Sukarno where

Sukarno where
art thou?

Call me a Sukarnoist if you will, but I can't help thinking
that so much of what Indonesia is today grew from the mind of the
first president and in particular the role of Indonesia as a
leading light of the non-aligned nations of the world.

In the new era of freedom and the longed for Merdeka
(freedom)!, the people had a direction for independent thinking
clearly laid out.

In the famous Asia-Africa meeting in Bandung in 1955,
president Sukarno and the world's leaders forged ties and
understandings of how the second part of the twentieth century
would pan out, with such great minds as Zhou En Lai and Nehru
playing their part in one of the world's great gatherings for
global human aspirations.

Questioning the path of the non-aligned movement is very much
part of the mood I detect in Indonesia today. Independence, both
national and global, is the key to the Indonesian soul. Whoever
was responsible for the Bali attack, many Indonesians will look
to themselves and perhaps find the great Republic poorer in some
way.

Or, the entire concept of humanity has suffered, and each of
us feels the pain, the shock, the shame, the animal within the
barbarity. There are some wild theories loose at the moment.
As one of your readers, I for one, pray that the case is solved
soon. See you in Bali.

GREG WARNER, Jakarta