Open letter to Mrs. Inten Suweno

On the morning of Oct. 4, I passed a Jakarta newspaper to my son, 12, to ask for his comments on an interview run in a newspaper with Minister of Social Affairs Mrs. Inten Suweno.

After a few minutes he threw the paper away, saying, "How insulting she is, Mother! Is it true that the beautiful minister could deride journalists like that? Does she think it is easy to be a journalist?" My son's comments are not without reason.

Dear Mrs. Inten Suweno, your words addressed to journalists at Merdeka Palace on Friday, Oct. 3, are indeed shocking. Because journalists did not wear uniforms at the time of your school days, you said, "And so they became only journalists."

Can you explain what you mean by that? I would like to know what you have thought of journalists all these years? A side job without value? A profession nobody wants to take up if not compelled by necessity?

I have been a journalist since 1977. When I first started my studies at the University of Indonesia I had already done some journalistic work which I enjoyed. I decide it was a vocation for life, not a situation created by circumstances of fate. I feel fortunate that until this day I have always felt dignity in working as an Indonesian journalist. Whenever I work amid ministers, tycoons and even at meetings led by the President, I never feel that I am "only" a journalist, not for one second.

When I was invited by my son's school principal to give a lecture at Lippo Pelita Harapan School in Karawaci, it was on account of my being a journalist. I was asked to relate some of my experiences as a journalist to junior high school students. Ibu Inten, I will never forget the pride and love reflected in my son's eyes when he watched me, his mother, talk about my work to his friends. Again, I am proud of my profession.

If I were not a journalist, I am not sure that I would have witnessed the normalization of Sino-Indonesian relations, that I would have gone to Cartagena, Turmenistan or would have witnessed the demonstration in Dresden two years ago. I went to all those places on assignment. I was not a tourist who could pay for all that out of his own pocket.

Mrs. Inten Suweno, you may have forgotten that we once had Adam Malik, a former journalist who became foreign minister and who led the general assembly at the United Nations. After his term as Indonesia's vice president he returned to journalism. There was B.M. Diah, a strong journalist who became ambassador. Harmoko who still has a brilliant career and Assegaf who has returned to journalism after his ambassadorial post. They were/are all journalists who certainly did not wear uniforms in their school days. By the way, I would like to know, if there comes a day when you are no longer a minister, what profession will you take up?

Ibu Inten, please take care what you say. We are now in a situation that gives a lot of concern to all of us. Uncertain economic conditions, disasters, and what have you. Do not add to our sadness by using unnecessary words that can only hurt. Please take caution that adolescents like my son do not ask, "Can a beautiful minister like her berate journalists in that way?"

LINDA DJALIL

Jakarta