Computer discussion II

I am referring to the Science/Technology articles and a letter by Mr. John R. Fenton in The Jakarta Post on March 28, 1994.

I agree with Mr. Fenton that more computer columns are welcome, as long as they present objective news/views of the computer world. But I would not refer to a 'Pentium' as a '486i', which can be found in Mr. James O. Scharf's article. (Well, I hope it was a typographical error since we all know that Pentium is definitely a more advanced processor than 486i). As it stands, we are not sure whether Mr. Scharf was comparing the Cray computer's speed with a 486i or with a Pentium.

Still on the Pentium, I would not think that IBM will still put much emphasis on Intel's chips now that they have co- developed (with Apple and Motorola) the PowerPC chip, which offers better computing power in a smaller and cheaper package than the Pentium and which can work in both IBM and Macintosh environments.

As a parting shot, let us ponder this, guess who occupies the no. 2 slot in Japan's personal computer market. The no. 1 seller is obviously a Japanese brand, NEC Corp., how about no. 2? Toshiba? No, it is in sixth place. An American brand maybe? IBM? Sadly to say that it is in fourth place. Well, surprise, Apple recently toppled Fujitsu to become the second best selling computer in Japan.

It is no mean feat, and it just shows how good the products are.

DAMIANO Q. ROOSMIN

Jakarta

Awful gift from Garuda Indonesia

Taking advantage of the Lebaran holidays we decided to go to Perth on a four-day golf package offered by Tomaco tours in conjunction with Garuda Indonesia. We were supposed to depart from Soekarno-Hatta airport on Saturday, March 12, at 1:50 p.m. by a special flight GA 8782. We got to the airport bright and early, full of the holiday spirit. Little did we know what was in store for us.

When we arrived at the departure gate we were told the flight had been slightly delayed and would leave at 2:30. We accepted that as fairly normal and were not perturbed. At 2:30 it was announced that the technical fault had not yet been repaired and we would now depart at 4:30. At 4:00 p.m., lunch boxes were handed out in lieu of the lunch we would have had on board.

4:30 came and went and to cut a long story short, we were told at 7:00 p.m. that the flight could not leave since the crew had gone off duty and Garuda was trying to "find" another crew to operate this flight, and that there was a possibility of departing around 10:30 p.m.! We were also told that a "hot dinner" would be provided to all the passengers at 8:00 p.m. Until 9:00 there was no sign of any food so we wandered off to the snack shops to see if we could find anything to eat. The snack shops were out of food. We are talking about a so-called "International" airport which operates around the clock but does not have a decent restaurant. But that is another story. In frustration and rage we went to the Garuda Business Class lounge and asked to be served. The answer was "you cannot come in here and in any case Garuda catering is preparing dinner for you." I asked him if they were preparing a 15 course banquet because it was taking them so long. We returned to the gate and at 9:30 p.m. a tray of cookies and stale cupcakes and a crate of 7-Up was brought in. This was the promised "hot dinner." We eventually left for Perth at 1:15 a.m. on Sunday morning and arrived in Perth 13 hours late.

Every airline faces such crises from time to time but the manner in which the airline handles the situation is what differentiates the good from the bad. I have experienced such delays with other airlines, but always the passengers were immediately taken to a hotel and given a proper meal and provided with rooms to rest. Only a callous and uncaring airline would allow its passengers to sit at the gate in hard chairs for 13 hours. Also, no official from Garuda had the courtesy to come and talk to the passengers and explain the situation. A delegation of passengers went back out of immigration to find the Garuda station manager and lodge a complaint. The airport staff at the gate were left to handle the passengers and even they eventually went off and at one point only a security guard was left at the counter.

