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