Why not learn from the past?

Why not learn from the past?

I suppose the bluntness, negativity and lack of finesse of
your comment on my article titled Hitler to Soeharto -- a Western
continuum should come as no surprise, given that Indonesian
society is currently suffering from similar symptoms.

The other day, The Jakarta Post published an excerpt from
Media Indonesia which states: "This nation never seems to learn
from history. Tragedy and disasters are no longer things to be
avoided, but are held up as examples to follow."

You appear to have missed the whole point of my article and
this is, perhaps, because I have not written it in a way that
counters the present malaise in thinking that prevails here. The
article is about the factors (mostly external) which led to
Indonesia's loss of independence in the 1960s, which it bravely
fought for against the Dutch in the 1940s. Unless these are
appreciated, Indonesia will continue to be tossed to and fro,
without its own direction, until another quisling of foreign
interests again takes the reins.

To find its way forward and out of its present quagmire,
Indonesia must learn from its past. It would do well to follow
the example of other countries such as Chile, South Africa and
Korea, that are facing and coming to terms with their past in
order to progress. You and Indonesia need to find your moral
turpitude and have the courage to take a good, honest look at
what has gone before.

To quote A. Solzhenitsyn: "When we neither punish nor reproach
evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we
are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new
generations."

FRANK RICHARDSON

Jakarta