Don't lose

Don't lose
more islands

From Media Indonesia

My heart broke to learn that, whatever the reasons, Indonesia
had lost East Timor. And I found it strange that Abdurrahman
Wahid -- when he was president -- changed the name of Irian Jaya
to Papua, a phenomenon that I believe has the potential to cause
disintegration as Papua is the name of a state on the eastern
part of the island where Irian Jaya is located. Our first
president, Bung Karno, named the western part of the island --
known later as Irian Jaya -- Irian, so why must we change it back
to its old name?

I was even more brokenhearted learning that Sipadan and
Ligitan islands were no longer part of Indonesia. It was really
shocking, therefore, to read in this newspaper that Indonesia
would soon lose four more islands.

Good Lord, are we so weak that we will lose more islands in
the future? Are we really indifferent about maintaining our unity
and sovereignty as a nation? Maybe the crisis caused us to lose
all hope for a good and orderly life. The traffic is a good
example of this. Drivers seem to no longer heed the traffic
regulations.

Have we ever imagined how difficult it was for Bung Karno to
unite this nation? And a long time ago Gajah Mada, the chief
minister of the great kingdom of Majapahit, once brought most of
Southeast Asia under the banner of the Majapahit. Gajah Mada and
Bung Karno are probably weeping to learn how this country has
lost some of its territory.

R. WINNIE LEDWINA

Purwokerto, Central Java