Response to Frank Richardson

First of all, I would like to thank Frank Richardson for his comment in The Jakarta Post's May 16 edition about my article, Indonesian Press: Walking a tightrope (The Post, May 14).

Mr. Richardson, I am also fully aware that Walter Lipmann is regarded by some as a potentially authoritarian thinker. Some elitist opinions can be found in many of his works, including The Phantom Public (1925), in which he said, among other things, that education for ordinary citizens must be distinct from the education for those in public office.

I believe, however, that Richardson is also aware that when a columnist like myself utilizes a quotation, that does not necessarily mean that the columnist completely agrees with the source of that quote on every aspect of life.

Lipmann's particular opinion, which I quoted in my article, was simply meant to support my own views regarding what roles would be better played by the press in a transitional country like Indonesia.

I would also like to say here that there were some other opinions from Lipmann that showed he was respectful of democracy. One of which was, "... we must protect the right of our opponent to speak because we must hear what they have to say". (Indispensable Opinion, The Atlantic, 1939).

ARYA GUNAWAN

Jakarta