R. POTTER

Jakarta

Garuda apologizes

Referring to Mrs. R. Potter's letter to The Jakarta Post concerning Garuda service on the Garuda special flight No. GA 8782 from Jakarta to Perth on March 12, 1994, we felt deeply sorry about all the inconveniences she had experienced, but the concerned aircraft had an unexpected technical failure which needed some time to repair. Also we had made a special effort to manage the catering schedule but, again, because of lack of facilities at that time our effort was less successful, so as to cause some inconvenience to the passengers.

Through this letter, we would like to offer her our sincerest apologies. We also would like to thank Mrs. R. Potter for bringing this matter to the fore. Of course her points are an invaluable lesson in our endeavor to provide better services in our future dealings with the users of Garuda's services.

JANSIUS SIAHAAN

Public Relations

PT Garuda Indonesia

Jakarta

Pornographic films

From Media Indonesia

Last March I watched a film entitled Misteri Permainan Terlarang (Mystery of Illegal Game). I was shocked to see that many of the female stars wore thin and almost transparent dresses. They wore underpants but no brassieres.

So I can conclude that the censors were not doing their job as they usually do to other films, including foreign ones. It also made me wonder how such a thing could happen? Could it be that the film was not censored by the Film Censor Board?

Obviously, such films will have a negative impact on young people or school children. They would be easily influenced by the movies since nowadays many cinemas allow children under 17 years of age to watch films designed only for viewers over that age.

I earnestly hope that the authority concerned would take the necessary measures to ensure that producers do not place profit above all other considerations.

ROMDONI

Jakarta

Schindler's' Listnot Zionist propaganda

The world is highly-charged with ethnic and religious hatred and it seems to me that there are three broad responses to all that. One is to comply with it, urging it on and collaborating with its practitioners. Another, no less dangerous, is to be indifferent to it and to act as if it will somehow pass us by or go away of its own accord like an irksome cat. The third course is to oppose such hatred as vigorously as possible with all the rational means at our disposal.

I am prompted to write upon reading the comments of Sumargono of the Indonesian Committee for World Moslem Solidarity (KISDI), The Jakarta Post, March 25, about the film Schindler's List which he hasn't seen but which he prefers to call "nothing but Zionist propaganda". Such is the wisdom of the unsighted.

When Sumargono and his counterparts elsewhere hold forth on the subject of the Jews there are many questions that could be asked of them, not least, "Do you actually know any Jews in person?" Well, I do and am proud to say that the best of the Jews I have known are among the best of the people of varied religions and races I have known. One I knew, sadly long gone from us, lived for many years as my parents' neighbor in Hatfield, a satellite of London. He had arrived like many other Jews - but sadly of course too Jew - as a refugee from the Nazis. Only his brother and he from their Viennese family survived the Holocaust, all others were murdered in the concentration camps, whether murdered by gas, bullets, riffle butts, dogs or starvation. Kurt Sternbach never knew, but murdered they were. They were taken away and never came back. Never. Did Sumargono ever have a comparable experience?

Kurt Sternbach was, like many of the central European Jews, a highly cultured man, a man of great personal decency who openly expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the state of Israel. There are Jews who do not believe in such a state which they feel is a snare and a delusion. There are Jews for whom the likes of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, the perpetrator of the Hebron massacre, and his kind are anathema. It is because this is so, that when I hear people equating all Jews with the actions of one Jew or a group of violent ultraorthodox Jews I shudder. Or indeed when I hear people make the equation Jew equals Zionist equals Israeli. Kurt Sternbach was no more capable of that kind of hatred or the actions accompanying it than he was of flying to the moon. He was too good a human.

Zionist propaganda? Too kind to Jews? There are those alive today, including men and women saved by Oscar Schindler, who bear on their bodies numbers engraved in Auschwitz or Belsen, Ravensbruck or Treblinka; indelible reminders that they survived and millions of others did not. Millions! Millions of flesh and blood human beings, Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other Slavs including Bosnian Moslems!! Millions of sentient men, women and children were forced from their homes and transported across a continent to be incinerated, gassed and stoned to death, and now we are told it is Zionist propaganda!

DAVID JARDINE

Jakarta