Bring back colonialism?

In his letter in The Jakarta Post of May 5 edition, David Wallis yearns for a revival of colonialism. "Bring back colonialism, is the only answer", he says, having come to the conclusion that there is no hope left for democracy or fairness in Indonesia.

I have sometimes read the letters read by David and found them interesting. After all it is a letter written by a Westerner, judging by the name. Perhaps the writer's longing for a return to colonialism reconfirms this.

Nevertheless, I would be less inclined to read any further letters by the same author having read his statements on colonialism.

Of the little that I have read concerning that period and the colonialist attitudes that prevailed at the time, and as an Englishman, I am obliged to regard it with shame. The often painful process of democracy, as history has shown, is not a quick one. It is slow and it is frequently frustrating, but it is a process nevertheless.

If David's defeatist attitude is right, then why didn't we revert back to a primitive state and start gnawing flyblown meat off the bone again? Why didn't we start grunting and pounding our chests again at the slightest sign of danger? Why didn't we give up, abandon our cars and our innumerable advancements and return to the dark ages?

I imagine that most people would like to see democracy flourish (not everyone), but it is narcissistic to believe that it must all take place within one person's lifetime.

So what do you yearn for David? Completion? Closure? One way or another? The frustration is not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We may need a Hubble telescope to see democracy in Indonesia, and the life that we have in mind, but by the same token, there are a myriad of galaxies that we cannot see with the naked eye and yet we believe they are there. Have a little faith.

JOHN CHRISTIAN TORR, Jakarta