Memorial evening

Chloe Olliver and I spoke at a Memorial for Bali in Jakarta on 19 October 2002. As Aussies living in Indonesia, we feel sandwiched between the rhetoric and responses to the Bali violence.

From the moment of the blast, Indonesians flooded us with condolences, apologies, psychological support, friendship, love, expressions of shame and solidarity, and offers of practical help for the victims. These messages came in the hundreds, both from people we know, and those who called us out of the blue. Indonesian victims are far from just collateral damage of attacks on Westerners, as the Western press would like to claim at this moment. They have lived with political and communal violence in Aceh, Poso, Maluku, Papua, Java, Kalimantan, East Timor, in fact, across the country, for decades. Despite these wounds, Indonesia carries on, and many millions of Indonesians live in peace in multicultural communities.

Vanessa Johanson

20 October

Uphold people-people links

How quickly world events can change the face of things from one year to the next and completely destroy so many strong ties between Australia and Indonesia. How do we let Indonesians (and many other nations) know that most of us completely disagree with our PM!! Good luck with the magazine also - we have to try and keep all things Indonesian afloat.

Linda Hobbs

19 February

Batam is not safe

Hot on the heels of the recent bombings in Bali, various government officials from the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan went into action and announced in press conferences to the travel trade in Singapore that their islands are safe and that they have taken appropriate measures. Just recently, the Straits Times of Singapore reported of a major demonstration by hundreds of people in the Nongsa resort area of Batam on 23 November, in which one person was shot dead and others were injured. What the newspaper did not report was that the demonstration was targeted against an illegal casino at the Tering Bay Golf & Country Club. Please let this be known to your readers so that they can take appropriate precaution or better still, they can write to the media or to the foreign embassy so that enough international pressure can be put on the Indonesian government to clean up their own act.

Ah Kau Tan

10 December

An issue on religion?

I have so far only read two-thirds of the last Inside Indonesia edition (issue #73, January�March 2003) and I am already ecstatic about its content - the quality of the articles and the potent issues dealt with. Congratulations! I will order extra copies for various friends in the Medan area. Please, don't forget Sumatra in your magazine's focus. Information on what killings may have taken place there in 1965/66 is very difficult to obtain and would be particularly valuable. I am really despairing about this beautiful country and its wonderful people. A true reformasi seems further away then ever. Could religious forces play a role in forging progressive change? On that score, an issue on religion would be great.

August Fricke

4 February