tp pernah juga t bang ipul diundang ke salah satu acara parodi politik, trs ditanya ma salah satu host gini (klo da salah2 dikit, maaf ya):

host : menurut anda apa perbedaan antara panggung politik dan panggung hiburan/entertainment??
bang ipul : menurut saya tidak ada perbedaan. panggung politik dan panggung entertainment punya tugas yang sama. sama2 mengHIBUR rakyat.
host : mengHIBUR rakyat?? apakah anda pikir panggung politik ini hanya untuk mengHIBUR rakyat??
bang ipul : bukan hanya mengHIBUR rakyat. tapi itu salah satunya. karena setiap saya kampaye didaerah, hanya dengan menyanyi rakyat sudah terhibur dan hilanglah satu masalah.
host : ??

owww… gitu toch.. i think *______*

“….Retired General William Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations says the U.S. should first pressure China to use its influence over the junta to get them to open up and then supply support to the Thai and Indonesian militaries to carry out relief missions. “We can pay for it — we can provide repair parts to the Indonesians so they can get their Air Force up. We can lend the them two C-130s and let them paint the Indonesian flag on them,”…. ”

i felt insulted, for a second. next thing on my mind, we really don’t have capitals to support those things anyway

————komen gak penting————

but i do agree on most points u’ve written here bek, no longer intellectual comment i can deliver,hahaha…

ps: humanitarian invasion can be a pretty good idea looking to the current condition of post-nargis condition lately….:p

First of all, I do agree with Mas Phillips’ point that it’s not about the US or ASEAN but about the Burmese people. Some of my Burmese friends here are continually saddened, and hopeless for that matter, that the junta is not doing enough to the victims. Reports are even coming out that the aid given by donors have fallen into military hands only to be sold in the streets by soldiers and officers. Whatever the reason maybe, selling off emergency aid is simply horrendous! (can you imagine if the military junta starts implementing the ‘dual function’ doctrine of our military like what SBY once suggested?!)

Second, I myself do not believe in the concept of human security, at least in academic and conceptual terms. haha… well, but this is a whole other debate though…

Third, almost every aspect of our military is certainly in a sad state of affairs. but again, why and how this is the case, or how to fix it, is another whole other debate.

Fourth, whether a ‘humanitarian intervention’ should be contemplated, historically speaking, there were only few attempts in history where purely humanitarian interests drive a military operation. Some argue Kosovo is humanitarian, but the strategic consideration of maintaining NATO’s credibility came first. my favorite quote: “Everyone likes the idea of a peacekeeping (or humanitarian) operation, but no one wants to be in it”! hahaha…..

But all in all, I tend to see the fact that the Junta finally gave up and allowed ASEAN to enter and pour aid might be an initial step of the ‘politics of hope’ and crack open the regime (one could argue that this is modeled after the 2004 tsunami in Aceh that led to the eventual solution of the peace process).

cheers,

Evan

The truth is: it is true that our Air Force is crippled.It’s been widely reported in our national media.

Seeing it from the non-state side, i.e the people who are suffering, the call to put more pressure on the military junta to be more open to international humanitarian assistance is legitimate. No government will be able to handle the debilitating impact of the disaster caused by the cyclone alone.Governments, non-governmental actors,and international agencies must be allowed to go into the worst affected area in Burma to provide necessary relief for the survivors. I don’t think that ‘regime or state security’ must be placed higher than human security. It’s not about Bush, not about ASEAN, and surely not about the ignorant military junta that has been oppressing the Burmese for more than 30 years. It’s about the victims of the cyclone.

salam kenal
pjv