Self-respect and colonialism

RB Sawrey-Cookson ("Your Letters," Colonizers that bad?, July 22) has decided to resurrect himself but the message he brings has a hopelessly outdated, unrepentant colonialist tune.

If your letter was intended to encourage more respect for the British, you have achieved exactly the opposite. Telling one story about a Pakistani servant who missed the old Empire days does not the truth make. No free Pakistani with self-respect would want the British to return and rule their homeland again. In modern-day Indonesia we tend to laugh at our countrymen who are too Dutch-minded. We call them Blandis.

As for other previously colonized nations, I am not old enough to have lived during Mahatma Gandhi's successful "Quit India" struggle against the oppressors but I do remember Malaysia's "Buy British Last" campaign to assert its independence. I recall a woman from Singapore telling me of some "Ugly Brits" in her country and a Chinese steward on Hong Kong's top airline who complained of the "glass ceiling" encountered by Asians within the airline prior to the handover.

Western colonialism brought some benefits such as the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution from Europe and, later, liberal ideas (as opposed to feudal ones). But all too often the indigenous peoples felt their share of the colonialists' whip.

The book, The Legacy of Colonialism, says: "In Kenya, the British introduced racial inequality and brutality in dealing with uprisings. The people were beaten down, which made things that much easier for dictators when they stepped in". As for the welfare of our friends' in Africa, those of us living in developing countries wish them the best.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta