Letter to the editor

Get tough on drug dealers

From Tempo

A recent report about drug abuse in Tempo weekly newsmagazine said that Indonesia has become a fertile ground for the business.

One of the reasons why drug dealers like to operate in the country is the light punishment handed out to smugglers. In Malaysia, someone found guilty of importing more than 15 milligrams gets the death sentence. But here, someone convicted of smuggling over 20 kilograms gets a 20-year jail term.

In view of the big money involved in drug smuggling, 20 years is nothing.

Therefore, Indonesia should follow the step taken by the other Golden Triangle countries (except Myanmar) as soon as possible, since the conditions which encourage the filthy business will only worsen.

Myanmar and Colombia serve as examples of how not to go about it. Those two countries are known as havens for drug lords. It seems that the governments of those countries have been late in addressing the issue and hence the situation has become complicated.

I think it is high time the Indonesian government increase the severity of punishments handed out to drug smugglers.

Moreover, it is disgusting to see the Indonesian jet-setters who wallow in the bulk of the profits of development out there getting drunk.

ALAMSYAH M. JUWONO

Hobart, Australia

Computer Discussion

Most of us enjoy the Monday edition of The Jakarta Post wherein the Science/Technology articles appear, specifically the computer articles by Mr. Zatni Arbi and Mr. James O. Scharf.

Mr. Arbi usually gives us useful information regarding new releases of software and other nice to know information. He obviously uses and likes Microsoft Windows. I would like to see the names and addresses of the local representatives of Microsoft, Borland, Lotus, etc. at some stage, but Mr. Arbi is doing a great job. I wonder that he thinks about the recent Novell purchases of Wordperfect Corp. and Borland Quattro Pro? I'd also like to see his comments about the new Novell DOC 7, which has many new features, including built-in networking, that MS DOS does not have.

Mr. Scharf, on the other hand, entertains us with his more scholarly approach and occasional puzzles to solve as well as his stories of (among others) hard-of-hearing frogs with their limbs being chopped off. These items make us appreciate Mr. Scharf's obvious intelligence and sense of humor. Therefore, it is difficult to understand his reference to MS-Windows in the March 28, issue of the Post. He says "Look for Windows to go out the window (where it belongs) and OS/2 to take over as the dominant Operating System". We thought Mr. Scharf was a rational man; next he will be telling us that DOS is dead and that UNIX was delivered straight from the Heavens! Or does he work for IBM?

I don't consider myself a Microsoft supporter; I don't like Microsoft. I don't like their international representatives I have met and I don't like their marketing strategies. I don't like MS DOS, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access or MS Powerpoint; I do like MS Publisher and I like MS FoxPro, but it wasn't developed by Microsoft.

Do I think OS/2, which is IBM's answer to Windows, is a better Operating System than the Operating environment provided by Windows? You bet I do. Do I think OS/2 has a chance of ousting Windows as the dominant Operating System? It will snow on Jl. Thamrin before that happens. If we have learned one thing over the past few decades it is this: technical elegance will not be the deciding factor. Ask yourselves this: how many copies of Windows are in use in the U.S. and how many copies of OS/2? The answer is about 50 million copies of Windows and less than 1/10 of that for OS/2.

We have to remember here that there is a major difference between OS/2 and Windows at this point in time and it is that OS/2 is a true Operating System (like DOS) and runs on its own. Windows on the other hand is an operating environment and needs DOS (or OS/2) to run. IBM has even released something called "OS/2 for Windows" which is outselling the regular OS/2. We don't see Microsoft selling something called "Windows for OS/2", nor will we. The next release of Windows (code name Chicago) will not require DOS to run and perhaps that is the version of Windows that Mr. Scharf should compare to OS/2.

It is like the battle between Apple hardware and IBM hardware; the die-hard Macintosh fans (my own brother is one) insist the Apple is much better. And you know what? They are right. Now ask them about market share and they mumble something about 10-15 percent and dropping. Apple is even going to start selling Windows software and will soon make their new machines capable of running Windows.

