Leave hatred behind

I am writing in response to the letters of Farid Baskoro (July 24), Ronci (July 22 and July 25), Francesco (July 23), and Buhari Abdu (July 26). It seems to me that these writers' minds are filled with rage and hatred. And naturally such feelings tend to obscure reality.

No doubt, the main purpose of colonialism was to exploit the wealth of the colonized countries as much as possible. And no doubt, when the colonists had to leave their respective colonies, they left behind a small number of educated native people. The Dutch, for example, left Indonesia after 350 years of occupation with only one university which opened in 1941.

Ruling over uneducated people was (and is) always easier than ruling over educated self-assertive people. No one with a healthy mind can deny that colonists ruled too often with injustice. But one should be careful blaming the colonists for everything which happens nowadays in the countries formerly occupied by them.

Mr. Buhari Abdu mentioned Africa. Look at what happened and still happens in Ethiopia/Eritrea, Somalia, Zaire, Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda for example. The people of those countries had or have obviously nothing better to do but kill each other. Can all these cruelties and genocides really be called "normal issues" as Mr. Buhari seems to suggest?

Moreover, the rulers of these countries do not seem to care for the welfare of their own people and the education of the children. They have no mercy for children who die of hunger and malnutrition. These rulers only have a sense of power and greed, making sure there's enough money in their own pockets (e.g. Mobutu in Zaire).

Can one really blame the colonists for all the present misery after so many years of independence? I don't think so. I suggest to put the past where it belongs -- in the past. The people of formerly colonized developing countries must gradually stand on their own feet, giving their children a safe future and proving they can do better than any colonist ever could. But this cannot be achieved by hatred or blaming colonists who ruled a long time ago.

MRS. HILDE MAY

Jakarta