Contribution

Contribution

From Kompas

I was told by my parents in Surabaya, East Java, that the neighborhood authority collected contributions from the community for the Indonesian independence jubilee. My parents had to pay at least Rp 75,000 as a "voluntary" contribution.

Both my father, 80, and my mother, 72, underwent Dutch colonialism and the Japanese occupation. They must survive on their pensions. The money the neighborhood authorities demanded was really a shock to the retired couple.

The case concerns me deeply. Isn't this just colonialism under the pretext of jubilee celebrations?

JULIANA HUTUBESSY

Bandung, West Java