Ronci's remark off the mark

Our friend Ronci is so entirely predictable (July 22), seizing any opportunity to swipe at the British. However, his theories are nothing short of nonsensical.

English is the second most spoken language in the world; 300 million native speakers, 300 million using it as a second language, and a further 100 million using it as a foreign language. It is the language of science, aviation, computing, diplomacy and tourism, and is listed as the official or co- official language in 45 countries, and is well the way to becoming the unofficial international language of the world. However, to Ronci, it is imposed on the world at large, and it ousts and warps the traditional languages.

His remark on colonialism is even wider off the mark; former colonies of the then British Empire were all, without exception, handed back with orderly infrastructures, a rule of law and order, and structured development aid and assistance for decades afterwards. Compare that with his own nation -- what did Italians leave in place in their colonies? Look at three examples only -- Libya, Somalia and Eritrea -- which ex-British colony does he want to take as the comparison, India, several African countries, Singapore, Malaysia?

Ronci's one man campaign to move Indonesia to abandon the English language, not watch films which are not in Bahasa Indonesia (and never ever watch English Football), now takes on an exciting new dimension, as he has come out in print as inferring that the requirement of an employer for would-be employees to be "able to use a computer" is evidence that colonialism exists in Indonesia.

Roll on the great Bill Gates/Ronci dialog where Gates defends the information age as having nothing to do with colonialism, and Ronci responds that it is all the fault of the British anyway...

BILL GUERIN

Jakarta