Banning of Schindler's List?
The sad thing about the banning of Schindler's List in this country is that some of your local correspondents will remain as ignorant of history and world affairs as they clearly are already. Those of them, who condemn the film sight unseen, as "Zionist propaganda" and tell us that the media is controlled by the Jews, are the very ones who tell us that Indonesian journalists should not visit Israel. Those who seek to control the local media are surely those who don't want others to learn the truth.
My guess is that (prior to the current problems), those journalists never even saw a stone thrown in Israel proper -- where a million Arabs live.
The only way to my Jewish friend's small farm is through an Arab village: They have lived together in friendship for over 50 years. To believe that there is widespread violence and hatred is a total distortion of the truth. Go and look for yourself!
Maybe some would like to put the political scene back some 46 years, so that Israel did not exist. But four million Israelis won't disappear, nor will three million Palestinians. The world marches on, and very few countries are now composed solely of their original indigenous inhabitants. Not for example: America, Australia, Britain, India, Brazil, or Zimbabwe. And certainly not Indonesia. One look at all the skin colors and facial characteristics of its people tells you that this country has been a melting pot for immigrants from many nations: But today's population manages to live in harmony -- and is to be congratulated on it.
Of course the killing of some 30 people by a Jewish fanatic at Hebron was cowardly and terrible, but so were the actions of Hamas in putting a bomb in a bus crowded with innocent civilians (many children) in Hadera. No one religion is able to claim the moral high ground. The Jakarta Post itself has reported (in rather small type) that Islamic fundamentalists have killed some 300 in Egypt and over 3,200 in Algeria. I don't recall any condemnation of those atrocities, or those nations that openly sponsor such terrorism.
Ironically, Israel is one of the safest countries for an Arab to live in. Apart from the above, it is reckoned that up to 10,000 of their own citizens were slain by Syrian forces at the town of Hammaa. The northern Sudanese are busy murdering those of the South. God knows how many Kurds, Sunnis, or Marsh Arabs were butchered by Saddam Hussein. Did your local correspondents not notice, or did they just take care to look the other way?
The President of Israel himself personally went to apologize for the Hebron massacre. When Palestinian terrorists entered a school in Maalot and murdered small Israeli children, King Hussein very bravely condemned the action and said that it had brought shame on the Arab race. The vast majority of Israelis and Arabs are good decent people, who deserve to live in independence and peace. I sincerely hope that mutual wish can be fulfilled -- the bigots be confounded.
For most Israelis are not the descendants of those who fled Nazi Germany. They are Oriental Jews, who fled violence or famine in their own countries. From Iran in the North to Ethiopia in the South; From Morocco in the West to India in the East. These refugees also left virtually everything behind them, but their friends around the world -- Jewish and otherwise -- provided the funds for new houses, schools and hospitals, as well as factories to work in. During that same period, how much practical help did the oil rich Arab countries give their "brothers?" The answer is obvious from Palestinian camps: in round terms -- nothing.
When Mr. Arafat's infant state comes into being, it will need a great deal of financial help. Let us hope that their "brothers" are more generous with their wallets than they appear to be in their hearts.
JAMES DENNISON
Andorra, France
Liem's celebration and nationalism
From Bisnis Indonesia
Lim Sioe Liong's recent 50th wedding anniversary in Singapore cost him US$ 640,000 and a huge amount of criticism.
My question is: So what? What is wrong with the businessman spending his own money to hold a party with his wife? And what is wrong with his choice of the site for the party being Singapore?
Indeed it is his right to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary that way.
Why should we question this and link it with nationalism? And why should we call the celebration immoral just because there are still so many people living in poverty as a politician has said?
Is the nationalism we subscribe to a nationalism which curbs the expression of our personalities and refuses us space to express ourselves?
I believe that no one would be so crazy as to describe nationalism in this superficial way because it does not permit individuals to determine their own identities.
It seems that cynics fail to distinguish between individual and social life. Usually, we are fond of making a fuss about the personal life of public figures, but are willing to close our eyes to their social and business activities.
Let us be more concerned about our public figures' social and business lives as they are linked to the interests of the people as a whole.
JAKA MAMELA
Jakarta
Fear of crime haunts people
From Bisnis Indonesia
Lawyers and security officers are split in the their views of the current "Operation Cleansing" anti-crime campaign which is designed to get criminals off the street for once and for all.
From the legal point of view everyone deserves protection from any crime.
The crime rate has reached an alarming stage, with brutal acts occurring at home, in the streets, schools, offices and other public places. People are haunted by fear wherever they go and it makes them suspicious toward one another because nobody can distinguish between the good and the bad.
Perhaps law officers should go through the experience of being a victim of a robbery or murder. For common people fear is a constant accompaniment whether they are at home or in public places.
The amount and the level of brutality of crimes are becoming more and more intolerable. It seems that criminals treat their victims as no more than trees to be cut down or animals to be hunted and exploited.
The lives and property of people are under threat from criminals and the law does not seem to be able to protect them. One prime example of this is that it is all but impossible to get one's car back once it has been stolen.
Confiscation of goods as evidence often has no follow up and we rarely hear of car thieves or their fences being tried or going to prison.
I think criminals of all kinds deserve heavy punishment.
Law officers should be able to feel the intensity of fear suffered by the people. Hunger is not the primary reason for criminals to commit crimes. Most of them are drunkards or narcotics fiends who like to lead a lavish life.
RAJA A. MAHMUDI
Depok, Bogor
West Java