Germany's famous ex-Guantanamo inmate speaks out

Deutsche Welle, 24 July 2013

Murat Kurnaz was released from the US prison in Guantanamo Bay seven summers ago. The German-born Turk survived torture and isolaton, but his spirit remained intact - and he never forgot the cellmates he left behind.

The stigma of being a former Guantanamo inmate still brands Murat Kurnaz today. Once dubbed by the German tabloids as the "Taliban from Bremen," his notoriety makes finding steady employment difficult.

"I work temporary jobs. I don't have any choice. I have not been in any ordinary prison. I have been in Guantanamo," Kurnaz told DW at a Turkish teahouse in the northern German port city of Bremen.

The allegations that Kurnaz had abetted terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 turned out to be unfounded, but the Taliban label stuck. Even his former appearance - a huge mane of reddish-brown hair and long-flowing red beard - had tainted the public perception of him.

The Murat Kurnaz at the teahouse has a crew cut, a bit of beard stubble and wears a tight T-shirt that accentuates his enormous biceps from regular workouts at the gym. He apologizes for arriving a half-hour late and appears guarded. But after the first cup of tea, he warms up and is eager to speak the colloquial English he learned in the US prison camp.

An old hand with the media

Kurnaz is well-practiced at speaking to the press and, at 31, possesses the serenity and wisdom of a man way beyond his years. He says he has given "thousands" of interviews, but patiently replies to questions he's been asked many times before.

DW: Why did you cut off that beard?

Kurnaz: Lots of small reasons. It wasn't a big deal. I just decided to cut it.

DW: You look good. Do you have any health problems from the torture?

Kurnaz: I have some small injuries, but I can't say if this is from Guantanamo or martial arts training. It's nothing important.

DW: How are you psychologically?

Kurnaz: I do not have any psychological problems, but this does not mean that everyone who is released from Guantanamo is well.

Survivor's guilt

"You could see from the beginning that he is an active human being, not destroyed by torture," said Kurnaz' defense attorney Bernhard Docke.

This image of Kurnaz did not help the

public perception of him (Photo: Jan

Bauer)

Kurnaz had been in the wrong place at the wrong time after 9/11.

At 19 he went on a pilgrimage to Pakistan to learn more about his Muslim faith. Bounty hunters there handed him over to the Americans for $3,000. He was moved to a US prison camp in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he was subjected to electric shocks and water-boarding, a form of torture that simulates drowning, before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In the US camp for terror suspects, he was beaten, shackled and confined to a solitary cell under extreme conditions.

Kurnaz' first wife divorced him during his incarceration, but he remarried and is now the devoted father of two little girls. Since his release, he has been doing odd jobs, teaching martial arts and working with troubled teenagers. In the past few months, he has also been promoting the film "Fünf Jahren Leben" ("Five Years") based on his autobiography about the five years spent in US captivity.

"He came back to a regular normal life, and at the same time he never forgot what was going on at Guantanamo. He's got a kind of survivor's guilt, that feeling of responsibility for those he left behind," added Docke.

Besides press interviews and publicity tours, Kurnaz goes on speaking engagements in Germany and abroad on behalf of human rights groups.

"I'm trying to support all kinds of human rights organizations, because I know what they did for me when I was in Guantanamo. There are - the number at Amnesty International is 22 - secret prisons where people are getting tortured around the world. Guantanamo is just one of those which got famous," he said.

Guantanamo hunger strikes

As an inmate, Kurnaz had also taken part in an earlier hunger strike to protest human rights violations in Guantanamo. The current strike, now in its fifth month, shows signs of abating, though the force-feeding continues during this holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown.

Kurnaz' story became the film "Five Years"

Kurnaz used to be in a similar predicament to many of the 166 remaining inmates currently held in Guantanamo. More than half have been cleared for release but remain in limbo since their home countries do not offer the security guarantees that the US requires for letting them go.

The US had no evidence against Kurnaz and had been prepared to release him as early as 2002, but neither Germany nor Turkey had wanted to take responsibility for him, so he languished for another four years in prison.

Due to an old German nationality law based on ethnicity, Kurnaz is a Turkish citizen in spite of being born and bred in Bremen.

It wasn't until Germany's present chancellor, Angela Merkel, was elected that Kurnaz got out of Guantanamo. Merkel had personally negotiated Kurnaz' release with then US President George W. Bush two months after becoming chancellor.

'Actions speak louder than words'

This past May, US President Barack Obama renewed his election promise to shut down Guantanamo when the hunger strike reached a critical point, a pledge he repeated on a state visit to Berlin in June.

Kurnaz believes that the smaller number of truly dangerous terrorists in Cuba could be transferred to a maximum high security prison on the US mainland and the rest could go home or to a third nation.

"If Europe takes some of them, it would make things easier," he said.

But he does not believe the political will to close Guantanamo is there. It's what a man does, not what he says that counts, according to Kurnaz.

"Obama said he wanted to close Guantanamo before the elections. Now five years later, he still does not close it. If he wanted to, he could do it," he said.

Related Article:

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US media hooked on eurozone crisis

Deutsche Welle, 28 June 2012

Examining US media reports on Europe’s economic crisis for DW's Transatlantic Voices column, Julian Jaursch argues that today's coverage has to be viewed in the context of the previous global economic downturn.

Julian Jaursch is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. He holds an MA in Political Science/TransAtlantic Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Why for Zeus' sake does the American media even care so much? It is Greece, after all: A country with an economy roughly the size of Washington's and about as diverse and interesting as Idaho's. A country with an economic output 50 times smaller than that of the US. A country that prior to the global economic crisis was virtually non-existent in American economic news.

Since then, papers and TV shows have been full of Greece. The New York Times ran articles on the country's financial situation as early as 2008, the Wall Street Journal has been covering every bailout since then, NPR tried to explain what happens if Greece defaults and CBS recently aired a piece on how the European debt crisis sent the Dow Jones plummeting. Even Stephen Colbert, the outspokenly patriotic and US-centered TV character whose international coverage is called "Un-American News," took on the Greek debt crisis. Discussing the dismal situation of Greece's economy in May 2010, he joked that the Greeks had laid off the oracle of Delphi and that she had never seen it coming.

Cause and effect

The examples give some of the reasons for the strong media interest. Precisely because of the global economic downturn, the news media cares. The crisis has shown quite plainly that the economies around the world are interconnected. What happens in one country has repercussions for citizens in many others, for instance via fluctuations on the stock markets or effects on the banking sector. Moreover, it is not just Greece that is making headlines today: Because Spain, Portugal and the rest of the eurozone are struggling as well, the effects are even bigger.

According to news value theories, events gain a certain news value if they have some intrinsic characteristics. Europe's economic woes did just that for the US: While the continent is geographically not very close to the US, it is still intimately connected to the US for historic, political and economic reasons (news factor proximity) and its troubles are bad news (negativity) that in some way affect the US economy (relevance). Add to that the already heightened sensitivity to economic topics due to the global financial crisis (established topic) and it becomes clear why US media and its recipients paid so much attention to Europe. Egotistical, yet genuine, concern about the US economy might have led to the increased coverage.

Playing the blame game

But is it really just that? Or could the coverage also try to mask the US' own economic weaknesses? After all, US reporting, especially some opinion pieces in print and television media, has been quite harsh. There was talk of European "grandiosity" and the "fiction" of the European economic model. European pension systems were closely scrutinized along with the continent's demographic problems. The very values and work ethic of Greeks, Spaniards or Portuguese were questioned. A "Eurosocialist" system that instituted a single currency, but no fiscal union was lamented. Generally, Europe's debt problems and the inherent issues of the euro system were pointed out, repeatedly and vigorously, along with some well-meant pieces of advice from afar. 

Julian Jaursch

Such foreign reporting comes at a time when America's own economy is not exactly doing well, either. Memories of bank and auto bail-outs are still fresh in people's minds, the unemployment rate is at roughly eight percent (eurozone: 11 percent), the economy is only growing moderately and, most importantly, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio is much higher than the EU's, according to Eurostat and the IMF. Still, President Barack Obama has not grown tired of referring to Europe's struggles when talking about the reasons for the slow recovery in the US.

Focusing on the eurozone's failures certainly leaves less time to discuss the US' own debt problems, social security systems or demographic development. It also leaves less time to investigate whether downgrades by American rating agencies - or mere threats thereof - were always justified. Moreover, the fact that an American bank helped obscure Greece's sovereign debt issues in the first place is but a footnote today.

Europe on their mind

Yet, despite American media's intense coverage of Europe's economic misery, there is no distraction campaign to conceal domestic economic problems. Surely, on a political level, Obama will continue to subtly blame the eurozone's struggles for some of America's own hardships. It might even be a standard item of his reelection campaign strategy - anything to take the wind out of the Republicans' sails who say that Obama alone messed up the economy.

Two circumstances lead to the conclusion, however, that coverage is driven by concern rather than by efforts to mask US problems: One regarding the quantity of reporting, the other regarding the quality.

If the American media reported from Europe as a distraction, this would require very little coverage of the US economy and its problems. This is not the case - quite the contrary. Reports about the jobless numbers, poverty rates, the debt ceiling, gas prices or the stock market abound not only in financial news outlets. Therefore, the fact alone that there is a lot of coverage on Europe's problems does not mean that the US media ignores domestic issues. Still, a closer look at America's own pension system or demographic development could not hurt, either.

Concerning the quality of reporting, those stereotypical and hyperbolic, sometimes even flat-out wrong, articles on the European economy are offset by a much larger number of rather dry economic coverage. For the most part, reports try to make sense of what is happening, explain economic jargon or introduce the American audience to those affected across the pond. It is remarkable here that economic journalism might become much more widely consumed because of the crisis. Similarly noteworthy is the fact that US media cannot get around including EU actors in their reporting anymore. Before the crisis, the Union was mostly shunned in US media due to its complex and seemingly distant and dull nature.

