Fay's vandalism<\/p>\n
Well there we have it, your correspondent, Toni Hardi, (The
\nJakarta Post, May 17, 1994), tells us that the reason that
\nMichael Fay vandalized cars in Singapore is that he was
\ntraumatized by global warming! Personally, I doubt the subject
\noccupied his mind for micro seconds before he reached for his
\naerosol and sprayed paint over the vehicles that those, less rich
\nthan his father, had worked so hard for.<\/p>\n
The truth is that Mr. Fay has it a lot easier than many of us
\ndid in our youth. Our fathers were off fighting a war: I never
\nsaw mine till I was five. There was little food, and less money.
\nBut none of us took out our deprivations on our fellow citizens.
\nOf course, if you cast around enough, you can find problems in
\ntoday's world that didn't exist in ours, but those such as drugs,
\nexcess alcohol and AIDS are largely self inflicted. They don't
\nimpinge on my life, or the lives of anybody I know. And I doubt
\nvery much that they do so on that of young Mr. Fay.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hardi tells us that he would \"love to see some parent\/teen
\ndialogs started here.\" I can't speak for America, but in Europe
\nwe already have them. We call this mindboggling innovative idea:
\n\"Talking to the kids!\" If our children do good things, we praise
\nthem. If they do bad things, we explain the error of their ways.
\nIf they persist, we (dare I say the word) hit them. This doesn't
\ntraumatize the children: They know they are doing wrong. They
\ngive far more respect to a parent, who cares enough to correct
\nthem, than those who so are preoccupied with their work or their
\nsocial life that they can't be bothered --until, as in the case
\nof Michael Fay -- it's too late.<\/p>\n
Judging from the fact that our violent crime is but a tiny
\nfraction of America's, I suspect we are on the right track. I
\nthink it doubtful that Michael Fay will be tempted to return to
\ncrime in the future, and for that he can thank the Singaporean
\njustice system. I congratulate them on it.<\/p>\n
Americans should not believe that there is one law for them
\nand another for the rest of the world. It is grossly hypocritical
\nfor them to condemn caning, while the majority of the United
\nStates still allows prisoners to be carried kicking and screaming
\nto the electric chair, or the gas chamber, to be killed like
\naging dogs.<\/p>\n
They should not believe either that everybody covets their
\nidea of liberty. Freedom for what? To have drug pushers
\neverywhere; to have no gun control; to be unable to walk in the
\npark or go on the subway without fear; to need so many locks on
\nyour front door that it looks like the inside of the national
\ngold depository. If that is freedom, Asia can well do without it!<\/p>\n
JAMES DENNISON<\/p>\n
Andorra, France<\/p>\n
Poor coverage of
\nJackie's funeral<\/p>\n
Perhaps it was due to a lack of space, as half a page had
\nalready been devoted to the entire world news in the Monday
\nmorning issue of The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
But, I think it tends to reflect the prevailing anti-American
\nsentiment that has been published regularly in the Post. However
\nat the death of an honored and internationally loved individual
\nsuch as Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, one would hope your
\npaper could show a little more respect as opposed to referring to
\nher only as \"Onassis\" twice in the article with no title. Yes,
\nthat was the last name of her last husband, but the last name
\nalone without a title is how teenagers shout at each other on a
\nplayground.<\/p>\n
It was rather cold-hearted as well not to include \"Jackie\",
\nthe name that the world affectionately knows her by. It would
\nhave been a refreshing change to recall an individual and not let
\nour personal prejudices against a particular country, religion,
\nor race get in the way, as seems so prevalent in the world and
\nthe Post recently.<\/p>\n
The daily Bisnis Indonesia did a much more respectable tribute
\nto this classy lady. Their article showed much more heart. It's
\ntoo bad that the only English language paper did such a poor job,
\nso that those whose Bahasa Indonesia is not very good could not
\nenjoy and reflect on the light that a good soul can bring to us
\nin this world in which we are surrounded by so much hate and
\ncompetition.<\/p>\n
Thank you Bisnis Indonesia for sharing the good of \"Jackie.\"<\/p>\n
MRS. MARY KRIS<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>\n
Mandela and
\napartheid<\/p>\n
Nelson Mandela has made it to the presidency of South Africa
\nand like many people I can only say that justice has been done.
\nWhat he or his fellow South Africans now proceed to make of this
\nis another matter, highly fraught with risk, but nobody can say
\nthat he hasn't earned the right.<\/p>\n
It is strange, however, to see which people are now claiming
\ncredit for the end of apartheid and the beginnings of a multi-
\nracial system in South Africa. Take the British paper, The Daily
\nTelegraph, long a supporter of apartheid regimes, which recently
\nran an article urging John Major to be seen to claim more kudos
\nfor the ending of white role. Pardon me, is this the same John
\nMajor who served under Margaret Thatcher, that long-time opponent
\nof the anti-apartheid movement? The same Mrs. Thatcher who in
\nMarch 1973, when she was secretary of state for education under
\nEdward Heath hobnobbed with John Bathazas Vorster, apartheid
\nprime minister, at the opening of the Sutherland Observatory in
\nSouth Africa where she welcomed the \"opportunity for co-
\noperation.\" And that was in her pre-Thatcherite phase, so to
\nspeak.<\/p>\n
The rest we know, of how when she was prime minister she
\nworked long and hard lobbying against sanctions and promoting
\nties with Pretoria's white supremacists, of how she expedited
\nwith obscene haste the passport application of one little white
\ngirl, Zola Budd because she saw Olympic glory for Britain in the
\nthumping of Zola's feet, of how down the long dark years of
\nNelson Mandela's incarceration -- and indeed of people like
\nWalter Sisulu and many, many others -- she never turned a hair at
\ntheir suffering ... need I go on?<\/p>\n
It is a fact of life that fair-weather friends emerge from
\nnowhere when the sun is on your shoulders. That is no reason to
\ntrust them and I hope that President Mandela will remember that
\nthose, such as the British Tories, who now try to snuggle up to
\nhim did nothing for him through the 27 years he spent in the
\napartheid Gulag.<\/p>\n
DAVID JARDINE<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>\n
Bogus reporters<\/p>\n
From Neraca<\/p>\n
We are doing business which deals with entertaining
\nconferences, meetings held by companies. Recently a client held a
\npress conference in a reputed hotel. The company invited 10
\nreporters of different media to the conference with the purpose
\nthat they would spread the latest information about the
\nactivities of the company.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, besides the 10 invited reporters, a number of
\npeople, who said that they were representing certain media, also
\ncame and asked for transportation allowances. They did ask us for
\nthe information material, but we noticed that they just dumped it
\ninto the dustbin.<\/p>\n
When asked to prove that they were members of the Indonesian
\nJournalists Association, they failed to produce the proper
\nidentification. Some of them defended themselves by saying that
\nnot all reporters are members of the organization.<\/p>\n
In this context I would like to call for the attention of the
\nIndonesian Journalists Association to advise us on how to deal
\nwith the so-called reporters. We were told by one hotel staffer
\nthat the same self-styled reporters are found to be lingering
\nabout in reputed hotels just to collect the transportation funds
\nusually provided to journalists by press conference organizers.<\/p>\n
HARRY GA<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>\n
Thomas Cup
\nand TVRI<\/p>\n
From Suara Karya<\/p>\n
The symbols of world badminton supremacy, the Thomas and Uber
\ncups, were snatched by top Indonesian players in heroic matches
\nat the Senayan indoor stadium last week.<\/p>\n
Pride and rejoicing dawn in the hearts of the public,
\nincluding me. But unfortunately most of the Indonesian people,
\nespecially those who live in remote areas, could not see the most
\nimportant matches in this country, except for the semifinals and
\nfinals.<\/p>\n
The problem was that the private television station ANTeve
\nbought up the broadcasting rights for all of the matches. But it
\nhas less sophisticated (limited radius) broadcasting equipment
\nthan that of the state television station, TVRI, whose programs
\nare accessible nationwide.<\/p>\n
TVRI should have held the broadcasting rights for such
\nimportant events because badminton is one of the most popular
\nsports in this country.<\/p>\n
Was it too expensive for TVRI to buy the broadcasting rights?
\nWhat is the use of the television taxes we pay every month, if
\nTVRI cannot air the programs favored by the people?<\/p>\n
So far only TVRI has the widest and best broadcasting quality
\nin this country. So, next time a truly special event like the
\nThomas and Uber championships occur, it should be covered by
\nTVRI, which can reach ever so many more people.<\/p>\n
DIDING SURYADI<\/p>\n
Cilegon, West Java<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fays-vandalism-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }