood star known for his bad boy image, was found guilty of killing deer and sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment in Rajasthan. Salman Khan was guilty of killing protected animal thus he had to pay it with five years jail term.

In the first two cases, commoners were involved while the verdicts were different. Due to his powerful network, the accused in the first case was set free. Through pressures and intimidations the accused was able to escape the clutch of the law. At the same time, in the second case, a poor ex-constable was convicted and sent to jail for his crime even though doubts surrounded the case.

The third case was a unique one as compared to the first two cases. It involved an endangered animal and a celebrity. The verdict: the celebrity was found guilty and sent to jail for the crime. The bad boy image of Salman Khan and his celebrity status as a leading Bollywood actor only added to the severity of the punishment. To quote the verdict, “… a celebrity has more responsibilities towards society and must lead by example.”

From these cases it was learnt that in India, everyone is not the same in the eyes of the law. The powerful seemed to be able to get away from justice cheaply while the weaker ones, the commoners as well as those who possess the celebrity status, were put as an ‘example’ for violating the law of the land. And in Salman’s case it seemed that animal got better justice than human.

In conclusion, even though there is a process of re-trial in the Jessica Lall’s case and the possibility of reduction of jail term for the other two cases, but the verdicts in these cases have sent signals to the society that inequality of treatment before the law is very much apparent in India. It gave a bad image to the judiciary and convinced the populace that the powerful in this country can always get away from justice while the weaker sections of the society have to pay dearly for whatever crime they have done. If the rule of law is the code of conduct in the country, there should be no inequality of treatment before the law. The guilty must be punished and justice must be observed and respected.

Elections in Israel

2006-03-26T12:48:00.000-08:00

For the past months, the Middle East has been simmering with political drama and continuous suffering of the Palestine people in the hands of the Israeli government. The future of peace in the territory has been relatively unpredictable since the sudden illness of the Israeli PM Ariel Sharon in the first week of January. The unprecedented landslide victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections last week of January, defeating the incumbent Fatah group, only added fuel to the fire.

The absence of any capable leader in Israel to fit the shoes left by the flamboyant Ariel Sharon, someone who has long been regarded by the Israeli public as their most reliable leader, has left many to wonder as to what the future plan of Israel is going to offer to create peace and security in the region in the wake of Hamas’ victory in Palestine.

Ehud Olmert who replaced Sharon’s position as the leader of Kadima Party is seen as a relatively weaker leader as compared to his predecessor in terms of guaranteeing security to the Israeli public. The ability of a political party or a leader to guarantee security to the people is the top most agenda for any political party to win the trust of the people. Kadima under Olmert is different from Kadima under Sharon.

Thus in an effort that many saw as his desperate move to boost his electoral campaign, he recently ordered an attack to a jail in Jericho to take Saadat, an influential Palestinian leader who has been kept there for his involvement in the murder of some Israeli citizens who has been rumored to be released by Hamas, into the Israeli custody.

At the same time, in a population that has been flocked by many Jews from ex-Soviet Union, Amir Peretz’s chance to gain big the elections is minimum. His socialist ideology and his physical resemblance with the late Soviet leader, Lenin, would definitely affect his chance in the elections. The trauma of the past still haunts these immigrants. It is in these uncertain and complicated situations that Benjamin Netanyahu’s chance to win election with his Likud Party is bigger as compared to Olmert’s, or for that matter Peretz’s.

His previous experience as a PM would definitely give an additional score for him as compared to other candidates. Hamas’ victory in Palestine will only boost the chance of this hard line Jewish party to gain the most from the elections.

Hamas is a militant Islamic group in Palestine which long has been branded as terrorist by Israel and the West (by the US as well as by the European countries). The strong stance taken by Hamas towards Israel as well as the violent policy adopted by this group in its efforts to fight for the Palestinian cause has doubted the minds of those who have been dreaming of peace in the Middle East.

Even though Hamas has decided to take the democratic route to come to power, but its stance towards Israel remains. Certainly, having won the elections in Palestine Hamas is compelled to change its policy as a part of political compromise and as a responsibility to its voters. Thus Hamas leaderships have decided that it will agree to peaceful efforts to reach peace in the region. It also invited other groups in Palestine to join hands in the formation of a new Palestinian government. However, having received no response from other groups in Palestine, it decided to go alone.

