Letter: Are you really democrats?

Tue, 11/03/2009 1:06 PM  |  Reader's Forum

Lots of commentators here claim to be democratic, but very few praised Mayasari (the Post, Oct. 20) for having the courage to share her opinion. It was a very legitimate point of view.

Many of us still think the way Maya thinks but don't have courage to express it as we are scared of the retaliation. Even in Australia, the legislation to ban discrimination against women breastfeeding in public places, such as on trains and buses and in restaurants, was only introduced in 2007.

The debate on public breastfeeding continues today in Australia. Let's be honest, guys. Indonesians have much more conservative views than Australians. This is evidenced by how the first mother in her story had to wait for a while before she decided to breastfeed her baby. She must have felt embarrassed too.

Can someone tell me why these two women were reluctant to breastfeed their baby? Please excuse Maya for not using a better word than "porn", but apart from right or wrong, pretty sure many onlookers in that train had felt exactly the same as Maya.

And those two women probably also felt that by breastfeeding they might contribute to free porn, exactly like as Maya observed. In all debate, there should be one team to propose and one team to oppose. Let's take sides, but please don't make nasty comments about Maya. Let us all enlighten each other with our opinions on this matter. More than 100 comments means something.

Her controversial writing has successfully invited all of us to think and to express something that only modern society dares to speak. As a next step, after Maya, we probably need one woman in the House to do the same thing. If no one dares to do it, let us ask, "Why? Do we feel embarrassed?"

We need more controversial writers in Indonesia. I will not be surprised if one day you become the next Ayu Utami. I love her writing too.

Julie
Perth

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