I note that Mr. Scharf has threatened to feature the capabilities of OS/2 in a future article. I would like him to address some of these points. Even better why doesn't The Jakarta Post arrange a "point, counter-point" discussion, through their articles, between Mr. Scharf as the champion of OS/2 and Mr. Arbi as the Windows advocate. That would make for interesting reading.

JOHN R. FENTON

Jakarta

A matter of money

From Prospek

Public minibus accidents which have killed and maimed the passengers have occurred many times, but it has not made the minibus drivers stop driving carelessly in the streets.

To discipline the careless drivers, the Land and Transportation Control Agency (DLLAJR) has taken a strict measure by revoking the business license of any minibus' owner whose drivers have been shown to be driving irresponsibly. I hope that the measure is not simply a smokescreen.

I think there are some factors which are responsible for their careless driving.

First, there are inexperienced drivers who have no qualifications to operate a bus. These drivers get their jobs by making payoffs to authorized drivers in order to get a spot on a driving schedule. Because there is a definite time schedule for each company, it is possible that four inexperienced drivers will drive the same route in one day.

Also, because of the time limitations, there is ruthless competition between the unauthorized drivers to collect money so they can make their payments to authorized drivers.

According to a reliable source, anyone who drives a minibus must also pay a fixed sum of money (Rp 400,000,-) to the minibus owner every day!

SOEDI BARKAH

Jakarta

HIV virus unknown?

The article entitled AIDS is behavioral, multifactorial disease (The Jakarta Post, March 28, 1994) caught my attention right away. It was very interesting to read another point of view regarding how this disease kills its hosts. It was stated that to some researchers, the exact cause of AIDS is still unknown. HIV may be one of them, but since HIV itself actually kills 'only' some 10,000 cells, whereas the human body replenishes much more cells than this, it is yet unclear how HIV could do all the damage found in terminal AIDS patients.

Some investigators have argued that a co-factor might be involved, while others speculate that the AIDS virus may become more pathogenic as it replicates inside the infected hosts. However, I should point out that some investigators came up with a hypothesis that since HIV is a retrovirus, it lacks the mechanisms to correct errors that occur when its genetic material is being duplicated (Science, vol. 254 p.963-969).

This means that every time the virus makes a copy of itself there will be, on average, at least one genetic "mistake" incorporated in the new virus. Therefore, in a person who recently has been infected with the virus, his/her body will harbor a large population of closely related, but not identical, viruses. At first, the body's immune system will recognize most members of this population of viruses, which makes them under the control of the immune system, but pretty soon some mutants will evade the immune response. As these mutants grow, the body has to respond to these new forms. Ultimately, the sheer number of different viruses to which the immune system must respond becomes overwhelming and the immune system collapses.

I should point out that this hypothesis has only been tested on two patients who have tested positively for HIV. A larger sample is therefore needed to test the accuracy of this hypothesis.

DAMI BUCHORI

Jakarta

Indocement and pollution

From Jayakarta

For years, production waste from cement factory PT Indocement has polluted its surrounding areas.

The ashes from the cement factory have spread out and engulfed the roofs of villagers' houses in Gunung Putri, Cagak, Wanaherang and Citereup.

Although the villagers there have repeatedly complained to the government, they have yet to be appeased, despite the fact that the villagers clearly suffer from the polluted air generated by PT Indocement's factory.

I hope that the government surveys the case and that the powers that be of PT Indocement recognize the people's suffering.

TEGUH SUYONO

Bogor, West Java

Correction:

//French// - 16 pts Cent. Bold l/c

Correction: In the April 2, 1994 issue in the letter entitled Teaching of French, we inadvertently printed foie grass (in the second paragraph) instead of foie gras, La colonisation (in the fourth paragraph) instead of La decolonisation, and language vehiculaire (in the fourth and fifth paragraphs) instead of langage vehiculaire. We apologize for the errors and any inconvenience they may have caused.

--Editor