CARE responds

My colleagues and I at CARE Indonesia were surprised, to say the least, at the allegations leveled against us (and myself in particular) by Mr. Ferry L. Dharma of PT. Bahana Mitra Buana (CARE: Discriminating, The Jakarta Post, April 22, 1996). Allow me to make a few comments with regard to his description of events which transpired in our offices:

* We have no recollection or record of Mr. Dharma's secretary ever having attempted to "fetch ...project-related information" from our office.

* To allege that CARE will "only disseminate information to foreigners" is ludicrous and hints at paranoia.

* We are sorry that we kept Mr. Dharma waiting for 15 minutes -- as I explained to him, I was receiving a long-distance telephone call of an urgent nature. However, we would still propose that this does not give Mr. Dharma the right to enter uninvited into one's office. Were we to do the same with Mr. Dharma, we would also expect to be politely requested to wait in the reception area. It is a question of common courtesy rather than the racism which M.Dharma implies.

DAVID ADRIANCE

Assistant Country Director

Program Management Unit

CARE Indonesia, Jakarta