Britain and World War II

Mr. Farid Baskoro's impassioned plea is quite understandable (July 24, Self-respect and colonialism). Anything or anybody that achieves a position of world preeminence will inevitably arouse feelings of envy and spite in those less eminent.

The United States now holds the dominant position occupied by the British Empire prior to and during World War II. Yet there are small minded people everywhere who never miss an opportunity to portray the United States as a capitalist ogre.

Baskoro should read an impartial history book to get his ideas in perspective. He might like to reflect on one or two important facts of world history since, say, 1930.

He is clearly too young to have any first-hand knowledge of how things developed from the time Adolf Hitler rose to power and created Nazi Germany, with aspirations for world domination. Ponder the fact that, with the fall of France in 1940, nothing stood between Hitler and his ambition except the British Empire.

The British held the fort alone for many desperate months until the aerial "Battle of Britain" was won and Japan's attack on Pear Harbor precipitated America's entry into the war. Britain's vast economic resources had to be expanded to maintain the struggle until it was finally won. Had the result gone the other way, Baskoro might today be living in a Japanese colony.

He should also remember that after the war, Britain willingly gave independence to its colonial possessions, leaving them with the priceless inheritance of a well-established democratic foundation on which to build their futures. And to this day, Britain continues to extend substantial financial and other assistance to them.

RB SAWREY-COOKSON

Jakarta