Between Peace and Security

The complicated nature of situation in the Middle East and the evolving democratic process there has made the road to peace even more difficult. The decision by the Palestinian people to give Hamas a chance to lead the struggle Palestine can be considered as a brave decision. Hamas is an Islamic hardliner group and by taking control over the Palestinian Authority, its stance and ideology would certainly be implemented into decisions and policies.

The emergence of Kadima in Israel has given more political choices to the Israeli public. However the sudden change of events in the party as well as in the political landscape in Palestine has left one to wonder as to what Kadima would do to implement the peace process while at the same time guarantee the safety and security of the Israeli people. The seemingly weak leadership in the Kadima seems to be desperate to fill the vacuum left by its tallest leader, Ariel Sharon.

On the other hand, the change of events has boosted Likud Party’s chance to win. The ability of party’s leadership to play with the sentiment and the feeling of insecurity in the people for its political maximum gain could result in the emergence of Likud Party as the winner, leaving one to again wonder about the fate of peace in the region. And as described above, the chance for the Labour Party to win this election can be neglected.

To conclude, though the question of who is going to win the elections in Israel is still difficult to answer till now, but one thing is sure that the Palestinian people have exercised its democratic right in the hope of improving the situation. Whichever party is going to win the elections in Israel has to deal with the reality in Palestine. At the same time, it has to be remembered that guaranteeing security to the people is the top most agenda of political parties in Israel. Confrontational policy is adverse to peace.

If peace and security is the utmost dream of all the people in the region, it is the duty of all political parties and politicians in the there to materialize it. Any failure by the leaders to utilize the chance to arrive at peace and security would only add to the misery of the people, both in Palestine and in Israel, and to humanity.

Split in the Parivar

2006-03-22T23:48:00.000-08:00

Having expelled Uma Bharti from the Party, the BJP leadership has issued similar decision to a senior BJP leader, Madan Lal Khurana, by suspending him for his ‘rebellious action’ to the Party. These decisions have resulted in a possible split in the Party.

Both Uma and Khurana have been the stalwarts of the Party and long have been known for their charisma as mass gatherers in which big supports achieved by the BJP in certain territories like in Madya Pradesh and Delhi owed to charisma and leadership quality of these personalities. Their exclusion and suspension from the Party will definitely affect the Party’s effort to reclaim its lost glory in the 2004 general elections.

The ageing leadership in the BJP and the lack of possible successors possessing similar degree of charisma and leadership quality possessed the old guards only adds to the possibility of split in the Party. At the same time, BJP’s indecisive stand towards Hindutva ideology due to its political compulsion in the NDA further opens the chance for the ex-BJP leader like Uma Bharti to fill the vacuum left by the BJP.

Seeds of Split

The BJP leadership’s denial to give back Uma Bharti’s claim as the Chief Minister of Madya Pradesh after being cleared of criminal charges against her and instead installing her rival Babu Lal Ghaur as the CM has disappointed this charismatic BJP leader. It resulted in her decision to go for a political sanyasin (political isolation) and show of defiance towards the BJP leadership in live nation-wide television coverage of a BJP’s meeting. The Party suspended her and later expelled her from the Party.

On the other hand, the ageing Khurana was long known as the face of the BJP in the Capital’s politics. But having resign as the Delhi CM for an alleged scam, Khurana has been keeping a low profile for the past year or so. However, the recent appeal floated by Khurana to the BJP leadership to give him some responsibility in the BJP’s national program has gone to deaf ears. The rejection led to the decision by Khurana to join Uma in her efforts to build a new party. This defiance has led to his suspension.

Future of Hindutva Politics

With the likes of Uma Bharti and Mandan Lal Khurana joining hand to build a new party based on Hindutva ideology while at the same time the BJP leadership is struggling in keeping up its promises to the RSS and the VHP to fight for Hindutva, the parivar is heading for a certain split. The recent impressive show of strength by Uma Bharti in the Capital has sent shivers down the spine of some BJP leaders.

At the same time, the revival of politics of yatra (long march) that has been successful in the 1990s to catapult the BJP to the center of power in New Delhi to be led by LK Advani and current BJP president Rajnath Singh in the wake of recent bomb blasts in Varanasi has received lukewarm responses from both the RSS and the Party workers. The high enthusiasm that was very much visible in the 1990s seems to be lacking this time around. The fear of possible communal unrest in the country to be created by this kind of yatra further affects the possible successful implementation of this proposed twin yatras.

Haryana Yadav Mahasabha has raised objection on this yatra by filing a petition to Delhi High Court. This petition has added to the hurdles faced by the BJP in its efforts to revive the lost glory.

Thus it remains to be seen what will be the future of Hindutva politics in the times to come. The split in the parivar is off course a certainty but how far this split will affect the credibility of the Bharatya Janata Party as the second biggest national party remains to be watch closely. As for now, politics seems to have come full circle.

The Twist and Turn of Justice

2006-03-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

After the acquittal of the accused in the Jessica Lall murder case last month by the Delhi High Court, the Delhi police was forced to re-open the case after the continuous mounting pressure from the public who demands a re-trial to the case. The acquittal of Manu Sharma and others have awaken the conscience of the people and the aisa hi hota hai attitude is challenged.

It has become some kind of public secret in India that the rich and powerful section in the Indian society will always get away from any wrong doings. The latest judgment on the Jessica Lall’s case was another example of this secret. Manu Sharma and other accused in this case belong to the wealthy and powerful section of the society. And following the logic that long has been prevailing in the Indian society, this type of people would easily get away from the court of justice. With power and money in their hands, justice and freedom could have easily been bought, an insult to justice and humanity.

However, there is something different in this case in which the conscience of the people seems to have been awaken by this in-your-face injustice. The people demanded the implementation of justice.

A similar situation has, at the same time, occurred in other part of India in which after a retrial process has resulted in the delivery of justice. The accused of the Best Bakery case in Gujarat was all acquitted when the trial was done in Gujarat, under the mounting pressure from the Government. But once the place of trial was shifted to other State, to Maharashtra, where pressure was absent, justice was finally delivered and the accused got the punishment for the crime committed.

Back to the Jessica’s case, it is still a long and a winding road ahead for justice to be delivered. However, the new twist in the Best Bakery case in which a re-trial can deliver justice, some ray of hope has emerged. With the re-opening of the case and the continuing pressure from the public, signs of justice is very much imminent though it will take some more time.

There should not be any Rang De Basanti-like incident in real life in which some frustrated folks took a drastic step by taking justice on their own hands due to the failure of the system to work. People’s pressure to the authority and the system as shown in the movie is a very good example to follow but drastic or even some stupid decisions should be avoided. Let justice take its own course and try to reform the system for the benefit of the people, for humanity and for justice.

Another Blast, Another Sad Day in India

2006-03-07T07:23:00.000-08:00

After series of attack in the last few months of 2005 in which scores of innocent lives have been lost and many others have been injured, the heart of Hinduism, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh State, has been rocked with triple blasts that have killed a dozen of innocent lives and scores have been injured. A very serious threat seems to arise to disturb communal harmony and peace in India.

It is indeed a very sad moment for India, especially for the different communities that have been living a harmonious life in Varanasi.

The blasts in Varanasi occurred in such an auspicious moments in which thousands of pilgrims have been flocking the Hanuman temple for blessing ahead of Holi festival that is around the corner. Some sick-minded people who are happy to see others suffer certainly have choreographed these blasts in such a disgusted manner. These irresponsible people have tried to instigate some communal sentiments in order to break the harmonious relationship between different communities in India.

It is now the task for every citizen of this country to act in such a manner in which conscience should be held high to put the situation under control. These sick-minded people should not be allowed to corrupt the conscience of the Indian people so that they will not fall into the trap of communal hatred.

Political parties across the religious and political ideologies should work together to ensure the safety and spirit of togetherness of the Indian people. They should not manipulate this action into some political benefits that will only take more innocent lives due to the greed and lust for power.

The authorities in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh have condemned this act of violence and appealed to the people to stay calm and give their faith to the government to solve the problem. They apply the best possible steps to ensure that there is no communal flare up occurres as the result of this terrorist attack.

The triple bomb blasts that rocked Varanasi should be condemned as an act of mindless terrorists that try to instigate some communal sentiments for their own benefits. The people of India across religious and ideological lines should work together to ensure the safety of communal harmony in India. They should not fall victim to the intimidation and provocation by these mindless personalities.

Let’s guard our communal harmony together for the benefit of the whole humanity, for the benefit of the Indian people and for the betterment of religious tolerance and harmony.

Hindustan, Zindabad!

