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Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, February 6, 1986 Opinion A step forward? South African President P.W. Botha proposed several re forms Jan. 31 which could be a crucial step toward ending apart heid. The proposals are far from a breakthrough in social re form, but taken in the context of South Africa’s civil rights record, it is a step in the right direction. Botha proposed an advisory council for apartheid reform legislation which would include blacks. He also suggested doing away with passbooks that restrict blacks’ freedom to travel. The passbook would be replaced by a common ID for all races.Botha also called for more jobs in poorer sectors. Botha’s promises fall far short of black demands, and the president obviously was attempting to pacify the recent surges id i of racial unrest and raise other nations’ views of South Africa. But for now Botha’s proposals are just words. The South Af rican government will have to take action before Feb. 20, when foreign creditors decide if the country is stable enough to sup port their loans. The next few weeks will reveal whether Botha’s proposals )posais really are a step forward or just another attempt to shuffle ifc around racial reform with empty rhetoric. The Battalion Editorial Board SP "" -'■OTa, SO I'VE PECIPED 1 TO CANCEL LIE PETECTOR TESTS IplTOl ; Wew collect fu like toco address: I Spaa P.0.1 Color Inthi cted.ai Gregory compa ©M6 HPPSTUN POST United Feature Syndicate Filipino election shows desire for freedom editor In res It wa I’ve ever tons in th It was I Such non-disci fighting f I And 1 vely exist world. It a tenn wl I The 1 fty — a! life. Perf and “Wor sen that Tomorrow the people of the Phil ippines will have a chance to free themselves from the dictatorship of Ferdinand Mar cos. Unfortunately the odds have been stacked against them. In 1965 Marcos trious” war record and displayed such a fondness for America and hatred for communism, the U.S. government never questioned his governmental poli- Karl Pallmeyer With the rise of civil protests, which Marcos attributed to communist insur rection, Marcos assumed total dictato rial control of the Philippines in 1973. became president of the Philippines. He had close ties with the United States and began using U.S. money for land re form and social programs. Marcos also began using U.S. money to build his presidental mansion, buy condos in Manhattan and invest in America busi nesses. Because Marcos had such an “illus- Since 1973, Marcos has imposed strict censorship over the media. He has had thousands of people jailed simply be cause they have spoken out against his government. Marcos’ more vocal oppo nents have a habit of winding up dead. Benigno Aquino, whose widow is now running against Marcos, was killed when he tried to consolidate political oppostion against Marcos. (Marcos has denied any involvement in Aquino’s death saying: “I’m not the type who as sassinates his opponent.”) Protest from the Filipino people has become to big to ignore. News of Mar cos’ oppresion has reached the outside world and Marcos has been forced to hold elections. But good fascist doesn’t give up that easily. Marcos has been slinging mud like any good politician would. He has been flooding the media with his campaign promises and attacks on Aquino. Since Marcos controls the media, Aquino hasn’t had been allowed much air time for her views. Marcos says that Aquino is too inex perienced to be in charge of the govern ment. How can anyone get experience in a government that has been under control of one man for the past 20 years? Marcos’ biggest weapon against Aquino is calling her a communist. It is true that Aquino’s campaign against Marcos has the support of some of the communist factions in the Philippines, but didn’t Allies have the support of Communist Russia in the campaign against Hitler? Since the time the elections were an nounced, Marcos has placed Manila, capital of the Philippines, under com plete military control. The govern ment’s Commission on Elections has deputized many of the nation’s military leaders to ensure security during the elections. With Marcos’ soldiers at the polls Filipinos might feel obligated to vote in a certain way. Several groups have been formed by the government and the opposition to watch over the elections to insure fairness. Ronald Reagan has group of his own election obsene the Philippines, But Marcos hasorij that only his group be allowed* 150 feet of the polling booths. According to Aquino’s suppd^ br0 the New Society Movement, Mf party, may have spent as much EDITOU million to bribe voters and thoscp a he^ are supposed to watch over polls' career is geles City, a small town neaiAhB-to hei residents said they each had telfaker fo fered $5 if they would vote for Mat: | jj- a ^ The odds seemed to be stadcdsobented vor of Marcos. Despite the outcoiffittiAng election will show that the Filipino Tinan tl pie want freedom. If you as I Karl Pallmeyer is a senior jouniiBPy see ' major and a columnist for Thelm An o ion. Spec tabic Ml to se Some big, wet birthday kisses for Ronald Reagan work da^ sponsible iinly coi tal Harr By the time you read this, we will be fast approaching the birthday that Ronald Reagan shares with Richard Cohen me or, as everyone else sees it, the one that I share with him. Either way, I have a gift for him and it is this: XXXXX. That’s newspaperese for some wet kisses. would cancel the State of the Union speech scheduled for that night. No, I said, he would do nothing of the sort. He would incorporate the day’s events into the speech and somehow bind the nation, make it feel better — provide a sense of purpose on a day when that sense, like the shuttle itself, seemed to have shattered into a million pieces. Don’t read too much into that. The gift kisses are meant as tokens of appre ciation, even of awe, for the president of the United States. Where he is wrong, he is wrong and I have never passed up the chance to point that out. But where he is right he is supreme and that, it seems to me, ought to be pointed out, too. Nowhere was that clearer than the other day when the space shuttle Chal lenger blew up, killing seven astronauts and traumatizing the nation. Almost im mediately, someone asked me if Reagan I was wrong, technically. The presi dent postponed the State of the Union. But the sort of speech I was expecting — we all were expecting — he gave any way. You could quibble with a word here and a word there, even perhaps note that the words were written by someone else. But the president accomplished his purpose. I quoted him that night to my son. “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted. It belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future and we’ll continue to follow them.” Yes, my son said. We have to reach for the