Prickly issue

Piero Ronci (Lurking danger, The Jakarta Post, June 11, 1996) should be guided by the ancient Greek saying which, spelled phonetically, was mee laktidjei, meaning "Don't kick against the pricks" -- in other words, "Don't try to reverse the irreversible."

English is the international language, particularly for international commerce and industry. His example of Welsh students' demanding Welsh to be the language of Wales is flawed, because Welsh, like Indonesian, is a strictly limited language, which cannot cope with modern world conditions without incorporating large numbers of English words.

In spite of this, he might be interested to know that the Federation of British Industry and the Institute of Directors encourage British businesspeople to learn the language of the country(ies) where they do business, and not to assume that everybody can speak English.

JAMES RICHARD

Jakarta