Hiroshima

The following thoughts are offered in reaction to Mr. Sam Suhaedi's letter Remember Hiroshima published in The Jakarta Post on Aug. 22, 1995.

Perhaps the timing of his letter was appropriate, in that we have all just experienced the joyful celebrations commemorating Indonesia's 50th anniversary of declaration of independence from the Dutch. One wonders, however, when that anniversary would be celebrated if the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki hadn't finally convinced the Japanese leadership that they had lost the war. The use of those two bombs avoided the invasion of Japan and other occupied territories, and brought World War II to an end in less than ten days.

Through mid-August 1945, war damage in Indonesia had been limited to fighting in such remote areas as Biak, Hollandia and Morotai, and the industrial areas on Labuan and around Balikpapan. However, what were the civilian casualties from that fighting? How many more civilians would have died if the Allies had to conduct a land campaign to liberate the remaining territory of Indonesia? Without Japan's capitulation, all the major industrial and commercial centers of Indonesia would have been severely bombed and devastated. How many Indonesian civilians would have perished in these bombings?

Some 200,000 Indonesians had already been taken away as slave labor by the Japanese, with most never to return again. How many more would meet such a fate if the war had dragged on?

A railway bridge from Java was dismantled by the Japanese and shipped to Thailand to become a part of the infamous "death railroad." (The bridge, incidentally, is now touted to tourists as the "Bridge Over the River Kwai")

How much other major infrastructure would have been appropriated? Would the Japanese forces have run amok in Batavia and other population centers and slaughtered innocent civilians, as they did in Manila and Nanking? How many Indonesian civilians would have starved to death as the agricultural sector was bombed and burned into insignificance, and as the Japanese confiscated what little food remains?

Civilian suffering in wartime escalated dramatically once warfare moved from the "battlefield" into the cities. Indonesian civilians would have suffered had World War II been prolonged. The Japanese would undoubtedly have assigned the Indonesian "home defense force" into the front lines to attempt to repel a major Allied invasion. How many Indonesians would have died for the "Rising Sun"?

The generation which has provided leadership to Indonesia since independence may have been decimated if a land war had been waged here. Where would Indonesia be if America had not used all its power to end the war Japan started?

JOHN R. SPROAT, JR

Semarang, Central Java