Personal attack

What Mr. Abdul Rachman wrote in his letter (Ill-advised presumptions, Aug. 13, 1995) seems to have been a personal attack on Ratih, Teguh and myself. However, since the letter was made public through the Post, I feel that I should respond as such.

First of all, it appears that Mr. Abdul Rachman may have been misled by the title of the article I wrote on Teguh's exhibition, supplied by the editors of The Jakarta Post. The original title was Dans ou Sans Paris. So, it is quite clear that Mr. Abdul Rachman didn't get it. It is as simple as that.

Unfortunately, I never actually did read the Mr. Abdul Rachman's letter, which was read to me over the phone. First of all, what I can't understand is why he considers Teguh and Ratih superstars. A friend said that they would and should consider it a complement. Envious, are we?

What was all the fuss about Hollywood?

As The Jakarta Post is a newspaper and not an art journal, I think that it is good to have quotes from other art observers, to give an article a more balanced viewpoint.

One last note. I would like to thank you for your letter. Now I know that at least someone is reading my articles. I think Mr. Abdul Rachman should know that, admittedly, I am not trained as an art critic, but then again, which art critic is? Maybe, in this world, only a select few are.

As for myself, I still have a lot of hard work to do before I can consider myself a rookie no longer. That is why I would like to continue writing for The Jakarta Post. Mr. Abdul Rachman should have an objection to that, since we know he still reads my articles, even though he doesn't have a high opinion about them. But why?

AMIR SIDHARTA

Jakarta