It's the economy, stupid

The global financial crisis, which began and played out largely in the US, has arguably intensified the American public's awareness of economic topics. From bailouts to financial reforms, people around the nation were affected by that downturn. So if the collapse of a single investment bank can be the start of a downward spiral for the US economy, what will happen if an entire currency area collapses? Such economic concerns rank highest among Americans' worries and what worries the people, worries the papers.

Editor: Rob Mudge

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Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Jan 19, 2012)

“…. The coffers of the United States, which is erroneously considered the most fiscally sound nation in the world, have been empty for some time. The national debt, in large part due to the skullduggery of the Illuminati-owned Federal Reserve System and its IRS collection agency, will become manageable when that System is dissolved.  The various currencies, especially dollars, have no foundation—daily transactions involving billions of dollars and other currencies are merely information passed from one computer to another and they far exceed the money to back them.  The “new” foundation for currencies will be a return to an old one, where precious metals was a set standard for exchange, and “old fashioned” bartering once again will be an excellent way for nations and communities to conduct some business. ….”


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Cooperation, not confrontation

Deutsche Welle, 26 June 2012

Education is the significant "raw material" for the future - more important than other assets in the race for global leadership, says German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at DW's Global Media Forum.

"Education plays a central role in globalization," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told delegates at the Global Media Forum in Bonn.

"Access to good education determines whether an individual will rise in society, just as the quality of an education system decides on the rise and fall of a society," Westerwelle said Tuesday at the international three-day conference on education in a globalized world.

It is globalization which has led to the importance of education, and that has contributed to the increase of justice in the world, he said. A country's climate or valuable raw material assets are no longer what matters as much as creativity and knowledge, both a result of education and training. Westerwelle said the countries that stand to profit were those currently grappling with a host of problems due to the high percentage of young people in the population. Their vitality and creativity was what these countries must develop.

Education is the key

In his speech, Westerwelle summarized German cultural and education policies abroad, which the government defines as policies directed towards peace. Education, he said, is the key to a tolerant, pluralistic society; it promotes equality and respect and conveys values. From a German point of view, freedom, democracy and rule of law are values of strong appeal, he said - mirrored in Germany's value-oriented foreign policy. Globalization also contributes to communicating values, he said.

'Education is all a matter of building bridges' (Ralph Ellison)

Germanyis prepared to help consolidate democratic processes within civil society, Westerwelle said. "We actively support democratization processes," the Foreign Minister added. "In Tunisia and Egypt, we've launched an education, culture and media initiative called 'Site for the Future,'" he said. In cooperation with Deutsche Welle, the Berlin Foreign Ministry supports the creation of online media "because free media are a condition for developing opinion and thus the foundation of a civil society."

German history sets an example

Westerwelle pointed to German history as an example of how freedom, democracy, good governance and tolerance need to be learnt. Germany went through "the darkest chapter of its history" before it could develop what amounts to a liberal constitution, the Foreign Minister said, referring to Germany's Nazi period from 1933 to 1945. Today, he told the delegates in Bonn, Germany depends on openness and international networks - and this is a field in which non-governmental exchange is of particular importance. "In two world wars over the past century, France and Germany confronted each other, irreconcilable," he said and pointed out that was less than a lifetime ago.

Hoping to encourage people living in regions with political tensions, the German Foreign Minister said one must patiently focus on "communication and mediation." What was possible in Europe - despite the many difficulties - he said, is possible elsewhere, too.

Another issue close to Westerwelle's heart is the future composition of the UN Security Council. The way the body is set up today doesn't mirror the current international situation, he said; it is "an echo of the past." Westerwelle criticized the fact that neither Latin America nor Africa has a permanent seat on the council and Asia is represented merely by one state, China. He urged that these regions should be accepted as permanent members to allow the Security Council to react more credibly to international conflicts.

Author: Sabine Hartert / db

Editor: Michael Lawton

U.S. foreclosure image is 2008 World Press Photo

Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:06am EST 

 Anthony Suau, a Time photographer based in the U.S., has won the World Press Photo of the Year 2008 award with this picture showing an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department moving through a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following eviction as a result of mortgage foreclosure. Jury chair MaryAnne Golon said: "The strength of the picture is in its opposites. It's a double entendre. It looks like a classic conflict photograph, but it is simply the eviction of people from a house following foreclosure. Now war in its classic sense is coming into people's houses because they can't pay their mortgages". The prize-winning entries of the World Press Photo Contest 2009, the world's largest annual press photography contest, were announced February 13, 2009. (REUTERS/Anthony Suau/Time)

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A picture of an armed sheriff moving through an American home after an eviction due to a mortgage foreclosure was named World Press Photo of 2008 on Friday. 

Jury members said the strength of the photo by American Anthony Suau for Time magazine was in its opposites -- it looks like a classic war photograph, but is simply the eviction of people from a house. 

"Now war in its classic sense is coming into people's houses because they can't pay their mortgages," jury chair MaryAnne Golon said. 

Fellow juror Akinbode Akinbiyi said: "All over the world people will be thinking: 'This is what is happening to all of us'." 

