Editorials
Tuesday, December 15, 1998

Fellowships help
understand Asia

TWO Hawaii-based fellowship programs that teach journalists around the world to appreciate the importance of Asia-America ties are, like the local economy, struggling to stay afloat. The Freedom Forum Asia Fellowships has lost its main benefactor, while the East-West Center will revamp its program significantly. While their futures may be in jeopardy, both boast a roster of savvy, satisfied graduates -- working journalists who can now better explain the relevance of Asia to a once European-focused U.S.

In this, its 25th year, the Freedom Forum Asian Fellowships will celebrate its birthday by losing its main source of funding. Because the Virginia-based Freedom Forum will be changing its focus from grant-making to its own in-house offerings, local fellowship organizer Daniel Kwok must start looking for new money -- about $300,000 a year -- to encourage U.S. journalists to study and travel to Asia, and Asian journalists to learn about and visit the states. More than 150 journalists are Freedom Forum veterans, like Jim Schiffman of CNN. "The fellowship has done a lot of good for a lot of journalists and...a lot of people who are the consumers of journalism," says Schiffman, an international senior editor at CNN. "It would be a real shame if no one stepped up to fund it."

Another highly effective teaching experience is the EWC's Jefferson Fellowships, which starting next year will drop to three weeks from its usual eight-week stint. The experiment's goal is to see whether a shorter program will enable more journalists to apply and participate, says Web Nolan of the center's media program. While its budget has remained the same, the number of Jefferson applicants has dipped primarily due to the Asian flu and the reluctance of editors to lose key personnel for two months. Unfortunately, the shorter schedule will dramatically cut into travel time, which many of the fellows felt was the most valuable part of the schooling.

The curtailment of these two programs, which only serve to foster better understanding and coverage of Asia, couldn't have come at a worse time. That part of the world, as Hawaii well knows, plays and will continue to play a major role in international affairs and economics as the new millennium turns.

Puerto Rico plebiscite

WHILE Puerto Rico will not bump Hawaii as the newest state in the union, Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello still declared victory for the pro-statehood cause that he championed following Saturday's plebiscite on the issue. But the vote on statehood for Puerto Rico was little different than the last attempt five years ago. The lack of a consensus on the issue should keep the Caribbean island from being granted statehood that only a minority -- albeit a large one -- desires.

Proponents of statehood argued that it was the only way to end Puerto Rico's colonial status, beginning with Spain's claim by Columbus in 1493 and including its seizure by the United States in 1898. Puerto Rico's 3.9 million residents have self-government but are subject to federal laws, although they cannot vote for the president and have no vote in Congress. They pay no federal taxes but get some benefits.

Voters opted for the present commonwealth status by a wide margin in 1967. In 1993, statehood won 46 percent of the vote, only 3 percent shy of the vote for the status quo. This time, the statehood vote totaled 46.5 percent, with 50.2 percent wanting "none of the above." Independence, a "free association" form of independence with U.S. treaty ties and commonwealth status, got only 3 percent.

Rossello claimed victory because "none of the above" was not a status option. In fact, voters favoring continued commonwealth status voted for "none" because the description of the "commonwealth" option was written in colonial terminology by statehood proponents and suggested that the United States could revoke Puerto Ricans' U.S. citizenship. Commonwealth advocates campaigned for "none" as a protest.

This was not the mandate that was needed as guidance to Congress to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. Any attempt to interpret it was a pro-statehood vote would be met with hostility on the island and with justified skepticism in Congress.

Disabilities law

THE Americans with Disabilities Act has generated much controversy since its enactment in 1990, triggering numerous lawsuits requiring its enforcement. Now the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a Georgia case that the law goes far beyond the empathy and compassion intended and has come to pose an unreasonable threat to state treasuries.

Two mentally disabled Georgia citizens, who had been housed in a psychiatric hospital, contended that the state was required under the disabilities law to provide for their care "in the most integrated setting appropriate" to their needs. After filing their lawsuit, they were placed in community-based programs, as they had sought, but the issue remained alive in the courts.

Georgia officials contend that the law does not require placement in the community if appropriate treatment can be provided in a state mental hospital, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled otherwise. Hawaii and 21 other states have joined in a friend-of-the-court brief, warning that the requirement, if upheld, would have "catastrophic effects" on their treasuries.

The disabilities law is known most for requiring handicapped accessibility to public buildings. But employers, including government, are finding increasingly that mental illness is a disability covered as much by the law as are physical disabilities. A federal directive last year advised employers of a guideline banning discrimination against mental illness.

Proponents of the law say the concern is exaggerated but they should be prepared for a backlash when employers are forced to take actions that are costly and nonsensical to meet the demands of the law. A U.S. Supreme Court review is needed to determine if common-sense clarity can be inferred from the present law or whether further legislation is needed.

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A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor