Judging Indonesians

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