What a contrast!

Last Saturday (Nov. 2) evening as I sat in my Jakarta apartment reading the newspaper and lamenting the current strain and anger between Australia and Indonesia, I couldn't help but look up as my young son sat with his four Muslim friends playing their guitars, and creating songs.

"What a contrast", I thought, as whilst there is now a growing perception of anger and distrust between our communities, here are these young people, from totally different cultures simply being "best of friends". The deep respect and trust that has developed through their mutual love of music and understanding is something that perhaps we, as adults, could learn from?

As I listened to the music I reflected on my colleagues from Western Australia who work so passionately with their friends in East Java in building and transforming the Karlya Mulya School for Deaf Children in Surabaya. As a result of their joint commitment, over 250 young Indonesian children now have some hope of an education and a future. But we never read about this in the newspapers.

Similarly, the Lion Eye Institute from Perth has worked tirelessly with their colleagues from the Lions Club of Surabaya and the various doctors and also the staff from Airlangga University to help restore the eyesight to so many people from the East Java region.

These are the stories that never get told as all we read about is the "strained relations" and the "anger". Certainly our two countries are experiencing difficulties, but we can work through them as friends.

In my heart I gain enormous strength from the people such as these young musicians and also the community workers who simply go about their day doing good for others and building such strong ties between our two nations. Naive? Yes, perhaps; but maybe it is us that could learn from the these "quiet achievers" from our respective countries.

ROSS TAYLOR, Jakarta