Deviled egg on the face

Deviled egg on the face

A number of us Western readers were appalled to read a notice
of congratulations in The Jakarta Post, July 19, page 14, by PT
Pertamina to the wise leadership of Iraq on their glorious
revolution in winning against the "devil spirit".

Since Pertamina is an Indonesian government enterprise, any
politically sensitive or outspoken statement by one of their own
offices reflects an official point of view and is presumed to
have sanctioned approval of the government. However, after having
contacted a Mr. Budi of the public relations office at the
Ministry of Mines and Energy, he also expressed surprise and some
dismay after understanding our strong concern over Pertamina's
insensitive rhetoric. He politely emphasized that this opinion
did not reflect that of his ministry, but said his ministry would
not get involved in Pertamina's business.

As the language of the notice did not directly refer to any
specific group or nation, even though every educated individual
knows who the "devil spirit" innuendo refers to, the American
Embassy is tactfully ignoring this notice.

The Post, to their credit and good sense of propriety, has
stated that they generally refuse to accept all missives that
smack of "hate mail" and will continue to prevent unfortunate
episodes like this from occurring again in the future. This
particular notice, that would normally have been filed in the
rubbish, managed to slip by during a weekend.

Now, regarding the person or persons who scribbled this tripe;
it originates out of the public relations office of Pertamina,
but exactly from who cannot be ascertained. The manager, Mr.
Fajar, has constantly been in meetings over the last two days and
has not replied to numerous requests from various people for
clarification. Is this notice a result of naivete or the
expression of vexation at having been caught with the proverbial
fingers in the till by the mother of all audits recently?

If Pertamina has any sense of common courtesy and professional
ethics, it will issue an appropriate explanation for its not-so-
subtle notice; that is unless Pertamina's intent is to insult the
"devil spirit" Western companies that it works hand-in-hand with.

BRIEN F. DOYLE

Jakarta