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Editorials
Thursday, March 1, 2001Bush endorses more
military base closingsThe issue: President Bush's preliminary budget states that more military bases must be closed.
THE Bush administration has acknowledged that more rounds of closings of military bases are needed. That's a message Hawaii leaders should heed. The Navy's Barbers Point air station has already been shut down and more bases here may be vulnerable.
The attempt to deny the Army use of Makua Valley as a live-fire range, if successful, could place Schofield Barracks in jeopardy, as Senator Inouye has warned.
Bush's fiscal 2002 preliminary budget unveiled yesterday makes only brief, unspecific mention that more installations need to be shut. It notes that the matter is still under review by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
During the presidential election campaign Bush opposed base closings. But the statement in the budget makes it clear that he now accepts this politically unpopular policy.
"It is clear that new rounds of base closures will be necessary to shape the military more efficiently," the budget paragraph says. It adds that the military now runs about 23 percent more facilities than it needs.
The president's endorsement of base closings came one day after Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced a bill authorizing two new rounds of closings, in 2003 and 2005.
McCain declared, "We can continue to maintain a military infrastructure that we don't need or we can provide the necessary funds to ensure our military can fight and win future wars."
Scripps Howard News Service noted that since 1995 Congress has killed essentially the same proposal every year although the generals and admirals have begged for permission to close more facilities. Since the Cold War ended, military manpower has dropped far faster than bases have been closed.
Every year Congress has refused to set up a commission to recommend which bases should be closed. Republican leaders accused President Clinton of politicizing the process during the last round of closings in 1995 and vowed not to back more shutdowns so long as he was in office.
With Clinton gone, there may be more support this year for establishing a base-closings commission. The need is obvious. To maintain bases that aren't needed to protect the national security, simply because they have economic value, is shameful.
If a base-closings commission is established, Schofield Barracks could be vulnerable. Without access to essential training areas, bases lose their value. In the Pentagon's efforts to modernize, no inefficient bases should be spared. The Army insists that Makua Valley is an essential training area. Hawaii residents should realize what could be at stake in the fight over Makua.
Borneo violence
THE gruesome slaughter of immigrant Madurese by the native Dayaks on Borneo is the latest eruption of violence in Indonesia over the last three years. The massacre casts further doubt on the status of President Abdurrahman Wahid and on the future of the nation.
The Asian economic crisis of 1997 resulted in anti-Chinese rioting in Jakarta in 1998 and the overthrow of President Suharto. Indonesia has been in turmoil ever since.
The slaying and beheading of hundreds of Madurese in 10 days of savagery appears to have eased after police cracked down and started shooting rioters. But 30,000 Madurese have already fled Borneo to Java or their home island of Madura.
The failure of the government to intervene in time to prevent the atrocities is further evidence of its weakness and indecisiveness.
Wahid was out of the country when the violence erupted and incurred criticism for refusing to cut short his trip. He already was threatened with impeachment after being censured by parliament over two financial scandals.
Coupled with previous incidents, Wahid's refusal to return showed that the Muslim clergyman, who is virtually blind and suffers from other major ailments, is disengaged from his government's problems and ill suited to lead the nation. But his vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of the former dictator Sukarno, might be no improvement as his successor.
In addition to the massacre in Borneo, Indonesia has experienced the slaughter of thousands by pro-Jakarta militias in East Timor during the plebiscite that led to independence, Christian-Muslim violence in the Moluccas, an ongoing revolt in Aceh in western Sumatra, and another in Irian Jaya in New Guinea.
The vast archipelago became a nation in 1945 by virtue of the forcible ouster of the Dutch, who left what had been known as the East Indies poorly prepared for independence. From the outset, Indonesia's stability has been fragile.
The surprise election of Wahid as president by the newly elected parliament in 1999 gave hope that the country was beginning a new era of democracy and stability after decades of authoritarian rule. But Wahid has failed to come to grips with the nation's problems. The country seems virtually leaderless.
There have even been warnings that Indonesia might be torn apart. The atrocities in Borneo make that distressing scenario more credible. There is nothing to suggest that the government is capable of stopping the bleeding.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
Frank Bridgewater, Acting Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
