ArticleIP_30215.txt

   
   
      
         
            The Yo-Yo Peace Plan 

            With
peace talks on a yo-yo, the previously Kosovo-obsessed editorial pages largely
ignore the subject. In Britain, the Times and the Independent
venture forth with scolding opinions on the peace plan. The Times : "President
Clinton's admission that Russian troops in Kosovo may not now come under Nato
control is irresponsible; only the probably tardy deployment of Russian forces
can stop it being disastrous." The liberal Independent : "[N]or should we crack open the champagne if, or
when, Slobodan Milosevic finally signs on the dotted line. The aftermath of
such an agreement may prove to be almost as nightmarish as what came before."
It concluded, "The military victory will, however, pale into insignificance by
comparison with the task of recreating a civil society in Serbia. Above all,
Serbia needs to win its own battles against intolerance. That will be a much
more difficult war to fight."

            The
world's papers showed no reluctance to pontificate on Monday's Indonesian
elections. The slowness of the vote count, reported Hong Kong's South China Morning Post , resulted in the tabulation of less
than 2 percent of the more than 116 million votes by Tuesday night, and the
Straits
Times of Singapore reported
that "[s]ome tempers flared over the pace of the vote count." The government
had promised a 50 percent count by that time. An election official told the
SCMP that the final result wouldn't be announced until June 21. There
were also reports of vote-buying by the incumbent Golkar Party of
former dictator Suharto and of "logistical problems" such as defective ballots
and "indelible ink" (designed to prevent multiple voting), which, in practice,
"washed off voters' thumbs in minutes."

            An
editorial in the Jakarta Post declared the elections "a triumph for the
Indonesian people and democracy," but in light of predictions that Golkar would
poll strongly in the country's outer islands and might be able to hold on to
power with the help of small Islamic parties, the Post said, "It would
be a hollow victory and a terrible irony if our exercise in democracy failed to
produce the very goal of the whole process: Voting out the status quo and
putting a proreform government in its place."

            
Although Indonesia is 85 percent Muslim, the state ideology of "Pancasila"
declares it to be a secular nation. As a piece in
Wednesday's International
Herald Tribune noted, "politicians, business interests and foreign
governments are watching to see whether Islamic political parties gain ground"
in the polling. Twelve of the 48 parties contesting the election are
Muslim-based, and some want to make Islam the country's established religion.
In the final weeks of the campaign, two religious groups called on the faithful
to support Muslim-affiliated parties, which was seen by many observers as an
attempt to undermine front-runner Megawati Sukarnoputri, the leader of the
Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle and daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's
founding president. The story reported that there was a clash last week in
Sulawesi between Muslim students, who questioned whether Indonesian Muslims
would accept a female president, and supporters of Megawati. The Straits
Times editorialized that "Indonesians are free to vote for any party they
want, but that choice should be based on what unites them as Indonesians with
non-Muslims, not what separates them."

            
Although it now appears that in last week's South African election the African
National Congress failed by one seat to reach the two-thirds majority that
would have given it the power to change the constitution, editorials supported
President-elect Thabo Mbeki. Wednesday the Pioneer of India
welcomed Mbeki's "Africanist" agenda: "Immediately after the
dismantling of Apartheid, [Nelson] Mandela's main message was one of
reconciliation among races. Five years later, Mbeki's must be to Africanize. It
must be Mbeki's concern and responsibility to take a firmer stance on Black
empowerment in every shape or form." Giving a positive spin to Mbeki's
perceived "grayness" compared with his predecessor, the Pioneer said,
"Mandela will be missed, of course. On the other hand, perhaps, South Africa
may even be able to get a clearer view of its harsh realities, and its uphill
tasks, without his overarching charisma. As we in India know only too well, in
this process, charisma, sometimes, can play saboteur."

            One leader not faring so
well this week was Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who celebrates her "official
birthday" Saturday. The Sydney Morning Herald attacked the "dour new image" of the monarch on Australia's new
coins, even mentioning her "double chin." The Herald complained that the
money carries "the visage of an old woman"--hardly surprising since the queen
is 73. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the Press of Christchurch was underwhelming in its support
of the sovereign. Under the headline "Why we still need the Royals," a
columnist wrote, "It's not so much that we've gone off the Royal family, we
have merely outgrown them. ... [Britain] is such an integral part of our
history and our culture, I cannot envisage us formally breaking all our ties.
If the Spice Girls did not push us to the brink, nothing will."