Ties with Israel and gay rights

Ties with Israel and gay rights

The question of "warming" relations between Indonesia and
Israel is an artificial one. There is no reason on earth why
Indonesia should keep its distance from Israel when many Arab
countries, including major ones like Egypt and also the
Palestinians themselves, have already recognized Israel and
established cooperation with the state. Indonesia should not be
expected to be "more Catholic than the Pope", but should
carefully calculate its own national interests.

There is another angle of looking at this whole question.
Most, if not all, new democratic governments which try to improve
their image in Western capitals resort to one or both of the
following measures (of course, among many others):

* Improving relations with Israel

* Legalizing the status of homosexuals.

Both of the above are basically symbolic, they do not cost
much and they both send a strong message of new openness and new
freedoms. And Western countries are prone to mark these gestures
positively.

A different question altogether is how well the local
population accepts the new course. It takes time and patience,
especially on individual level ("It's OK for the government to
grant gay rights, but I'll be damned if I let that guy marry my
son!").

I suggest that Westerners, before judging others, also perform
this self-test to gauge how open-minded and liberal they really
are: if they could help it, would they let their son marry that
boy?

BRANIMIR SALEVIC

Tangerang, West Java