Dr. Winata's article insensitive

I write in response to Dr. Reni Winata's article Australia's punishment for joining U.S. (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 24).

I have two fundamental objections to Dr. Winata's article. The first is with its fundamentally flawed analysis. Is she saying that Australia was the target of the Kuta bombing? Australians comprise many of the victims but it does not follow that they were the target -- after all, many Indonesians were also killed, along with other nationalities, and Bali itself and its people will suffer for years to come. Among all these victims what reason is there to single out Australians as the target?

My second objection is even stronger. Dr. Winata is the Director of the Australian Studies Center at the University of Indonesia. She has been close to Australians for a long time and supposedly knows us well. Yet her first words in print on the murderous event of Oct. 12 are not words of sympathy, condolence or support. Rather her words are ungracious and insensitive. At the very best I find that deeply disappointing.

R. C. SMITH, Ambassador, Australian Embassy, Jakarta