Funding cuts motivating 'super uni' merger plan: students

Students say a merger between Perth's Curtin and Murdoch Universities in Western Australia is only being considered because of Federal Government funding cuts.

The Vice Chancellors of Curtin and Murdoch Universities met the WA Education Minister today to discuss a merger.

The plan still has to be passed through each university's Senate but if it is approved, the two institutions could become one within the next two years.

Curtin University Guild president Patrick Gorman says before Federal Government funding cuts, the universities could have continued to provide excellent service individually.

"I would be surprised if, had we not had over $1 billion in cuts to university funding since 1996, that we would be talking about mergers," he said.

However, Vice Chancellors say it is not just a financially motivated move and their combined facilities will create the third-largest university in Australia.

They are adamant if the merger does not go ahead, each would survive in its own right.

However, Vice Chancellor of Curtin, Lance Twomey, says while they are not being pushed into the deal by finances, both would benefit financially.

He says the research facilities of a combined university will draw funding from the eastern states.

"Financially we'll be better off for it - I mean we'll have one administration, one management - they are great advantages and that means that you can put a lot more money back into teaching learning and research," he said.

BREAKING NEWS

The higher education landscape in Western Australia looks set to change, with plans in the pipeline to merge tertiary institutions into a new university.

Talks have already begun to merge Murdoch University and Curtin University of Technology to form the University of Perth.

According to unconfirmed sources, Edith Cowan University is the latest institution to express interest in the merger.

When completed, the new university will have a combined student base of 65,000 students spanning across three campuses in Perth.

More updates as the news comes in.

Agates

Provides for balancing of yin/yang energy and for balancing of the physical, emotional and intellectual bodies with the Etheric energies.
It stabilizes the aura, providing for a cleansing effect which acts to smooth dysfunctional energies and to both transform and eliminate negativity.
It further assists one is the development of precision in examination of oneself and of circumstances relevant to ones well being.
Agate can be used to stimulate analytical capabilities and precision.
It provides for perceptiveness to situations and awakens ones inherent talents and adroitness.
It is also used to produce inspiration from and connected-ness with the entities residing in the spiritual worlds.
It has been reported to strengthen the sight, to diminish thirst, and to promote marital fidelity.

On days when I ask myself, why journalism, I look back to remember these things:

"Access to information is a right. Information is power and much depends on the way it is communicated. It is through television that the strongest influence is exerted on our imaginative lives, and in shaping our perceptions of reality."

My first eBay purchase...a $1m smile

The latest cosmetic I swear by now...arriving in a few days' time...EXCITING!

China says ST journalist 'admitted spying' By Times Online, and Jane Macartney of The Times in Beijing

China said today that a detained journalist for an English-language newspaper has admitted spying for a foreign intelligence agency, but did not identify the agency or detail the accusations against the Hong Kong-based reporter. Ching Cheong, 55, a Hong Kong national who works for The Straits Times, a Singaporean newspaper, was arrested in the southern city of Guangzhou on April 22 on suspicion of spying, the Foreign Ministry said. He had been trying to obtain a copies of interviews with Zhao Ziyang, the Communist leader who was purged after the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Mr Ching, considered the doyen of China correspondents, would be the first reporter for a foreign publication to face charges in China. His wife, Mary Lau, said: "He told me that he expected to be shut up for a long time. It seems they suspect him of stealing state secrets." "Ching Cheong confessed: following instructions from a foreign intelligence agency, he engaged in intelligence gathering activities in China and received a large spying fee," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a written statement. Asked at a news conference for details of what Mr Ching was accused of doing and for which country he was accused of spying, the ministry's spokesman, Kong Quan, would say only, "We have full evidence to support this case." He denied that Mr Ching’s detention was related to Zhao. Mr Ching’s detention is evidence of the tight state grip on the media in China, which last year, according to the New York-based Committee to Protest Journalists, was holding 42 journalists in its jails. A spokesman for Singapore Press Holdings, publisher of The Straits Times, said: "Ching Cheong has served us with distinction as a very well-informed correspondent and analyst. We have no cause to doubt that . . . he has conducted himself with the utmost professionalism." Mrs Lau said that she believed her husband’s arrest was linked to his interest in the manuscript of secret interviews with Zhao compiled by his doctor, who had rare access to a man kept incommunicado for the last 14 years of his life. She believed that her husband was lured into a trap by security officials. The authorities are worried that Zhao’s inside knowledge of the decision to order troops to open fire on the 1989 demonstrators in Tiananmen Square might become public. The leader opposed the use of military force to suppress the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Untold hundreds died when troops moved in to break up the student-led demonstration. Zhao, who died in January, was deposed as general secretary and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. "I think he was set up," Mrs Lau said. The maximum penalty for selling state secrets is death. Mr Ching had been covering China for 31 years and had many government contacts. He worked for 15 years for Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong newspaper with close ties to the Communist Party, but resigned after the 1989 crackdown. Mr Ching gained respect for breaking stories, particularly on internal decisions of the Communist Party, and for his insights into Chinese politics. China has never jailed a journalist working for a foreign publication. It usually detains them briefly and deports them on charges such as spying. The last foreign journalist to be held was Anthony Grey, of the Reuters news agency, a Briton incarcerated for two years in his home in Beijing at the height of the Cultural Revolution. However, Chinese and Hong Kong nationals have been sent to prison. In April a former editor of Contemporary Business News in the southern Hunan province was sentenced to ten years for passing state secrets to an unidentified overseas publication. In 1994 Xi Yang, a Hong Kong citizen and reporter for the city’s Ming Pao newspaper, was jailed for 12 years for stealing state secrets — gold output figures and changes in interest rate policy.

