Foreign exchange rates

I am referring to Mr. de Jong's letter on Sept. 27. I really appreciated your ardent reminder to The Jakarta Post, due to their once omitting the Foreign Exchange Rates, and -- as if they hadn't paid any attention to your absolutely necessary facsimile in this matter -- even daring to commit the same sin a second time.

How empty were these two mornings when both of us, and probably hundreds of other expats in this country, were looking in vain for this eminent section, thus not knowing whether their dollars, DMs, or whatever had gone up again or not. And how much I agree with your statement about all these unnecessary advertisements (only, for financing the Post they are probably not that unimportant).

Yes, indeed, such a mistake should never, ever happen again. More international news, yes please, and what the heck with all these national news articles we care so much for, don't we? Especially as, like you say, we are all so fluent in Indonesian that we had better stick to, let's say, Kompas or Business Week. Oh yes, I feel with you, being one of the one percent knowing better what's going on in this country than those primitive pribumi (indigenous people). Under colonialism, such mistakes never would have happened.

WERNER WASMUTH

Bandung, West Java