Unnecessary errors

Fortunately or unfortunately (for others, perhaps), I have been credited with a critical eye -- otherwise, avoidable errors and repetitions that appeared lately in The Jakarta Post would have gone unnoticed. Mind you, all these errors were culled just from two dates -- Sept. 1 and Sept. 2.

Sept. 1: This ODD world column, on page 2, carried a report that a Singaporean family reserved places for their funeral urns, side by side or opposite one another, so that they could always be together, even after death. (That Singaporeans are now less superstitious may merit additional comment, but that is another story.)

On page 11, you published the same news item under ASEAN AT A GLANCE.

Sept. 2: There was a news item on page 15, S. Korea posts $1.93b trade surplus. If you look at page 16, the same news reappeared under the MONEY MATTERS column.

It is baffling to note that Libya's exports to Indonesia in 2002 reached $29,000 million -- refer to page 13.

Another headline on the city page stated, Maids injured but burglary foiled. When I read the details of the said burglary attempt, it was obvious that the two domestic helpers were men, not women. The word "maid" always implies feminine gender.

D. CHANDRAMOULI Jakarta