Western view?

Well, finally we know! Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to Mr Farid Baskoro for his most informative sentiments on the feelings, thoughts and actions of Westerners here in Indonesia (The Jakarta Post, June 22, 1995).

Now we know that we automatically assume all expatriates are white people, we don't know the meaning of the word native, we refuse to trust Indonesian doctors, and that we change the color of our skin, depending on the exigencies of the situation.

Thanks again Mr Baskoro--we don't know where we'd be without you. Although we assume your intentions were altruistic, you have achieved the opposite of what you intended. Generalizing is very dangerous, especially in the case of race related matters.

MARCUS GLIWITZKI

Jakarta