On burying books

Referring to the picture and caption Burying books published on March 22, 2001, I have checked this with the University of Western Sydney because the story was difficult to believe.

The university response was that the books which were unwanted duplicate titles were buried as a result of pest and mold infestation which created an occupational health and safety hazard, not due to a funding crisis. Besides their physical condition was beyond repair or restoration.

As I can testify, after more than 10 years in Indonesia, the respect of books is very poor here in this country and to give a dramatic picture that even an Australian university does not care about the books (as to perhaps say: so it is OK if we treat books badly as well) is a Pharisee attitude.

Look into your premier libraries, take the premier universities: University of Indonesia, Institute of Agriculture of Bogor, Institute of Technology of Bandung, and look into the library of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences -- that might be a good subject for one of your upcoming reports. Would that not be a good idea?

P. FAIGI

Jakarta

Note: Thank you for clarifying the matter. Both the picture and text were provided by the Associated Press (AP).

-- Editor