The news agency Agence France-Presse won the Best Spot News Photo category with an image of post-election violence in Kenya and also the People In The News Singles category with an image of tribal conflict in western Kenya.  

(Reporting by Aaron Gray-Block; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Foreign journalists to cover Nyepi

Irawaty Wardany, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Television stations in the United States, Korea and Taiwan have expressed interest in covering Nyepi (the Day of Silence) in Bali, which falls on March 7 this year, an official said Thursday.

"I received proposals from three foreign TV stations -- CNN from the United States, one from Taiwan and the other one from South Korea, to cover the ritual of Nyepi next week," head of the Bali Tourism Agency, I Gede Nurjaya, told The Jakarta Post here.

He said he had sent official replies to the requests two days ago, saying the agency did not mind if they covered Nyepi, but under certain conditions.

"They are allowed to cover a series of rituals for Nyepi, starting from the melasti (self-purification) ceremony to the ogoh-ogoh (effigy) parade, but on Nyepi Day they will be allowed to cover it only from their hotels. We don't want them to disturb the devotion of the people during Nyepi Day," he said.

He said that even though they were journalists covering Nyepi, they would not be allowed onto the streets or to travel around the island on Nyepi Day, when activities are severely curtailed.

Hindu Balinese will mark Nyepi on March 7 to commemorate Hindu's Saka New Year.

Nurjaya said he also suggested they get recommendations from Indonesian embassies stating they are members of the media in their respective countries.

"I also asked them to present a list of their equipment so that we can expedite the process at the airport," he said.

However, he said it was not certain the TV stations would end up sending reporters to Bali.

"They sent me the letters at the last minute. I just received them five days ago, while Nyepi is only seven days away," he said.

During Nyepi, 90 percent of the island's 3.5 million inhabitants will practice catur berata penyepian, or the four abstinences: refraining from lighting fires and using lights, refraining from working, refraining from traveling outside the house and refraining from indulging in leisure activities for 24 hours, starting at 6 a.m. on March 7 to 6 a.m. the next day.

This ritual has inspired some non-governmental organizations that focus on environmental issues to promote the moment of Nyepi throughout the world as a campaign to reduce carbon emissions.

Ni Nyoman Sri Widhiyanti of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said she had not heard about the journalists that would go to Bali to cover Nyepi.

However, she urged the regional administration to help facilitate any journalists in carrying out their jobs.

"As long as they do not disturb the ritual it is all right for them to cover the situation of Nyepi in Bali," she said

Besides, she added, it would be a good promotion for Bali in general and for the world silence day campaign in particular.

Zuhairi Misrawi: Promoting religious tolerance, pluralism

Alpha Amirrachman, Contributor The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was during his university days at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, that young Muslim intellectual Zuhari Misrawi learned both the practical and philosophical essence of religious tolerance.

When he and his colleagues visited Egypt's Catholic Archbishop Youhanna Qaltah to interview him for the students' journal, Qaltah immediately halted the conversation when the azan (call to prayer) was heard.

"If you want to perform your wudhu (ablution before prayers), the place is located on the right side of the church. Please feel free to say your prayers ... this is the praying map with the kiblah direction," said Qaltah, gently indicating the map to his guests.

Zuhairi cannot hide his admiration.

"His understanding and respect are an acknowledgement of Muslims' very existence," Zuhari told The Jakarta Post during a recent interview on the sidelines of a discussion of his new book Al Qur'an Kitab Toleransi: Inklusivisme, Pluralisme dan Multikukturalisme (Koran, the Tolerant Holy Book: Inclusivism, Pluralism and Multiculturalism).

"This is in contrast to what I have always been taught that non-Muslims are unappreciative towards Muslims and are even willing to destroy Islam," he added.

Born Feb. 5, 1977, in Sumenep, Madura, Zuhairi studied at the Islamic boarding schools al-Amien and Jami'iyyah Tahfidzil Qur'an.

He was raised in the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) tradition; the country's biggest Muslim organization that claims to have 35 million members.

After studying at Islamic boarding schools for almost six years, Zuhairi continued his education at the Ushuluddin Faculty of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt (1995-2000).

He became an editor for Terobosan bulletin and Oase journal at the university, allowing him to interview several foremost intellectuals, including Yusuf al-Qaradhawi, Sayyed Yasin, Halah Musthafa, Youhanna Qaltah, 'Athif 'Iraqi, Muhammad 'Abdul Mu'thi Bayoumi, Adonis and Nawal Saadawi.

After completing his studies in 2000, he returned home to Indonesia and immediately joined the Department of Research and Human Resource Development of NU as coordinator for the study and research division from 2000-2002.

He delved further in activism with NU.

Zuhairi helped publish Tashwirul Afkar journal as its editor and was also active with the Indonesian Society for Pesantren and Community Development as a coordinator for the Islamic Emancipation Program.

Despite of his tight schedule as an activist, Zuhairi still manages to write prolifically. His writing mainly covers contemporary Islam, politics, religious tolerance and inter-faith dialogue.

