Again on circumcision

I am writing in reply to Melly R's response to my earlier letter regarding female circumcision.

Melly R, please accept my apologies for disturbing your senses with my supposed arrogance in daring to criticize the plight of children. Firstly, I am not an Australian as you have wrongly guessed, so your anti-Australian historical lecture fell on deaf ears.

I was also not criticizing the entire Indonesian nationality as you stated, only defending the rights of Indonesian children to be able to make their own choices regarding their own bodies.

My letter stating opposition to female circumcision as a barbaric and outdated practice is well-supported throughout the world by thousands of women who are fighting to have this practice abolished.

The woman who recently single-handedly had this practice outlawed in Egypt was herself a famous Sudanese international model who had been circumcised at the age of eight (without her consent) and wrote a book describing the horror of it and the lifelong effects to her body. The practice of female circumcision is banned in numerous countries as it is a violation of the individual's human rights.

My criticism was in actual fact directed at The Jakarta Post for putting this article on a travel page, advertising to people that it was a tourist attraction. My worry was that this could be read by the wrong sort of people such as pedophiles or sadists, who might rush to indulge their perversions with this new information. After all, if this "ritual" is so sacred, why wouldn't it also be kept private? So the point is -- you missed the point!

Yes, Melly, I have discussed this matter with many Indonesians, both male and female, and so far I have yet to find one who agrees with this practice. In fact, many of these people were shocked to hear that this is still done in Indonesia. If my concern for children is seen by you as "western arrogance" then so be it, but believe me, the world can only change by open discussion on subjects of this nature--no matter how it effects people's sensibilities.

Indonesia's new era of reform is giving new freedom to the underprivileged and I would hope to think that defenseless children were to be included in these changes.

Slavery and persecution were all accepted as normal one hundred years ago, even by arrogant westerners. Those colonial countries fought to retain outdated and inhumane practices, standing on their "high horse" preaching that it was their right to do whatever they wanted, even though other people suffered. These practices are now abolished much to the relief of those formally oppressed minorities. If I am arrogant Melly, please re- read your own letter, or is arrogance reserved only for "foreigners" who dare to have an opinion that differs to yours?

NIGEL MASON

Legian, Bali