Calculated temerity

In your editorial of Dec. 29, 1998, you proposed Indonesia's university students as the pre-eminent candidates for "The Jakarta Post's men and women of 1998." I agree heartily. The students' perseverance, idealism, and courage have been remarkable, and their dynamic role in this country's current evolution is now a matter of record.

I would suggest that another force has been of tremendous significance in this unfolding drama: the press, and the Post in particular. I have been reading this paper since 1985, and understand the delicate tight rope walk that was required in the 1980s and early 1990s in order to avoid the fate of Tempo magazine and other journals which were banned. Beginning in July 1996 (and probably earlier), your paper began reflecting an admirable, calculated temerity, particularly in editorials. Your editors' and writers' excellent command of English allowed subtleties and implications which allowed your readers to make inferences about issues that were perhaps not able to be more bluntly reported at that time. Of course, parallel developments in the electronic media -- and the increasing resignation of the authorities then to the futility of censorship -- facilitated this new frankness. The fact remains that the Post's editors and writers were "sticking their necks out."

Your staff displayed "calculated temerity" in the last month's of former president Soeharto's regime, and, since the May riots, your editors have made balanced and articulate calls on government officials to be forthright, exhibit clear thought, and take responsible action. All of this reflects a journalistic relentlessness and courage very much consistent with the qualities your Dec. 29 editorial attributed to the students.

Bravo, The Jakarta Post.

MICHAEL S. DOUGHERTY

Jakarta