Aside from writing for the national media, Zuhairi has also produced books, including Dari Syariat menuju Maqashid Syariat (From Sharia to Maqashid Sharia, 2003); Doktrin Islam Progresif (Doctrine of Islamic Progressive, 2004); Islam Melawan Terorisme (Islam against Terrorism, 2004); and Menggugat Tradisi: Pergulatan Pemikiran Anak Muda NU (Challenging Tradition: Struggle of Thoughts among NU Youth Members, 2004).

He also contributed chapters to several books, including Syariat Yes, Syariat No (Sharia Yes, Sharia No, 2003); Menjadi Indonesia; 13 Abad Eksistensi Islam di Bumi Nusantara (Becoming Indonesia; Thirteen Centuries of the Existence of Islam in the Archipelago, 2006); and Islam Mazhab Tengah: Persembahan 70 Tahun Tarmizi Taher (The Middle Mazhab of Islam: Dedicated for Tarmizi Taher on his 70th Birthday, (2007).

An adherent supporter of moderate-progressive Islam, Zuhairi showed his anxiety when asked about the increased Islamic radicalism in the country.

Zuhairi said many seemed unaware the power of love in Islam derives from bi-sm 'allaah ar-rah maan ar-rah em, which means "in the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful".

He further cited his experience when he visited a mosque in Boston, U.S., where the Koranic verse al-Anbiya:107 is vividly displayed on its front wall: "And (thus, O Prophet,) We have sent thee as (an evidence of Our) grace towards all the worlds".

"This means God sent Prophet Muhammad as a blessing for all the worlds," said Zuhairi, who recently returned from a conference on democracy and pluralism in Brussels where he was a speaker.

He criticized the religious violence that has marked the country, which he said was an obvious diversion of the Prophet's teachings.

"Fortunately, what has saved our country from plunging into a situation like conflict-torn Pakistan is the role of NU and Muhammadiyah," Zuhairi said.

Muhammadiyah is the second biggest Muslim organization in the country, which claims to have 25 million members.

The two prominent Islam-oriented organizations are considered societal pillars in the country. They are not politically oriented; nonetheless, their leverage in Indonesia's political scene is undisputable, Zuhairi said.

The leaders of the two organizations have called on the government to take strong measures against Islamic hard-liners that campaign for the "elimination" of minority groups.

Young Islamic activists from the two organizations, including Zuhairi, unremittingly collaborate to promote a new Indonesia, which respects pluralism and democracy. He said pluralism, or al-ta'addudiyyah, is an inevitable fact due Indonesia's vast diversity.

He added sharia was a cultural product because it had been historically constructed.

"Sharia is attached to a specific territorial, geographical and socio-political culture. Hence, an idea has emerged to deconstruct the historicity of sharia to search for an inclusive dimension of Islam," said Zuhairi, who is married to Nurul Jazimah and has one daughter.

Zuhairi and his fellow activists from the two organizations work hand in hand to fight against corruption, which many say was further decentralized after the country embraced the era of regional autonomy.

When asked about the demand of some sections to establish an Islamic caliphate system of government, Zuhairi answered: "Historical evidence shows that the caliphate system was bankrupt since it was unable to overcome the problems of power sharing and distribution. They (the political elites) proved unable to detach themselves from authoritarianism.

"There is no obligation to implement a caliphate system, because all Muslims are automatically created by God to become caliphs. It means that every human being has to be responsible for all his deeds to God in the hereafter ... in the Koran, caliph is more a personal than collective calling," he said.

Zuhairi has participated in the activities of several other organizations, including Lingkar Muda Indonesia (Youth Indonesia Circle), Moderate Muslim Society and Lembaga Studi Islam Progresif (Islamic Progressive Study Institute).

And he shows no signs of slowing down.

In an apparent move to prepare himself to enter the world of politics, he became head of the Inter-Religious Division of the Executive Board of Baitul Muslimin of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle at the end of 2007. Last month he was officially inaugurated as a member of the political party.

Yet his activism goes beyond his country by showing his apprehension of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

"A holistic, not partial approach needs to be pursued," he said, adding the conflict could not be regarded as simply Israel versus Palestine or Israel versus Lebanon.

He added internal problems needed to be tackled first and that all Arab countries in the Middle East should put aside their respective interests and unite to boost their bargaining power with the U.S. and Israel in resolving the ongoing conflict.

In 2006, Zuhairi visited Israel on the invitation of the Israeli government under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, to provide a second opinion on Israel's policy towards Palestine.

"I said (to the Israeli government) that Israel should use 'soft' politics, not 'hard' politics with Palestinians because they (the latter) are already weak," he recalled his meeting with the Israeli officials.

He said he supported the establishment of relations between Indonesia and Israel.

He hinted that since Israel is the only superpower in the Middle East, establishing relations with the country could pave the way for Indonesia as the biggest Muslim country to capitalize on its leverage over the ongoing conflict, which has cost millions of innocent lives.

Australian journalists given new insights into Indonesia

The Jakarta Post

Organized by the Australian Consortium of In-Country Indonesia Studies (ACICIS), in partnership with Atma Jaya University, a group of Australian university students are on a six-week Journalism Professional Practicum in Jakarta. The program is designed to provide them with a greater insight into the realities of contemporary Indonesia. ACICIS deputy director David Reeve, a long-time Indonesian observer from the University of New South Wales, outlined the program for Alpha Amirrachman, who recently interviewed Reeve by email for The Jakarta Post.