Nuclear Double Standard

2006-03-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

Amidst loud protests and demonstrations across the country by the Left groups and the Muslim organizations over the visit of President Bush to India this week, the Indian and the US Governments have decided to move forward on their bilateral relationship by following up the nuclear deal struck in July 18, 2005 in Washington.

After months, weeks, days even hours of discussions, the two governments finally agreed to sign a nuclear deal that opens up windows of opportunities and benefits for India as well as the US during the Bush visit.

For India, the nuclear agreement signifies the acceptance of the international community of India’s status as a responsible nuclear power and an opportunity to develop further its nuclear capabilities.

According to this deal, out of the 22 Indian nuclear facilities, 14 of them are included into civilian nuclear facilities thus will be under the scrutiny of international safeguards. The remaining 8 nuclear facilities are of military use and will be left out from international safeguards. At the same time, any future nuclear facilities to be built by India will be of India’s choice to include it into either civilian or military nuclear facilities.

Another important aspect of the nuclear deal is the cast iron safeguards for the perpetuity of nuclear fuel supply for India. It means that India will be guaranteed of perpetual supply of nuclear fuel from the Nuclear Fuel Supplier Groups.

For the US, it means a new strategic partnership with the world largest democracy. It opens up opportunities for the US to expand its influence in Asia, especially in South Asia, in order to contain the ever-increasing influence of China. Through this strategic partnership, the US can enhance its position as the world super power.

Apart from this nuclear front, trade between the two countries continues to grow and the US is today the largest cumulative investor in India.

The signing of this Indo-US nuclear agreement signifies the dawn of a new nuclear regime. The special treatment given by the US to India over the access of nuclear technology clearly shows the double standard applied by the US government.

Because while at the same time the US vehemently opposes Iran’s civilian nuclear program, it has let India develop its nuclear technology, both for civilian as well as for military use without any slightest suspicion possible.

Even though this nuclear agreement still needs the ratification from the US Congress and the Indian Parliament, but realizing the importance of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, any sovereign country like Iran should not be deprived of this technology.

If the US can allow India to develop its civilian as well as military nuclear technology and turning a blind eye on Israel’s nuclear capabilities, why then it opposes the peaceful purpose of Iran’s nuclear program? There must be certain hidden agenda and strategic interest that need to be scrutinized.

Nuclear technology is an important technology for the future as an alternative source of energy. Any country that has the capability and responsibility of developing such technology should be allowed to do so as long as it is for the peaceful purposes. There should be no double standard on the access of this technology.

Published in The Jakarta Post on 13 March 2006
Can be accessed through:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060313.F02&irec=2

Justice Delayed, Justice Denied?

2006-02-26T22:18:00.000-08:00

Last week was a mix feeling of justice in India. The first was the acquittal of all nine persons accused of killing a young model in point blank shoot out in front of hundreds of party goers. The main culprit, a son of an influential politician, got away from justice after the main witness turned hostile in the court, while the others got away from punishment for the lack of evidence shown to support their involvement in the crime.

The second verdict was the opposite. After a long wait for justice and after the acquittal of the accused, the court decided that the verdict was wrong and decided to revert the judgment. The criminals got its due after a long and winding process of justice.

While the first case involved a certain personalities in the bureaucracy, a powerful politician, the second case involved a government in a communally divided state in India. In Delhi, where the first case was decided, the politician got the upper hand while in the second case, after testing a brief win due to the influence of the State government, the justice was delivered when sanity and neutrality of government was guarded.

Due to the contradicting verdict over the fate of the accused in the first case, presently there has been a strong pressure to the government to act on behalf of her citizen who dearly needs of justice. The plea of Jesssica’s family has touched the heart of the Indian masses and they have been rallying behind them in seeking for the real justice. A local TV station, NDTV 24/7, has ever since started gathering the support from its viewer through SMS as the basis of a petition to be submitted to the President of India. A national daily, the Hindustan Times, is also doing similar effort in support of the retrial of the case.

Looking at the situation currently goes on in India, the Rang De Basanti-like situation seems to appear in the masses. The controversial and yet entertaining movie of Aamir Khan brought the similar issue into the mainstream Indian cinema. It was depicted in the movie that due to the frustration over the failure of the justice system to deliver justice to the common people, several young-blood took a drastic step and took the matter by their own hands. Should this kind of depiction of real life situation in a reel life to be materialized?

