Dear Mr. President Bill Clinton,
　　 Mr. Trent Lott,
　　 Mr. Denny Hastert,
　　 Mr. Prime Minister John Howard,
　　 Mr. Kofi A. Annan,

Where to find the shield?

With the stress accompanied by the increasingly industrialized lifestyle in Taiwan, more and more people are becoming long term sufferers of at least one type of bodily pain, be it chronic or short term, according to the latest health survey unveiled by Taipei's Schmidt Group Practice Clinic (SGPC) yesterday.

The SGPC report showed that, among the 1,052 people that took the survey between July 30 and Aug. 13, headaches, abdominal pains and back pains were the top three pains plaguing the country's work force. Among those that partook in the poll, 56 percent said they suffered chronic headaches.

In our view, Taiwanese people's wants is to achieve economic prosperity and greater democracy.

"All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development." These are the words of Part 1, Article 1, Clause 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The international community's commitment to self-determination is currently being tested by the referendum in East Timor. The people of East Timor will, by this referendum, determine the future of their troubled land. Regardless of the outcome of the vote, the people of East Timor will need the support of the international community in their quest for this most fundamental of human rights.

Self-determination, in a sense, is a very simple concept. It means that a population, a people, has a right to government of its choosing. And that they have a right to make that choice freely and without interference from other nations or other peoples. Self-determination is an expression of a fundamental concept in natural rights, which is that government must be based on the consent of the governed.

The right to self-determination ought to be expressed by the people freely and peacefully. The referendum in East Timor has been neither. Violence and coercion have been rampant. Despite escalation in bloodshed and a complete failure by Indonesia's police and army to control anti-independence militias during the past weeks, the Timorese have demonstrated their courage and resolution to determine their future and their form of government by the huge early turnout in the ballot yesterday.

It is often the case that a people's right to self-determination is directly at odds with what might be termed international political expediency. Oftentimes a people's exercise of their right of self-determination creates political problems or tensions with neighboring countries or with the international community at large. It would often be "easier" for the international community if the people of some region did not exercise their right to self-determination. Be that as it may, expediency or ease or not raising tensions is not an excuse to deny any people their fundamental right to self-determination.

The people of East Timor face the same problem. The right of the people of East Timor to determine their own form of government is being interfered with. At this time, outside forces, outside political pressures are working to reduce or eliminate entirely the right of the Timorese people to freely and peacefully decide their own form of government.

The situation is unacceptable. The international community has a legal duty and a moral obligation to support the rights of all people to self-determination, including the people of East Timor.

Mahathir needs self-esteem, Taiwan also.

Newsweek August 30, 1999 ---
Question:
You've written that Japanese occupiers were more brutal than the British, but you seems more angry at the British, why?
Answer from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed ---
Under the British we didn't suffer in terms of oppression, but they looked down upon us. The (Malay) Sultan was not allowed into a British club, the lake club in Kuala Lumpur. That kind of thing I believe is much more not only humiliating, but oppressive. So that is my feeling about the British. I must say that they did a good job, too.

They left us with an administrative machinery which we could use and improve upon. But after independence, the Japanese were more forthcoming in bringing in investment and technology. So if the Japanese are nice today I say they are nice.

There is no hiding the fact. PRC has passed advanced missiles and sophisticate Russian-made Su-27 jet fighters and submarines with which to intimate Taiwan. Taiwan's policy of maintaining a military force as a deterrent to PRC threats has been another major factor in the maintenance of peace in the strait.

To be sure, the U.S. has greatly contributed to the area's stability by selling weapons to Taiwan to help it meet its defense needs. The U.S. is entitled to follow the "one China" policy, but acting to encourage other countries to pursue the same tact.

This serves to undermine the Republic of China's legitimate efforts to seek international diplomatic recognition and, moreover, aid Beijing's campaign of isolating this country.

Confucius said, "an ingratiation hypocrite ruins virtue" an ingratiating hypocrite; the translation on the Chinese Xiangyuan which means a man who tries to ingratiate himself with everyone without caring about the difference between right and wrong.

It is the time for you and your country to speak out from a sense of justice.