Bravo Indonesia!

Bravo Indonesia! It may seem that after so many deaths on "Black Friday" Indonesia has little to celebrate; but that is wrong.

Between 11 p.m. and midnight on that fateful day we visited the Semanggi area. First we encountered a large group of students just south of Jl. Asia Afrika. They were peaceable, fatigued, calm and genuinely absorbed in their task of bringing reform to Indonesia. As we walked among them they paid little attention to us and were not at all threatening.

Closer to Semanggi, however, we encountered hundreds of ogling soldiers and police. Other civilians were milling about and we walked up onto the Jl. Gatot Subroto flyover that was almost devoid of vehicles. As we approached a vantage point providing a view of what was happening on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, we and others were aggressively warded off by intimidating and nervous troops bearing semiautomatic weapons slung across their waists. As the soldiers brandished their guns, shouted, kicked and threatened with their sticks a journalist told us to leave before the troops turned rough. We left; but couldn't help reflecting on the contrasting atmosphere of the two places we had stopped at.

Ironically, the encounters gave us great hope for the future of Indonesia. If, in such provocative circumstances, Indonesian youth can be so calm and self-disciplined, in stark contrast to the country's trained professional soldiers, the future bodes well for Indonesia when this new generation makes its more conventional contribution to the development of this country. How doubly sad it is, therefore, that some of these young people's lives had to end so prematurely.

FRANK and SHERISADA MANAF RICHARDSON

Tangerang, West Java