Rape of Okinawan girl

Rape of Okinawan girl

Pak Hartono's letter in The Jakarta Post (Dec. 5, 1995) starts by calling the rape of the girl in Okinawa by U.S. servicemen regretful. He says he understands the Okinawans' fury, but then devotes six paragraphs to a horrible World War II incident involving Japanese troops and a Dutch resident of Java. The unmistakable implication is that the incidents are somehow connected, and that if Japanese people read about their World War II soldiers' behavior, their view of the recent incident might change.

In the historical sense, Pak Hartono may be correct, and from the perspective of international relations there may be some element of reciprocity. By all means, everyone's horizons should be widened by reading about World War II atrocities on all sides. But we should also keep firmly in mind that the 12-year-old Okinawan girl had nothing to do with World War II, nor did the three young brutes who tortured her.

Perhaps the lesson that Pak Hartono is suggesting be drawn from any historical comparisons is that revenge is never justified and can only lead to more destruction. Rwanda, Bosnia, Lebanon, the Gaza strip are examples of that on a grand scale.

GARY GENTRY

Jakarta