Donna's open criticisms

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