I'd like to shut off the sun

You mind if I shut off the sun? The whole world, of course, would be plunge into darkness as a result. Hopefully, men would stop fighting each other and peace would finally descend on earth. I certainly would not hesitate to switch off the sun, come what may, if it could stop the flow of refugees at home and overseas. Hostilities surely would stop because you don't fight in darkness and children would have great fun playing under the light of the stars.

With the sun off, there would be no moonlight and every living creature would suffer a slow death because there would be a lack of oxygen and plants would die. Maybe the euro would be easier to get and Indonesia's elections would be unnecessary; the Functional Group (Golkar) would stop campaigning under a false start and NATO would stop bombing any target.

Everybody would wait for the voice from above and somebody may come on behalf of Heaven to show mankind how to live like brothers and sisters, in peace and in harmony.

The most I can do now is, however, to switch off my television set in order not to learn about all the miseries and turn over (after reading) newspapers' reports about the plight of refugees.

If the sun stops shining, perhaps we would realize that we are living on one planet and need each other badly. Can you explain why Indonesians, once called by the Dutch the "most peace loving people on earth" have suddenly turned violent, intolerant, hostile (even barbaric), deceitful, murderous, hypocritical?

If I could turn off the sun, maybe the ethnic cleansing and civil strife elsewhere in the world might also come to a stop.

The tragic thing is that the elite is only thinking of who will be the next president of the country, not how to restore the spirit of unity and bring welfare to the people. How could some of our leaders dance the victory dance at a campaign rally while the rest of the people are in tears?

I am afraid I have lost my (normal) senses and have begun to confuse reality with fata morgana. Against the background of the universe, humans sometimes look like tiny insects with ambitions when they should be humble instead of conceited. One does not have the right to take life if one cannot create it. Against the endlessness of time, the presidency looks like a drop of honey; it glitters as long as a wink.

Wars, local or on a world scale, have been occurring from time immemorial as it seems inherent to man's nature despite religions, the League of Nations and the United Nations.

I am sad that I cannot stop ethnic cleansing, sectarian violence and religious strife even in my own country. But I surely would shut off the sun if I had the power to do so. For only then peace would reign on earth.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta