On pedophiles in Bali

On pedophiles in Bali

In the Aug. 29 edition of The Jakarta Post you ran an interesting section of several articles on pedophilia in Bali. This was accompanied by a photograph of a light-skinned man sitting on the beach with a dark-skinned boy. The caption, as well as the positioning of the photo, made it absolutely clear that this photo was meant to illustrate a pedophile and his toy. In Aug. 30 of the Post, you ran a cowardly disclaimer stating that it was merely meant to illustrate "Bali". What a load of rubbish!

While many of the statements made in your articles are undoubtedly, and unfortunately, true, I am extremely disappointed that the Post should fall into the trap of attributing all such evils to "foreigners" -- as if there are no pribumi (indigenous) pedophiles. We know from your previous articles on the sex industry that this is simply not true -- there would be no child prostitutes if there were no customers! Indonesia has enough "devils" of its own without you needing to conjure up "foreign devils".

I am a bule, married to an Indonesian and the stepfather of two young boys (I am also a teacher -- mainly of young children) -- thanks to the unfortunate slant of your articles, no doubt some people will now wonder if I am a pedophile when they see me with my children. Thanks a lot JP!

CHRIS LASDAUSKAS

Bekasi, West Java