Front-page soccer

I refer to the front page of the Sunday issue (April 20, 1997). Among the tragic news of the Merpati disaster or among the interesting ones like Career women face many challenges, I was astonished to find the report of a soccer match between Manchester and Liverpool.

I really wonder what strange impetus has led the Jakarta Post into the temptation of defying the susceptibility of a share of its readers, especially the ones who, having nothing else better to do, watched the match on TV.

If the editor meant to publish something funny, it was better to give the honor of the front page to an article relegated on the same day, on page eight: Pet lovers perplexed as more dogs see psychiatrists. Better to give emphasis to an odd but interesting subject than to something that, although funny, represents nothing more than a grotesque interpretation of soccer. Or Swimming champ Poll shatters world record on page 16 might fit the front page better.

PIERO RONCI

Jakarta