Flores and Iraq

Flores and Iraq

Two humanitarian tragedies are taking place in two different places in the world. One is in Iraq in the Middle East, which has been in war with the US, and the other is in Flores in southern Indonesia, which has been hit by a typhoon. There have been casualties in both tragedies.

But how big is the Flores tragedy to us, Indonesians?

It has been three days (since the typhoon hit Flores), but people only know about it from the newspapers. Without the press, we must have overlooked the tragedy as it took place in our backyard.

We do not expect (Indonesian) President Megawati Soekarnoputri to make a statement that the Flores tragedy is the affairs of the provincial administration. We want to see party leaders who took part in the demonstration in Jakarta to denounce the US attack on Iraq, to get sympathy for the domestic tragedy.

We are used to putting domestic tragedies in bad political instinct. They often becomes a person's or a certain institution's instrument to gain popularity.

As scions of this nation, we want to see whether the Flores tragedy can make the people feel sorrow, just like what they have shown over the Iraq tragedy.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta