Keep calm

This is in response to Mr. Ross Gulliver's letter On racism in The Jakarta Post, Aug. 3, 1995.

Mr. Gulliver, I follow your comments and those of others regarding street insults or "racism" as it has been labeled in the titles of the letters published recently.

As a foreigner and well-wisher, I write mainly to sympathize with you over those experiences which you underwent and probably are still undergoing as a mixed couple. If possible, all I can suggest is that you stop any further response to provocative articles which can't deter those insults. Please, continue to be kind even to those who insult you. As believers in God, we can be sure that God is always on the side of the truth.

In fact, your situation might be better compared to mine as a black man, not even of a mixed couple. I am now getting wed to a situation where people not only laugh at me audibly for nothing but they at times call me names that can disturb one's mind for hours or days. Could you imagine that, if white man can experience it, then what would be the fate of a black man whose image is not always understood by others?

Let me end by quoting from your letter to the Post of Aug. 3, 1995 in which you stated thus "pretending that it doesn't exist won't make it go away."

BUHARI ABDU

Jakarta