Look at your country

Isn't it all so very sad that the phrase constantly bandied around to avoid antiwar demonstrations getting out of hand is, "We cannot afford to damage good relations with the U.S., as this will destroy our economy and then everyone will suffer." No jobs, no potato chips, no fast cars and no more rottweilers.

But isn't this already the richest country in the world? For do you not have, for the moment at least, the most beautiful landscapes, fertile soil, abundant flora and fauna, nicest people and the most fascinating culture?

I am so sorry you feel you need our Western luxuries and currencies so much. An example I found particularly sad, when making a short trip to Bali in November last year, was how so much of the land's population had become so entirely dependent on the tourist trade. They no longer had an idea of how to go about living real lives again and making an honest living.

So please look at your country, your people, your fabulous trees and animals. Unite the nation by trying to save these unique gifts, not by promises of utopia being a concrete jungle, inhabited by robots and dominated by hard cash.

CYNTHIA CROSS, Bogor, West Java