National pride not everything

I was deeply impressed by Devi Asmarani's distinction between Nationalism and irrational thinking in The Jakarta Post of Sept. 18, 1999, and would like to use this as an opportunity to comment on the flag burning incident. I feel highly qualified to do this because I come from a country that has seen its flag burned many times, sometimes by its very own citizens.

The twisted sense at perspective that causes some Indonesians to react more strongly to the burning of their flag than to the rape of East Timor is not exclusive to Indonesia. A few mainstream politicians (including George Bush) tried to ban flag burning in the U.S. They either forgot, or did not care, about the role that this offensive (though relatively nonviolent) form at protest played in bringing our boys home from Vietnam. Whether Americans burning American flags should be regarded as an unpatriotic shame for being American, or as a patriotic concern over bad policy, is beside the point.

Flag burning gets attention, and even though it is not among the more constructive forms of criticism, its shock value never gets old. It serves to wake up Americans to the dark side of its role in the world. I hope, like in America, this incident teaches some of the more open-minded Indonesians that some things are more sacred than national pride.

ANTONIO CHAVES

Hyattsville, Maryland

USA