Double standard attitude?

One of the headlines in The Jakarta Post dated Oct. 16, 1998 was Winters banned from entering RI. As an ordinary citizen I was very ashamed of this. It's more proof that Indonesia is a country that is ruled by power of government rather than by law. What the Minister of Justice did was overreact. As a minister of justice, he was not supposed to judge Prof. Winters without trial. Why don't we invite Prof. Winters and Mr. Ginandjar Kartasasmita to clarify their statements. By banning him from entering Indonesia, we conclude that Mr. Winters' statement is wrong and what was stated by Mr. Ginandjar is right without any attempt at clarification. The international community will be more confused about what has really happened in Indonesia. And I believe it will have an impact on their investment decision in Indonesia.

I agree that we have to respect our high ranking officials, such as ministers, generals and other VIPs, but that doesn't mean that we have to blindly accept and believe what he or she says. We have to remember that actually they are also ordinary citizens, who for the time being hold a high position. They deserve to be protected by the government like other ordinary citizens. But, of course not, "over" protected, otherwise we won't know the truth.

The main reason for banning Prof. Winters is because he, according to the government, was accused of humiliating our minister. In this case only one person was "humiliated".

A few weeks ago when former Malaysian minister Mr. Ghafar Baba humiliated an Indonesian journalist I didn't see any firm action taken by the government. I hope this is not because the government respects ministers a lot more than journalists, or that the government practices double standards when it comes to corruption cases, but rather because of the spirit of ASEAN brotherhood.

M SULHAN ASKANDAR

Jakarta