The Jarkata Post, 02 June 2005

Corby and Australians' anger

Dewi Anggraeni, Melbourne

Indonesians may be bewildered by the frenzy the Schapelle Corby case has whipped up in Australia, followed by various manifestations of anti-Indonesian sentiment backlash. Rob Goodfellow's article on May 31 in this newspaper has to a great extent explained what was behind the rage.

Having followed the events leading up to her sentencing, and being the mother of a daughter myself, I feel deep sympathy for Corby. However I saw an angle which Goodfellow, being an Australian Indonesianist, may have overlooked.

Following publication of my article in Australia's Age newspaper on May 31, 2005, I received several calls, not all agreeing with me. Interestingly, in my article I do not say anything negative about the majority of Australians, indicating instead, that the hardest to take among the "vocal minority" are those who demand reimbursement for the donations made to the tsunami victims. I describe their behavior as immature and infantile, making Australia come across as a nation who gives in order to wield power on the recipient later.

Those who disagree with me accused me of being heartless, as what they would expect of Indonesians. One caller actually reprimanded me, saying that calling Australians immature and infantile was not a nice thing to say for someone who has benefited from living in Australia.

I realized then what I was witnessing.

Many Australians, even those who show compassion to other people, unconsciously believe that they are superior to people from Asian, especially south east Asian, countries. When they give, and show their compassion, they expect the recipients of their gifts and compassionss to be grateful, and what is more, to show their gratitude. In the caller's consciousness, I was ungrateful. Having been "lifted" from an undoubtedly worse life in Indonesia, I dared to turn around and call any Australians at all, who have been generous for allowing me to live here, immature and infantile.

Unfortunately there is deep pathos in this attitude, because it reflects a degree of defensiveness which many Australians, secure with their own self-identity and a sense of self-reality, do not feel. Along with the vitriolic attacks in the letter-to-the-editor pages and the airwaves, there have also been those who try to point out how irrational and emotional the attacks have been.

When we transpose this superior defensiveness onto the Corby case, we see the anger of a group of people who regard the arrest, let alone the 20 years' sentence, as gross impudence -- even a kind of uprising against the authority -- on the part of those who are inferior, who dared to subject one of their daughters to unspeakable indignity. They are not familiar with Indonesia at all, so they do not know about Indonesia's pain of democratization process, corruption eradication drive, massive problems with drug-related crimes and illnesses. And more importantly, they are not aware that Indonesia has a judicial system at all, and that an increasing number of Indonesians are as educated, if not more educated, than they are.

The most important thing to emphasize is that, while the majority of Australians lack awareness of Indonesia, only a minority, a vocal minority nonetheless, show viciousness without compunction. Most, when pointed out to them, will accede that they have been unreasonable.

Most Australians have had to suffer being patronized by the Britons, often openly and publicly. And Australians have been arrested and prosecuted in the British Isles. While this has caused anguish and maybe anger on the part of their families and friends, their families and friends cannot react they way they react to the Corby case, because they are familiar with the legal system, and I suspect, deep down they know they would only come across as impudent if they did. And it is human nature to seek someone you think is inferior, if only to know that you are not in the bottom of the heap. And for Australia, Asia, especially south east Asia, is it.

It is therefore worth noting that many and increasing numbers of Australians have indeed raised above that basic human instinct by consciously educating themselves out of it. And most of these people do not easily take offense at patronizing attitudes from any other nationals, be they Britons or Americans. And they are comfortable with the idea that there are other social, legal or cultural environments apart from their own. More importantly, they are not threatened by non-Caucasian people who are as informed and as educated as they are.

The Corby case has unfortunately reminded everyone that there are still Australians who can do damage to their own country's image. And as neighbors and friends, Indonesians need not give them too much credit or time. After all, Indonesia itself is far from perfect.

The writer is a journalist and Australia Correspondent for TEMPO.

Behind the Corby frenzy - ignorance and a vocal minority

By DEWI ANGGRAENI
AUSTRALIAN CORRESPONDENT FOR INDONESIA'S TEMPO NEWS MAGAZINE

31 May 2005

AN INDONESIAN colleague called yesterday morning with a request: "Maybe, from your vantage point, you could explain what it is about the Schapelle Corby case that has whipped up such a frenzy in Australia."

She added that the hundred or so other Australians in foreign prisons had never had such an effect. I gave some theories as to why this should be so, but in the end I said I didn't know.

Deep down, I had some idea. But I deflected because what I said might have been interpreted to revive suspicions that Australians are racists.

In reporting Australia's reactions, I keep emphasising that the most extreme views are not those of the majority but rather of the most vocal Australians. I still believe this is the case, but the phenomenon is increasingly worrying those of us who want to portray Australia as a mature neighbour of the South-East Asian region.

The phenomenon is symptomatic of a widespread lack of knowledge about Indonesia. In the past three years, known drug addiction in Indonesia has increased from 1per cent to 4 per cent of the population.

This has followed a steep increase in drug trafficking in the country. With Indonesia's porous borders, it is easy to see how this happens. In recent months, there have been more than 700 drug-related arrests.

The public health system in Indonesia is too poorly equipped to handle the problems of addiction that flow from this - one being the rate of HIV infections, which continues to rise. So while the health officials are run off their feet, it is understandable that authorities are also trying to stem the problem by cracking down on those bringing the drugs into the country.

And Bali, a big tourist destination that provides perfect cover for criminals, has been a focal point. In this context, the fact that Corby was found with 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her surfboard bag - irrespective of whether the marijuana was hers or was planted by someone else - is not a big issue in Indonesia.

In fact, Corby was not the first or only person arrested for possession of drugs in Bali. Another example is the Bali nine.

That the Corby case exploded into such a media frenzy has been a source of bewilderment, though this did not alarm Indonesians until the uglier reactions came to the fore. It has been heartening to see Australia's own Indonesian specialists warding off the attacks, clarifying the situation of the legal system in Indonesia, though it is increasingly clear that people only hear what they want to hear.

The hardest reaction to take, however, has been the demand for reimbursement for the donations made for the tsunami victims. Apart from the fact that this makes Australia come across as a nation that gives so that it can wield some power over the recipient later, it also shows extreme insincerity and infantilism on the part of the giver.

How are we to depict Australia as a mature friend after this?

For the first 'terrorist attack' to take place on Australian soil, it had to come just after the Corby case.

Indonesia condemns 'terrorist attack' on embassy

By Indonesia correspondent Tim Palmer
ABC News

The Indonesian Government says it will not be swayed by what it has called an "act of cowardice" in the delivery of a potentially hazardous parcel to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra.

It has also called on Indonesians not to react to the incident amid the incident being labelled as "terrorism" by political and media circles.

The news from Canberra has dominated Indonesian press and television reports.

Parliamentarian Joko Sisilo, who sits on Indonesia's House Foreign Affairs Committee, says Indonesia should now issue travel warnings for Australia.

He says the attack proves Australians are capable of committing their own acts of terrorism.

The spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry in Jakarta, Marty Natalagewa, says the incident underlines the need for responsibility in reaction to the Schapelle Corby case.

"If any good perhaps comes out of this latest sorry incident, it's perhaps it works as some kind of like an alarm bell to those who have been whipping up public emotions," he said.

Mr Natalagewa says the attack would not force changes to Indonesia's presence in Canberra.

Meanwhile, tests on the white powder sent to the Indonesian embassy in an envelope could be completed by today.

It is already known to be a bacteria that is present in a range of products from snail pellets to anthrax.

Australian officials are waiting for a translation of a note sent with the white powder to determine the motives of the attack.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has told Channel 9 that at this stage the Federal Government cannot confirm if the threat is related to last week's jailing of Schapelle Corby in Bali.

"There was a note in Bahasa ... that's the Indonesian language - we haven't got a translation yet and obviously that will come to us fairly soon," he said.

"We understand that the parcel was sent from Victoria.

"We can't at this stage say if it was directly related to the Schapelle Corby case."

Prime Minister John Howard says he now wants to wait for the test results.

"The analysis is going on and when we know the outcome of that then something further will be said," he said.

"Plainly it's not just a case of some white powder being sent - whoever sent it had a more evil intent than that."

Mr Howard says the incident will damage relations between the two countries and condemned the action.

Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has described it as an act by evil cowards.

"If it is connected to debate and the issues around Schapelle Corby's case, it will deal it a body blow," he said.