Please drop your suspicious attitude

Certain readers of The Jakarta Post need to drop their suspicious attitude regarding the motives of the armies and NGOs that have arrived in the Acehnese province. Though the Indonesians I know from my time in Sumatra are invariably kind and open, a letter in your paper indicates malicious attitudes from at least one individual toward the considerable resources and manpower afforded to helping your unfortunate compatriots from the western countries.

They would do better to analyze the dubious history of their own country's military actions before casting suspicion our way. It is absurd to suggest that the Australians, the Americans or any other rescue operation intends to hand out guns to the Acehnese rebels, particularly when those guns might well be trained on our soldiers and relief workers.

Remember that although we are not Muslim nations, Australia and the U.S. now share a strong bond with Indonesia, and that is the bond of democracy. Particularly against the backdrop of the international war on terror, I can assure you that neither country would do anything to threaten or destabilize a democratic ally, Muslim or not, unless unduly provoked.

To imply that we would support a theocratic insurgency that advocates instituting sharia law, against an important strategic and economic ally implies a profound misunderstanding of our political interests. To suggest, furthermore, that a humanitarian relief effort might be the "Trojan Horse" the western countries may use to overthrow or destabilize any country is the epitome of cynicism.

You would do better to be concerned for the safety of the American soldiers laid up in the hospital from the relief helicopter that crashed recently. One of your readers certainly seems to forget the importance of self-determination when he offers this myopic bit of historical revisionism: "We should be aware that it's possible that Australia helped East Timor to gain independence so that they could steal the gas in the East Timor sea."

East Timor held a legally recognized referendum for self- determination, for which they were rewarded with brutality and repression by the Indonesian military, which illegal actions are now being investigated, by your own government. The only stealing that occurred in East Timor was in 1975, when the dictator, to his lasting shame, killed twice as many innocents as the tsunami in Aceh. In a sad, ironic twist, my country supplied the guns.

A. GALLIGANI New York