Losing excellence

Never mind that French mineral water has lost its sparkle; that we'll be buying Spanish bread sticks; that surat-surat Perancis are made better in Australia, England and Indonesia; that brie and camembert now have a worse aroma than a Jakarta drain; that romance no longer includes the French kiss; and that previously unsuspecting Jakartans are now aware of the generally disgusting standard of French wine being dumped here.

I sympathize with the Basque separatists, but they're safer in the Pyrenees than in the South Pacific.

The Napoleon in French politicians has surfaced again. French people around the world must be choking on their Moet. Jacques Chirac's arrogance is based of course on his acceptance of his inability to solve France's economic malaise. So create a diversion...an explosive atomic diversion. This politically motivated stunt is to take pressure off at home by appealing to the "Gaulingly" chauvinistic French temperament.

However, I trust for most French. This is now confined to food, fashion and fun; language and literature; art, architecture and other areas of genuine and laudable excellence. Despite the French language once being the language of diplomacy, Chirac and his contemptible currish cronies have lost touch of diplomacy and reality.

I hope the French Embassy is above defending the indefensible but in the hapless tradition of the Myanmar delegation, I'd like to see them try.

GRAEME ST. JOHN

Jakarta