As a citizen of a democratic state who is currently residing in a democratic society like India, I hope that the justice system will deliver the just result as many people of this country have expected. The Best Bakery case, the second case in this story, should become an example that needs to be emulated in all other cases. It should become an inspiration for justice to be delivered to the people.

It is now not about Jessica Lall, the victim, and Manu Sharma, the main culprit, anymore, it is about a generation bought up with the belief that “this is India and aisa hi hota hai” is rebelling against the corrupt practices that long have been prevailing in the country. Enough is enough and the corrupt beware, the pressure is just started and You Can’t Run and You Can’t Hide. Justice will catch YOU.

Today that Year: The Death of the Mahatma, 30-01-1948

2006-01-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

58 years ago, India witnessed the untimely demise of her great son, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi. This apostle of non-violence was killed by a Hindu fanatic, Naturam Godse, for his ‘sin’ to refuse accepting Hindustan (India) as the land for the Hindus. His well-known inclusive approach towards mankind led to his demise.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 - 1948) most reverently known as Mahatma Gandhi was born in Gujarat. He was called by the people ‘Mahatma’ which means great soul. The people also called him ‘Bapu’ the father. Gandhi belonged to the business community of Gujarat. He studied law in England. Towards the end of the 19th century he arrived in South Africa to represent an Indian client. In South Africa, Gandhi, once traveling in the first class compartment reserved for whites only was thrown out of a train because he was not white.

He started a movement for civil rights in South Africa and succeeded in changing some rules there. He left South Africa in 1915 and returned to India. His actions in South Africa already made him famous in India and on his arrival in India he was welcomed by the Indians as a hero. After his arrival in India, he was introduced to the leader of Indian National Congress, Gopal Gokhale, whom Gandhi considered as his political guru.

Gandhi had developed while in South Africa, a philosophy of struggle for political and human rights through non-violence (Ahimsa). He started to convince Indians to use his philosophy to achieve political rights for Indians. At that period the leader of Indian National Congress was Lokmanya Tilak who was militant and was supportive of violent actions against the British. Gandhi opposed to these ideas of Tilak but he admired the other ideas of Tilak. He agreed with Tilak that Indian political struggle was a matter of the people of India and not only of the intellectuals. Gandhi like Tilak supported a cultural and social change in Indian society. In 1920 Tilak died and Gandhi became the leader of Indian National Congress.

Like other Indians whom the British fostered to 'think like the British', Gandhi's family also belonged to this group. Gandhi studied law in England and dressed like an Englishman. However, after returning from South Africa where he was discriminated because of his Indian origin Gandhi changed his dressing style and began to dress like a simple Indian farmer. He remained in these simple Indian clothes even when he arrived again in England later on as a representative of the Indian National Congress, causing a complete surprise to his British counterparts.

His philosophy was that all are equal and everyone should do all kinds of jobs. He built an ashram in which everyone did all different jobs. He even cleaned the toilet, which according to strict Indian customs was the job of the low castes and untouchables. Because of his revolutionary ideas many in the then elitist Indian society mocked at his philosophy. Later on, many of these mockers became his admirers and followers.

Gandhi's philosophy of struggle against the British was non-violent non-cooperation. He demanded from the Indians to restrain even if the British forces physically attacked them. He advised Indians to boycott anything British including British made garments, British universities, British courts and to refuse to follow respect and abide by British laws. He sometimes resorted to hunger strikes. Gandhi succeeded in sweeping the Indian people after him like no other Indian leader ever did before him.

One of the famous Gandhi campaigns was the Dandi March (Salt March). According to British law Indians could not produce salt, a basic food ingredient, but could only buy it from licensed salt factories, all of them were British owned. Gandhi organized in 1930 a 24 - day march to the sea and produced salt from the sea. In this march he gathered behind him the strength of hundred of thousands of people.

Mahatma Gandhi who became the leader of the Indian National Congress in 1920 did not always lead the Indian nationalist movement. There were periods when he was arrested and was completely isolated from the movement. Sometimes he severed from the nationalist movement for other causes. Even when he was the leader of Indian National Congress there were members in the Congress who did not accept his ideas. His opponents, who had other ideas about India even established movements within the Indian National Congress. In the early 1930s Gandhi even resigned from the leadership of the Congress because of growing criticism against his leadership. But from then on Gandhi became the father figure of the Congress. In 1942 Gandhi led the 'Quit India' movement.

