A reply to Ratnaningsih

In her Oct. 15 article Ms. Rahayu Ratnaningsih took one of my opinions, that President Habibie has done several positive and important things for the country, and then proceeded to caricature that judgment, and tried to present her caricature as something it is not, namely, evidence of blanket approval on my part of President Habibie's presidency.

What I would like to comment on is not Ms. Ratnaningsih's criticism of my opinions (which at times she misunderstands/misrepresents); those who have read our respective writings will make up their own minds about whose opinions they find more persuasive. It is her tendency to shadowbox by arguing points that I do not make and do not hold. For persons in a democracy to disagree is neither surprising nor alarming. But the failure of logic in public debate is disturbing, and in some of Ms. Ratnaningsih's writing there seems to be a failure of logic, a substitution of emotion for reason. In policy or opinion making there is an essential place for each. But to either confuse one for the other, or substitute one for the other, even unwittingly, as some Megawati/PDI-Perjuangan supporters seem inclined to do these days, opens the door to demagoguery: The last thing Indonesia, as a fledgling democracy, needs.

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra