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 Chou 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