No laughing matter

It seems to me that Jenny Lauritz Khoeng's letter of Oct. 24 may have missed the point of Mr. Keeling's earlier letter of Oct. 21. Since he wanted his proposals "taken with the seriousness they deserve", perhaps we should look at the important precedents that his suggestions -- regarding three-in-one, rich-to-poor "trickle down" and national car support -- can have on society.

Surely, the entrepreneurial spirit that the three-in-one boys have shown -- how very clever was their idea in the first place -- should not be stifled but in fact encouraged.

In addition to gaining scarce income, these boys (and hopefully later girls) are learning the basics of marketplace economics and may, in fact, be picking up some useful foreign languages from the odd expatriates they assist.

In addition, the youth gangs that present such enormous problems in Jakarta are happily deprived of additional recruits for their nefarious activities, at least during these early hours.

The national car, whether we support it or not, is indeed a reality, and rather than let it languish, Mr. Keeling's idea of encouraging the program by exempting the Timor from the three-in- one "tax" -- and allowing it unrestricted entry into the business district -- is indeed masterful.

Further encouragement can combine the two initiatives by having the boys issue petrol discount tickets to Timor owners who make the extra effort to nevertheless hire their services. The national oil company's involvement in the scheme would be commendable and a boost to their own marketing efforts.

Ms. Khoeng is quite right that "we need more jokes... to refresh our minds" in difficult times, but certainly these suggestions may be seen as no laughing matter.

HOWARD SILVERFARB

Singapore