Say it more often with letters

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesians aren't writing enough, an official of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunication says.

Director of Post Marsoedi said the 294.3 million letters handled by the post office during the first semester of 1994 is still a meager amount compared to the true potential for a country of Indonesia's size.

Speaking when inducting new officials at the government-owned post office company Perum Pos dan Giro in Bandung on Tuesday, Marsoedi said the company must strive to make letter writing a tradition among Indonesian people, Antara reported.

He suggested that one way of encouraging people to write more letters is by popularizing the hobby of philately among the people.

He said Indonesia, with a population of 190 million, has only some 151,000 stamp collectors at present.

Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunication Joop Ave has suggested that Pos dan Giro strive to bolster the number of philatelists to one million within the next five years.

The company has responded to the appeal by forming a task force specially to meet the target of one million philatelists, Marsoedi said. (emb)