Foreign exchange rates omission

Foreign exchange rates omission

To be frank, it was very disturbing to read Capt. R.W. de
Jong's letter in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 27. I cannot refrain
from expressing my opinion.

He criticized The Jakarta Post for not publishing the Foreign
Exchange Rates and complained about the paper's apology that the
omission was caused by human error. He could not understand that
The Jakarta Post, being the biggest and most prestigious English
newspaper in Indonesia, can make that kind of mistake.

This de Jong seems to be a real perfectionist, who cannot
stand or tolerate such error. He sounds like an angry teacher,
who insists that all lessons be understood and obeyed by all the
pupils. He said that next to being a news broker, The Jakarta
Post has the task of being an educator by informing its readers
of what's happening in other parts of the "shrinking" world.

De Jong expects, as another reader remarked, more foreign news
in The Jakarta Post and not repeated local (Indonesian) news.
Local news can be obtained in Indonesian language papers in more
detail.

What a real smart guy is this Mr. de Jong is! Newspapers all
over the world have their own policies and strategies in
reporting. Style and taste are the specific characteristic of
every media institution, that cannot be easily argued against.
Many, if not all newspapers try to serve and satisfy their
readers with the most important and attractive news, foreign as
well as domestic, in well-balanced proportions.

De Jong further observes that due to shortage of space and to
"infernal advertisements which no one among The Jakarta Post
readers is interested in," human errors have caused the omission
of the column. How can de Jong say that no one is interested in
advertisements? First of all, I am sure that advertisers are
interested in their ads and the paper, of course, earns money for
publishing the advertisements. People who need the services are
also interested.

I am certain that many people have foreign currency, but what
is the urgency of knowing the exact rate changes every day? It's
simply mad to "fall down dead" (Dutch: neer dood-vallen) over
such a matter. There is no need and no reason whatsoever for The
Jakarta Post to review its lay out or to publish more articles
(foreign exchange rates) in the paper than are scheduled. Knowing
the foreign exchange rates twice a week is enough to keep anyone
up-to-date enough to profit from currency transactions.

As a matter of fact, I'm hesitating to further react to de
Jong's letter. But the matter he raised is irresistible. He says,
"I know Indonesia better than maybe 99 percent of the indigenous
Indonesians." I have no comment on this statement, as he may be
right, although I do not know what de Jong bases his statement
on. He further questions why the Dutch stayed in Indonesia till
the sixties and why Indonesians feel most at home in the
Netherlands when outside their own country. Those two questions
do not deserve to be answered, not even by my grandson in the
fourth grade of elementary school.

De Jong further preaches: "educate people through your paper,
let them know the true history and not a mixture what I often see
on TV, a mixture of 'company' and Dutch colonial reign." Again no
comment. I suspect that de Jong is well read, that makes him such
a knowledgeable man that he is too self confident.

The positive reaction to de Jong's letter, made by Werner
Wasmuth, is more surprising. Mr. Wasmuth remarks at the end of
his letter, that "under colonialism, such mistakes (made by The
Jakarta Post) never would have happened." What a brilliant
thought! I wonder if Mr. Werner knows what he is talking about.
This is also not worth reacting to, but is really irresistible...

ALOYSIUS HARYONO

Jakarta

Note: We believe Mr. Wasmuth's had his tongue very firmly planted
in his cheek when he made his closing remarks.

-- Editor