Donna's open criticisms

Whenever Donna Woodward makes a contribution to The Jakarta Post, it is always a surprise. The courage she shows as an expatriate and righteous person -- in this country always extremely vulnerable to threats from officials who feel their good (?) name to be (rightly) defamed -- is truly remarkable. The doggedness with which she pursued the immigration crook in Medan, through her revelations in the Post, is a uniquely outstanding feat in the annals of concerned expatriates openly and successfully decrying through the media the glaring power abuse by greedy officials.

Her article about Habibie and some of his aides is again a remarkable feat. It's a perfect analysis of the Habibie enigma: on the one hand Habibie's undeniable contributions toward democratic progress in this country, his 100 percent true-to- himself demeanor, his exemplary attitude in not seeking revenge not even for malicious attacks on his character; but on the other hand: his halfhearted initiatives regarding political prisoners, his courageous but ill-timed and badly sold East Timor initiative, and regarding Aceh his clumsy policies approaching betrayal of his own people.

To me, the Habibie enigma is exemplified by two sets of confusing contradictions, such as: his clownish, comedy-like acting during his official hollow-sounding speeches in contrast to his very human, touching and extremely sympathetic duet with Joshua a couple of weeks ago; or Yunus Yosfiah's law on freedom of the press as opposed to Wiranto's draft security bill.

Even the Post's editorials, without exception day after day the best journalistic jewels one can find in any newspaper in this country, seldom reach the level of clarity and objectivity as in Donna Woodward's article about Habibie.

I feel unfortunate never to have had the honor of meeting Donna. Wouldn't she be the right person to act as an ombudsman for expatriates' interests, or to set up a foundation to defend expatriates' rights, or to establish a Chamber of Commerce of Foreign Investors in this country? To my knowledge, neither Aburizal Bakrie nor the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) have never taken any initiative in this respect: Foreign investors are welcome if they come with open hands, never if these same open hands mean a request for justice or freedom of harassment.

What do the concerned expatriates here think of this idea themselves?

There must be some out there who have some guts, even if it were only 10 percent of Ms. Donna's?

IDRIS KYRWAY

Jakarta