Outside the Congress, Mahatma Gandhi also had many rivals who defied his political philosophy. His main rivals outside the Congress were Hindu nationalists. They saw in Mahatma Gandhi pro-Muslim trend. During India's independence, the 1947 Partition, there were many riots between Hindus and Muslims. Hundreds of thousands of people died in these riots. During these riots Gandhi, who was a Hindu, tried to be a middleman between Hindus and Muslims. Many Hindus did not like his stand and saw him as a traitor.

After India's partition into India and Pakistan, Hindu nationalist blamed the Congress and specially Mahatma Gandhi for the partition. Mahatma Gandhi sometimes even attacked the Indian government as not being fair towards Muslims and towards Pakistan. He even intended to leave India and end his life in Pakistan. On 30 January 1948 a Hindu nationalist, Nathuram Godse shot him to death.

The death of the Mahatma did not mean the death of his ideas, his spirits and his believes. To quote him, “Mankind has to get out of violence only through non-violence”.

Language Flexibility Ensures Survival

2006-01-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

Looking back at the history of Bahasa (language) Indonesia as the national language of Indonesia, it was created less than a 100 years ago to be a lingua franca for the diverse communities in the Indonesian archipelago. The original form of this language was a coastal Malay dialect spoken by a small community of people in the coastal areas of Sumatra.

Its flexibility as a form of communication among people in the archipelago as compared to Javanese, the language of the largest number of Indonesians, prompted the decision by the nationalists to declare Indonesian the official language. The decision was widely known in Indonesian history as Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge) on Oct. 28, 1928.

The diverse nature of Indonesian society has made a common language of communication a liability for it to succeed and survive as a united community. A simple and flexible mode of communication capable of bridging the gaps between communities will only guarantee the transformation process of Indonesia from a diverse community into a single, strong nation. Selecting a coastal Malay dialect as the national language instead of the much more complicated Javanese language proved to be a correct choice.

Foreign languages like Dutch, Arabic, Sanskrit, French, English as well as other local languages like Sundanese, Madurese and others have given a lot of influence to the development of Bahasa Indonesia into its current position. The efforts by previous regimes to encourage the usage of a proper and correct form of Bahasa Indonesia in all forms of communication further elevated the popularity of the language.

However, the waves of globalization have certainly had a lot of impact on the development of the language. The flexible nature of the language has permitted the "Indonesianization" of borrowed words from foreign languages to be a part of an enriched Indonesian. This process, nevertheless, has resulted in a debate of the pros and cons among scholars over the status of Bahasa Indonesia here amid the continuous waves of globalization.

The most recent such remarks came from the language center director at the Education Ministry, Dendy Sugono, when he said that the current practice of using non-Indonesian words on billboards and other things, has threatened the future of the national language. This practice, he predicted, would marginalize the language and thus would become a threat to national unity. To avert such a threat, he suggested that the local administrations enact laws preventing the use of foreign terminology in public.

However, it is such flexibility that has made the language so popular. Its ability to adjust itself to the situation has proved to be effective in its development. Had it been another language, for example, Javanese, it would have been difficult for it to adjust to the globalizing world.

Thus, to be worried about the future status of Bahasa Indonesia due to the widespread use of foreign terminology, like English, in Indonesia should not be exaggerated. On the contrary, the flexibility shown by the language will only help it to survive the waves of globalization.

The language will benefit from this inevitbale globalization. Continuous efforts by the government to popularize the use of proper and correct forms of the language while at the same time encouraging the people to learn and use foreign languages instead of discouraging them, will help the process of building Indonesia to be a strong and powerful nation in the future.

The writer is Post-Graduate Student at the Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. He can be reached at qisai@yahoo.com.

From The Jakarta Post Daily, January 25, 2006.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060125.E03&irec=2

Today that year: Ayodhya, 6 December 1992

2005-12-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

The date of 6th December is a very important day in the development of party politics in India. It was on 6th December 1992 that the landscape of Indian party politics changed forever. The day witnessed the destrucrtion of communal harmony in the life of secular India. It was 13 years ago in the small town of Ayodhya that the change started and there is no looking back since. The incident in Ayohdya catapulted the fortune of the then struggling political group into the highest office of the Indian politics. The Bhartiya Janata Party, the political wing of the Ramswayam Sevak Sangh, captured the power in the Capital after its massive win in the 1999 general elections thus leading the National Democratic Alliance coalition government in the forefront of Indian politics until its departure from power when the alliance lost the battle in the general elections of 2004 that saw the re-emergence of the Congress party under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.

