Dr. Winata's article insensitive

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