Even though they are not residents of California, international
students at UCLA are as divided in their opinions about
today’s election to recall Gov. Gray Davis as those students
who will be voting.
Though international students usually cannot vote in countries
other than their own, they still hold their own varied opinions
about the validity of the recall.
While some believe the recall is a serious matter, others see it
as nothing more than a parade of unusual characters. There are some
even who are relatively unaware of the approaching election.
Hsi Lin Chien, a graduate economics student from Taiwan, said
she doesn’t know much about the particulars of today’s
election since she cannot vote in it.
“I am an international student, and since I don’t
have a right to vote, I am not that aware of the election,”
Chien said.
Another reason some international students may not be up-to-date
on the recall is because of the lack of serious recall coverage in
some foreign press.
Murat Melek, a graduate student in engineering who hails from
Turkey, said most of the newspapers in his country treat the
California election as nothing more than an amusing exhibition of
unorthodox candidates.
“In Turkey, the headlines about the California election
focus on the more (unusual) candidates such as Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Larry Flynt, or Mary Carey. I never once saw any
articles about someone like Cruz Bustamante,” Melek said.
He added that Turkish newspapers cover the California election
only because there are famous names on the ballot and that they
treat it more like entertainment than political news.
Luis Zuniga Jr., a Panamanian graduate student in the music
performance program, said his native country’s newspapers
carry almost no mention of the California recall election. He
believes this is the case because the election in California would
have almost no impact on international relations between his
country and the United States.
Similarly, Abul Nuruzzaman, a graduate electrical engineering
student, said in his home country of Bangladesh the California
election is almost never mentioned in the news.
“Presidential elections are big news, but foreign press
doesn’t cover state elections,” Nuruzzaman said.
Other international students expressed concern for different
issues they felt were more pressing than the recall. Some said they
were more worried about their student fees than about an
election.
Jihea Park, a third-year international chemistry student from
South Korea, didn’t know much about the recall but said if
recalling Gov. Davis would decrease student fees, she would support
it.
“I am not that familiar with the election. All I know
about are the (recent) cuts in the budget, and how that increased
my student fees,” Park said.
International students who were aware of the recall weighed in
with different opinions on how they would vote.
Zuniga expressed mixed opinions about tossing out Davis.
“I think Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a bad choice (for
governor), since he has no qualifications for the position, but I
don’t see any other solid candidates,” he said.
He added that though he doesn’t believe that there are any
good candidates for the gubernatorial post, Davis should still be
recalled.
“They are not recalling Davis for (doing) a great job …
If I could vote, I would have voted yes on the recall,”
Zuniga said.
Hirano Yoshihiro, a fourth-year business economics student
from Japan, also supports the recall effort.
“Davis should be recalled for the deficit he caused in
this state,” Yoshihiro said.
Other students, such as Melek, believe Davis should be left in
office for his term’s entire duration.
“I would not have recalled the governor after one year in
office. If I could I would have definitely voted “˜no’
on the recall,” Melek said.
He added that even though the recall is being treated as a
long-running joke by many Californians, he feels it should still be
taken seriously as a democratic, constitutional election.
“It’s something which makes sense, not something of
which we should make fun,” he said.