Indonesia and U.S.

In the aftermath of World War II, the United States actively supported Indonesia's independence movement, and in December 1949 the United States was one of the first countries to recognize the new Republic of Indonesia. Last month the United States and Indonesia completed a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, with important high-level visits, retrospective conferences and seminars and cultural presentations in both Jakarta and Washington.

We Americans are proud of our country's close relationship with the people and the nation of Indonesia, and we look forward to continued cooperation in pursuit of our mutual interest. Like any two partners, we have not always agreed on all things, but our bilateral links have grown on many levels and have benefited both of our countries over five decades. The United States, for example, buys more exports from Indonesia than any other nation and our investments in Indonesia exceed those of any other country.

We were therefore appalled to see the false and misleading accusations by Frank Richardson (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 13 - Jan. 14: The U.S.: A party to mass murder?). The writer has presented his own warped conspiracy theory, curiously reminiscent of Cold War disinformation, as if it were fact. Sophisticated readers will quickly recognize this material as an inaccurate, distorted attempt to discredit the United States, but we are concerned that some readers might actually believe this hysterical attack.

We encourage those interested in Indonesian-American relations to study scholarly materials by serious Indonesian and American scholars and to form their own opinions based on balanced, objective analysis. Anyone who does this will inevitably conclude that the United States has been a reliable friend to Indonesia in the past and can be depended upon in the future to support political and economic reforms now underway to address unresolved issues.

KARL FRITZ

Press Attache

U.S. Embassy, Jakarta