stars. give— “the movie expectation.” I use it sometimes in reference to Ronald Rea gan himself. It means that you expect life to conform to the movies or tele vision— that, for instance, a punch is all sound and no impact. I grew up with movies in which big men hit each other very hard and did no damage. It came as a rude surprise to me to learn the ‘hard way that a punch in the mouth can hurt something awful. Reagan is the master of that movie expectation. He has personalized it. He brings with him the expectation that things will turn out all right. This is the expectation that kids have for daddy — that he can make it better, make the pain go away, explain things that really can’t be explained. He did precisely that with his speech to the nation after the death of the seven astronauts. Good old history will have to decide whether this talent makes Reagan a great President, a good President or something lower down the scale. It will have to take into account the deficit, the lack of progress in arms control, an ossi fied unemployment rate, the withering of the national infrastructure, the poor getting poorer, the amorality of con structive engagement, the coming deba cle in Central America — the lack of leadership in almost every area other than leadership itself. We really are standing tall. We just ain’t going any where. ass of oi has There is a term I use in a speech I This is a talent. This is a gift. And in a television age it is as important as mili tary leadership once for the kings of old. It is what a leader must do. But this is a kiss. And so I must note the recent New York Times poll which showed, incorrectly, that the president enjoyed a 56 percent approval rating among blacks. (With a much larger sam ple, The Washington Post put the figure at 23 percent.) The Times’figure would have been a stunning finding since not quite three years before, his approval rating was 18 percent. Yet only polling professionals voiced skepticism rest of us — and by “us" 1 ' nc l ul ' f ' columnists — thought that thisttwjjOT (Z Of Ron Reagan doing his majji EDITOF had even been able to win overtkff ing grou p that has showed the mo* tipathy. The Reagan Expectation'* 1 I. r work again. I When Gary Hart vamoosedtd y,' blesome Gulch to announce natiK that he would not run locally, I* ■ ® lowed that if Ronald Reagan us one thing it was the impoitan'l ideas. Hardly. If he has taughtu* thing it is the importance of dial and leadership, of standing tal when you’re in a hole, of making one smaller by being so much It For these qualities — for being jj' Reagan at moments when, n one else would do — he getsa" (l served kiss. Now, can we talk about Nicaragj Richard Cohen is a columnist k\ Washington Post Writers Group' Mideast peace The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest J ournalism Conference ‘Incremental progress’ made in negotiations The Battalion Editorial Board The Reagan ad ministration has fallen back on secret, step-by-step diplo macy to try to get Barry Schweid AP News Analysis Hussein of Jordan and Shimon Peres of Israel, two of the three key players in the Middle East. Mideast peace talks started in 1986. The outlook may be only marginally brighter than last year when American, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders all con fidently predicted negotiations would be started, but turned out to be wrong. The third, Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organiza tion, is being kept abreast of devel opments by Hussein, while Cleverius and other U.S. diplomats meet regularly with Palestinians in the region. Shultz tested the highwire with his own on-site diplomacy after seeing Hussein in Aqaba and Peres in Jerusalem. Shultz reported he had found “a genuine sense of movement.” But as the year wore on, it became clear the issues of Palestinian represen tation and a proper forum for peace talks could not be resolved. package for Jordan that includes 40 ad vanced jet fighter planes and mobile missiles. Faced with a likely congressio nal veto, the administration withdrew the purchase last year when opponents said they wanted more proof that Hus sein was willing to hold peace talks with Israel. Michelle Powe, Editor Kay Mallett, Managing Editor Loren Steffy, Opinion PageEd^ Jerry Oslin, City Editor Cathie Anderson, News Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor Editorial Policy The Baitalion is a non-profit, self-support 11 ^ 1 per operated as a community service to Texac- 11 | Bryan-College Station. This year’s effort is different. It in volves low-profile efforts by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy and his deputy, Watt Cleverius, modest claims of “incremental progress” and virtually no public announcements about their meetings and the details of their agenda. Apparently, the Reagan administra tion is remaining true to the U.S. pledge to Israel not to deal with the PLO until it accepts the legitimacy of Israel and U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Israel simply refuses to sit down with Palestinians linked to the PLO or to per mit the Soviet Union, with which it has no relations, to play a key role in the ne gotiations. Hussein and Arafat insisted on both conditions. Murphy made another pitch for the sale before a congressional subcommit tee, and the administration is preparing to ask Congress for $135 million in mili tary and economic assistance to Jordan — an increase of nearly 50 percent over this year. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are v Editorial Board or the author and do not ne(e& :J resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrator ; or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratoryne^pr j students in reporting, editing and photograph i within the Department of Communications. ra Murphy, a tireless envoy, met sepa- itely last week in Europe with King Arafat, however, retains a veto over the Palestinians who would sit across the negotiating table from Israel as part of a joint delegation of Jordanians. Last May, Secretary of State George The question now is whether Murphy and the other American diplomats can bridge the differences or come close enough to get peace talks started. Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., the sub committee chairman, indicated Con gress will have to know more about Jor dan’s intentions before going ahead. The Battalion is published Monday throjt during Texas A&M regular semesters, exceptM . and examination periods. Mail subscriptions K L per semester, $33.25 per school year and L ? | year. Advertising rates furnished on request Pending is an administration arms Barry Schweid covers diplomacy for The Associated Press. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Ree^ Building, Texas A&M University, College Sntfi- I 77B43. Second class postage paid at College Slam, i i,n> ft