The pleasant winter afternoon of 6 December 1992 was disrupted by the destruction of more than six century old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, a small town in the state of Uttar Pradesh, by the Kar Sevaks, a combination of the zealous members of the RSS, the VHP as well as other members of the rightwing Hindu group. This incident sparked the communal violence in the country that has a long tradition of secularism. It was the saddest day in the Republic in which the bloody communal violence that erupted after the incident witnessed the perish of the innocent victims from both of the communities.

It was in the wake of this high wave of communal sentiment that the BJP muscled itself to power in the Center. With the support of other likeminded parties in the form of the National Democratic Alliance, the BJP ruled the Indian State for five complicated years. The five years of the NDA rule witnessed the rapid economic development of the Indian state as well as some horrific human tragedy. The most unforgetable tragedy was the 2002 Gujarat pogrom in which more that 2000 people were killed because of communal violence between Muslim and Hindu in the Godra district of Gujarat, West India. The slow reaction of, and the reluctanct condemnation towards the incident from, the Center, saw the grim rearlity of the insensitiveness of the NDA government at the time.

Looking back at the history of the Indian politics, the incident of 6th December 1992 marked the departure of the secular politics into a more communal party politics in India. The post Babri Masjid incident bore witness to the emergence of the BJP and its allies in the forefront of Indian national politics in which by riding the wave of communal sentiments that grew rapidly in the post Ayodhya incident they captured power in the Center. This tragic incident of humanity in Ayodhya brought a drastic change in the landscape of Indian politics. The secular nature of Indian politics was tranformed into communal politics and there is no looking ever since. However, the re-emergence of the COngress party and its alliance in the Center in the post 2004 elections in the form of the United Progressive Alliance is hoped to change this nature of party politics. The secular nature of the Indian politics which has become the national pride should not be sacrificed and thus to be revived in the effort to uphold the spirit of democracy in India. The incident of 6th December in Ayodhya, nevertheless, should become a reminder for all of us that living in a diversed society, we should respect the rights of others to follow their believes and principles in the spirit of secular democracy.

India's Black Diwali

2005-10-30T22:37:00.000-08:00

It was a very sad day for the Indian people in which at the same day, a train was derailed in the flooded southern state of Andra Pradesh in which more than 100 people lost their lives.The pleasant Saturday afternoon in Delhi was turned into a nightmare when the irresponsible personalities blasted boms in the crowded shopping places in which innocent lives fell victims.

As the Diwali, the most celebrated Hindu festival is approaching, as well as the Muslims' Ied celebration, it is a common sight that the shopping complexes will be full of the shoppers willing the celebrate the festivities. It was in this perfect joyful mood that the Indian Capital was rocked by three consecutive blasts. Two crowded shopping complexes, the Sarojini Nagar Market and Paharganj where people were busy shopping for the approaching festivities, were rocked by bom blasts. Another bom was planted in a packed bus travelling in the Okhla area. More than fourty people killed in the Sarojini Nagar Market area whereas the bom in Paharganj left some innocent lives departed. The alert conductor and bus driver in which a bom was planted saved dozens of lives. It would have been a different story had they not reacted quickly. Dozens more innocent lives would have been fell victims, adding to the woes and grievances of the people.

The relatively quick reaction from the authorities have reduced the panic, grievance and madness among the 'peace-loving people' into a minimum. The fire created by the blasts did not spread wide and wild to create more havoc and tragedy, the victims were rushed to the nearby hospitals to recieve treatments. The State government has announced ex-gratia of 1 lakh Rupees for the deceased with an additional 2 lakh Rupees from the Central Government. Besides, the Government has given an assurance that the injured will have free medical treatments until their full recoveries. At the same time, the authorities had also stepped up the vigilance and security in the Capital as well as the whole nation. These steps taken by the authorites have to be awarded double tumbs up.

The blasts were acts of terrorism to disturb the peace in the society. It was such a hedineous act that should be condemned, fought and defeated so that no more terror is capable to wreck the spirit of peace and humanity in the future.

Qisai

New Delhi - Oct 2005