Question: What aspects are the young Australian journalists learning in this program and how will it help them enhance their understanding of Indonesia?

Answer: Australian students will get a high-profile internship at a placement rarely offered to Australian journalism students. They will learn about Indonesian language, culture and society, and the life of a journalism professional in an overseas setting. We are very keen to encourage Australian journalism students to see Indonesia in a more positive way.

We are doing this program for the benefit of the students. But of course we hope that in the future it will be of benefit to both countries to have maybe hundreds of Australians in the media who have had a strong and positive experience in Indonesia.

How do you see the role of media in shaping relations between Indonesia and Australia?

I think that for people who have personal knowledge and experiences of Indonesia, the press does not have much role in shaping their beliefs. For those people, the press provides information but not attitude. That's why we are working through our programs to expose more and more students to Indonesia.

For the general public, the media can shape attitudes, and these have the potential to sway governments, particularly in difficult times. I'm thinking of the emotions in Australia around the Schappelle Corby case, when some Australian media played a shameful role. But then, other media reported well. It's a mix. Overall, I think that good relations are stronger than bad press.

What do you think Australian journalists are lacking when reporting on Indonesia?

I think both governments were dishonest in making the press a scapegoat for other things that were wrong. Australia has a great tradition of sending good correspondents to Indonesia. Several of them have written excellent books on Indonesia, helping Australians to understand Indonesia. That foreign correspondent tradition has been going on for some 50 years. They have been a high quality lot overall. But some reporters and editors back in Australia have been much less good.

You are right to see a "politics of fear" at work here; irresponsible stereotyping -- which is itself a tradition in Australian media for at least 150 years. What worries me now is the decreasing role for foreign correspondents in the Australian media. If that continues it will be a serious loss.

What do you think Indonesian journalists are lacking when reporting on Australia?

I enjoy reading all Indonesian reporting on Australia. I find it fascinating, and I don't mind whether it is positive or negative, well-sourced or badly informed. I find it all very interesting for what it tells me about Indonesian attitude. But as a scholar, I must say that some Indonesian reporting seems much better then others. The weaker journalists lack good contacts, lack personal experience and interpret events through prejudice and malice. That can actually make it more interesting to read, though less informative to the public. But that's the same all over the world. The good Indonesian journalism on Australia is of a high standard.

What are the various constraints Australian correspondents have come across in the process of foreign news reporting in Indonesia?

During the Soeharto era, Australian journalists had to be careful about reporting on Indonesia because there was always the threat that their visas would be canceled if they concentrated on "negative" news like human rights abuses, anti-government protests and independence movements in East Timor, Aceh and West Papua. In 1986 all Australian journalists were banned from Indonesia, and it took some time for all media organizations to be readmitted. Nowadays, Indonesia's free press means foreign journalists are not restricted, except in access to Papua and, perhaps, Aceh. However, there are still some underlying tensions because of perceived negative reporting in Australia on separatist issues, as well as the high profile given by the Australian media to terrorism in Indonesia and drug cases.

Both countries appear to enjoy a certain degree of press freedom. Does this freedom necessarily foster close neighborly ties?

Press freedoms are not meant to foster neighborly ties. That is not what they are for. They are for the health of the societies in which they operate. Neighborly ties are built in other ways. If they are good and strong ties, they have nothing to fear from press freedom. I think that all of us have experienced press freedoms and press restrictions. Even at its worst (rumors, defamation), a free press is better.

Do you think the killing of five Australian journalists in East Timor in 1975 still haunts Australian journalists and still has the potential to disturb Indonesia-Australia relations?

Yes, this issue still haunts some Australian journalists and also particularly the families of the journalists killed. Not surprisingly. Both governments would like to believe that the problem is behind them. I think that is true. The issue has remained alive for 32 years, and still has potential to disturb in the future. Both governments will try to play it down. But this is an issue with complex legal and moral aspects. It is hard to see what the best option would be. I also think of the large number of journalists killed around the world in 2007. It is always a bad idea to attack journalists.

Huge rise in British UFO sightings

By Gary Cleland, Telegraph.co.uk

Clusters of up to 100 mysterious objects, bright white lights and strange, triangular shaped objects are just some of a huge surge in UFO sightings reported to the Ministry of Defence last year.

The number of UFO sightings reported to the MoD is up from 97 to 135

The ministry has opened up its own "X-Files" for 2007, revealing 135 UFO sightings from across the UK.

If aliens are choosing the UK as a holiday destination, it appears it is becoming more popular, as the number if sightings has shot up since 97 were reported in 2006.

Last year the MoD released details of UFO sightings for the first time, including an archive back to 1998. Previously, details of classified reports were kept secret for 30 years. Discs, formations, white or orange lights, triangular shaped craft and pipe-like objects were all spotted buzzing around the sky in 2007.

In Duxford, Cambridgeshire on April 12, a witness reported seeing fifty objects, each with an orange light, assembling in the sky before ascending.

Two pilots in different planes above Alderney in the Channel Islands reported the same UFOs on April 23. They saw one bright orange craft, then a gap, followed by an identical object.

In Portsmouth, Hants, in October, a witness watched as "an oval/spherical shaped object approached an aircraft, and appeared to accelerate very fast, and then wobbled from side to side.

"Another object appeared in roughly the same vicinity and then stayed stationary."

In the West Midlands in December, one witness got a shock when a UFO shone a light into her window. The MoD logged: "A giant craft shone a light into the witness's back window. It shot off fast at first to the North East and then started to move at a slow pace."

Another report noted a "an exceedingly bright light, which was stationary, but sometimes flew off" over the Wiltshire skies.

Hilary Porter, from the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society (BEAMS) said sightings were becoming increasingly common. She said: "There has been a huge influx of UFOs. Absolutely enormous. There has been these huge formations than have been coming.

"We have had so many calls from people that have seen these huge formations. We have had call after call after call, from business people right down to ordinary folk in their cars. “There have been some very close encounters that have been quite unnerving for the people involved. We have had other people reporting orb sightings."

Others maintain that the vast majority of the sightings can be explained. Many are helicopters or other human designed craft like weather balloons and satellites, while others are optical illusions or unusual cloud formations. The MoD made the decision to release the files after a Freedom of Information request.

A spokeswoman said the ministry does not investigate each and every report. "We only investigate if there have been any objects in British air space that may be military," she said.

"Unless there's evidence of a potential threat we don’t investigate to try to identify it."

Stallone challenges Myanmar junta, eyes "Rambo 5"

Bangkok (ANTARA News) - Not satisfied with slugging it out with Myanmar's military government on celluloid in his latest "Rambo" film, Sylvester Stallone wants to go there and confront the junta face-to-face over human rights.

Stallone, who said he was gearing up to make a fifth and final instalment in the blood-and-guts series, told Reuters that media reports of his film becoming a bootleg hit in the former Burma, and an inspiration to dissidents, was a pinnacle in his movie career.

"These incredibly brave people have found, kind of a voice, in a very odd way, in American cinema... They've actually used some of the film's quotes as rallying points," Stallone, 61, said in a telephone interview.

"That, to me, is the one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film."

Residents in Yangon told Reuters this week that police had given strict orders to DVD hawkers to not stock the movie -- named simply "Rambo". Locals said fans had "gone crazy" over lines in the hero's brusque dialog such as: "Live for nothing. Die for something."

In the film, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo -- best known for mowing down enemies with an M60 machine gun in the 1980's -- comes out of retirement in Thailand to save a group of Christian missionaries from a sadistic Myanmar army major.

Stallone said that, rather than make a film about Iraq or Darfur, he focused on a lesser-known crisis before Myanmar suddenly grabbed the spotlight in September when the military junta crushed a pro-democracy campaign led by Buddhist monks.

Officials put the death toll from the crackdown at 15, but diplomats and aid groups say it is much higher and some media have reported hundreds -- or thousands -- were killed.

"People finally got the idea of how brutal these people are," said Stallone.

Invite me, please

Stallone's movie specifically focuses on the Karen tribe of eastern Myanmar. UK-based Christian Aid says the Karen and other groups have suffered half a million cases of forced relocation and thousands more have been imprisoned, tortured or killed.

Many ethnic rebel groups have fought Burmese governments for more autonomy since independence from Britain in 1948. Stallone said he was in communication with some, and several former

freedom fighters acted in the movie.

And he hopes the film can provoke a confrontation.

"I'm only hoping that the Burmese military, because they take such incredible offence to this, would call it lies and scurrilous propaganda. Why don't you invite me over?" he said.

"Let me take a tour of your country without someone pointing a gun at my head and we'll show you where all the bodies are buried... Or let's go debate in Washington in front of a congressional hearing... But I doubt that's going to happen."

"Rambo" opened last month second in north American box office returns to the ancient Greek warrior spoof "Meet the Spartans", making $18.2 million in its first week.

Stallone said he was happy with what he described as "the bloodiest, R film (for) a generation" and hoped to make another.

"It will depend on the success of this one, but right now I think I'm gearing one up. It will be quite different," he said.

"We'll do something a little darker and a little more unexpected."

'Opinions carelessly expressed can hurt business environment'

Debnath Guharoy, Consultant, The Jakarta Post

It was a volatile seven days in Indonesia last week. Influenced by the stock-market roller-coasters around the world, the Jakarta stock market had its own fall and recovery. In another realm, a Garuda pilot was sentenced to 20 years for Munir's murder but Gus Dur reflected the views of many when he said the real killers were still at large.

The unnecessary development of the week, however, was General Djoko Santoso's comment that Indonesia wasn't ready for democracy.

Ever since the measurement was introduced three years ago, the Roy Morgan Good Governance monitor has reflected the people's resounding vote for democracy.

Since that time, around 70 percent of the population have consistently said they believed "democracy is working". The military general is obviously among the 30 percent who disagreed.

