Judging Indonesians

I am writing this with regard to a letter by Mark Potts, Ignoring American aid, that appeared on Jan. 13 in The Jakarta Post.

I would like to tell Potts that he is wrong in judging us Indonesians by taking the stereotypical view that we can only take things from his country for granted.

On Jan. 13, three leading local Indonesian newspapers (Kompas, Media Indonesia, Koran Tempo) featured photographs and articles about U.S. and Australian troops helping the tsunami victims in Aceh and North Sumatra. This fact was obviously overlooked by you and proves your statement wrong.

Furthermore, I would like to say that if you personally do not understand our country's behavior, then you cannot judge it as being "wrong". You can only judge when you have full understanding of a matter.

Please also note that extending help, if sincere, is not about self-glorification or expecting acknowledgement, as you implied in your letter when you stated "would you have been very happy to send all aid to Sri Lanka and Thailand".

Do we help a dying victim of a traffic accident only after first checking, analyzing and judging his life history?

ULI PANDJAITAN Jakarta