Usage of the decimal sign

Usage of the decimal sign

I was interested in your correspondent Agnes Sawir's comments
on the use of the decimal sign in Indonesia.

Indonesia is a sovereign country with over 200 million
citizens, the fourth most-populous in the world. As such it has
many practices and institutions that are unique, many coming from
the country's long and turbulent history. Every day, as an
expatriate privileged to stay in Indonesia, I come across some
new (to me) custom that intrigues me.

So why should Indonesia even consider changing the manner in
which it uses the decimal sign? We do not insist on all countries
using English as their national language, or the US dollar as
their currency just because these are the main language and
currency of the modern world.

Even the computer software available today struggles with
these matters -- try and find a simple accounting package that
can handle several currencies for example. Better that the
electronic media arrange its software to cope with the matter
than ask a nation to mend its ways.

DAVID TUCKER

Bogor, West Java