Ten years ago, the wisdom of Indonesia's generals facilitated a smooth transition of power from dictatorship to democracy. Since then, the collective efforts of the world's fifth largest population have made it a beacon for the Islamic world. The current President is a true believer of democratic principles, a conviction he often reiterates.

The conflicting view of his chosen commander, expressed and explained in public, is more than confusing. It has raised eyebrows, not just in Indonesia.

Several institutions and many of their associates make strenuous efforts to promote Indonesia to prospective investors around the world. One of the new attractions is Indonesia's successful record as a ten-year-old democracy.

If the armed forces are seen as anything other than a defender of democracy today, they will send shock-waves across the business community, internationally.

Not because businesses care too much about democracy itself, but because they know there is no going back to authoritarian rule again. The people would not accept a breach, endlessly. The turmoil in Pakistan today is living testimony.

Public servants accustomed to years of total authority can find the behavioral adjustments required by a democracy, difficult.

Though the armed forces are not public servants in the same way bureaucrats or politicians are, they cannot ignore the fact that their own welfare is also dependent on the efforts of the people. Everybody has a role, and a responsibility.

As Indonesia continues to consolidate its position in the free world and the global economy, the pain is being felt most of all by the humble worker. That includes the small business owner.

The necessary removal of subsidies and the impact on the price of fuel created an even greater burden on the vast majority of breadwinners. While the 17 percent inflation that was triggered in September 2005 is currently hovering around 6 percent, the price of essentials is continuing to hurt almost all Indonesians.

Most people have always led a modest life in Indonesia, but the struggle in recent times has become even harder.

Based on the national average, the Main Income Earner was barely able to meet the needs of his/her household, even before September 2005. Though many more are doing more than one job nowadays and there is a noticeable increase in the average earnings of Main Income Earners, they are still unable to take care of all the needs of their families.

Other members of the family, or the extended family, are now compelled to contribute. That is because the average household expenditure has also crept up at a level higher than income.

The two graphs are beginning to merge again, after two years. The two trendlines met at the Rp 800,000 mark in September 2005, crossed over and grew apart while they climbed. They merged again for the first time in September 2007 at around Rp 970,000.

The next few quarters will offer a better understanding of the alleviation, if the gap doesn't adversely widen again.

These observations are based on Roy Morgan Single Source, the country's largest syndicated survey with over 27,000 Indonesian respondents each year. The results are updated every 90 days.

While it is easy for affluent homes to take luxuries off the weekly shopping list, it is difficult for everybody else to eat less tahu. The longer term easing of the proverbial national belt can only happen with more jobs and higher earnings.

Investments, from within the country and from without, are essential prerequisites. Political stability is an equally important backdrop for investment.

In a democracy, the people expect the armed forces to be in a permanent state of readiness, a last resort in quelling disturbances or attending to emergencies beyond the capacity of the police.

To say or do anything that contradicts that role cannot be good for the stability of Indonesia's current democracy, its businesses or jobs.

The writer can be contacted at Debnath.Guharoy@roymorgan.com

F-16s at Scene of U.F.O. Sighting in Texas

By Mike Nizza, The New York Times

As the hype around a U.F.O. sighting in Texas garners an unusual amount of attention, a local Air Force reserve base stepped up on Wednesday with a statement that either completely debunks the story or fuels it further, depending on whom you ask and when you ask them.

In the days since the reported sighting — which one witness said was of an object in the sky “bigger than a Wal-Mart,” with the addition of many, many strobe lights — officials at the airbase initially said that none of their aircraft were flying on the night in question.

But they changed their story on Wednesday: now they say that 10 F-16 fighter jets were indeed airborne between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time that night, on a training mission. That includes the 5-minute period when unidentified flying objects were sighted.

So is it time to say, “So much for aliens in Texas dairy country”?

Not if you ask The Associated Press, which published that line in an early version of its report before switching to a much more noncomittal lead paragraph.

One of the people expressing doubts about the F-16 explanation was Kenneth Cherry of the Mutual UFO Network, who asserted, “This supports our story that there was U.F.O. activity in that area.” He was apparently referring to one witness’s claim that the fighter jets were there to chase the U.F.O.

There are several others.

Video images that seem to show strange patterns of lights in the sky have surfaced on local television, but none have been deemed convincing by authorities whether they believe in aliens or not. A $5,000 reward for video proof has been offered by a Texas businessman.

The Dallas Morning News tries to answer an interesting question raised by the military’s announcement: Could 10 F-16’s, doing whatever they were doing, have been mistaken for something else?

In the article, which also runs down some alternate theories from an aviation expert that don’t pan out, the paper puts that question to Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing, which operates out of the airbase. Major Lewis’s door-slamming response will doubtless strike U.F.O. buffs as both unsurprising and revealing in its reticence:

“What we do down there falls under operational procedures that cannot be released because of operations security for our mission,” he said.

He also seemed to slam the door on the long-cherished hope Mr. Cherry expressed to The A.P.: “What we want is the government to admit there are U.F.O.’s.”