Letter: They are only children

This is a comment on a news report on the arrest of two children who attacked a Muslim girl in New York (www.thejakartapost.com, April 5).

These two children did engage in totally unacceptable behavior, but they are only children. Whom have they learned to emulate at this young age? Their parents, other significant adults in their lives, and their social environment more generally all seem to have taught them that such attitudes and behavior are permitted.

If they weren’t modeling adults around them, they wouldn’t be doing these things on their own. And whom do Indonesian children have to emulate? Those people who believe that it is not only acceptable but required to engage in violence against “deviants” such as the Ahmadiyah.

What will these children understand from these adult actions? That someone who is “different” is “dangerous” and must therefore be dealt with aggressively. And, since the adults around them persist in this pattern, it must be the right one. So, don’t look to an incident in New York for a reason to hold adults to account for the next generation’s upbringing. Just look in the mirror.

Eran Fraenkel
Bogor, West Java