Satu lagi dari SMH. Saya sangat tertarik dengan diskusi di antara mereka sendiri. Ini salah satu kesimpulan atas kebijakan Aussie yg sangat kontradiktif dengan apa yg telah mereka lakukan terhadap Indonesia. "..... What the Howard Government is saying to the UN is: "Don't interfere in Australia's internal affairs. It is Canberra's right to make and enforce laws and outsiders have no business scrutinising this process."........" Lah, mereka sudah ikut campur dan sekarang sedang berencana ikut campur lagi di Maluku, yang didukung oleh bajingan-bajingan pengkianat bangsa, dan juga beberapa kelompok yang mau gampangnya saja tanpa berpikir jauh ke depan atau belajar dari pengalaman. Anjasmara ---------------------------------------- You are judged by the friends you keep Comment by DAVID LAGUE The Howard Government has delivered a diplomatic windfall to odious regimes everywhere and undermined Australia's reputation as a civilised nation with yesterday's irresponsible attack on the United Nations treaty committee system. In a burst of churlish ill-temper, doubly reprehensible because it seems cynically intended to strike a chord among Hansonites and the like, the Government intends to withhold support from the treaty committees because they have attacked Australia over the treatment of Aborigines and asylum seekers. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, said Australia's co-operation with the committees would be conditional on "effective reform". He demanded that the committees recognised the "primary role of democratically elected governments" over non-government organisations in bringing arguments to the UN. This is a coded message that will be instantly deciphered and applauded in capitals such as Rangoon, Beijing and Pyongyang. What the Howard Government is saying to the UN is: "Don't interfere in Australia's internal affairs. It is Canberra's right to make and enforce laws and outsiders have no business scrutinising this process." It is not speculation to suggest that the Government's stance will warm the hearts of repressive authoritarians. China has already congratulated the Government over its initial outburst against the UN when Australia's mandatory sentencing laws were slammed as racist earlier this year. The thrust of the Howard Government's argument is that democracies cannot make unjust laws or persecute minorities. The UN should reserve its condemnation for truly beastly regimes. This completely misses the point. International standards of human rights, as expressed in UN conventions and treaties, are a product of the collective wisdom distilled from centuries of suffering culminating in this century's vast bloodlettings. It is true that these standards are still observed largely in the breach and that the UN monitoring and compliance system is routinely flouted. However, it is ludicrous to suggest that the system can be improved if Australia also rejects outside scrutiny of its human rights performance. Australia has a crucial role to play in setting an example. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
