T

his refers to an article entitled, '€œAustralia lacks cultural competence to understand RI,'€ (The Jakarta Post, May 5) by Pierre Marthinus, Jakarta. This article is based on thoroughly researched knowledge and understanding of the Australian-Indonesian situation. Australia'€™s lack of intellectuals is a case in point: persons such as Herb Feith.

The West versus East style of diplomacy and political/cultural '€œfatsoen'€ (Dutch for '€œmanners'€) is the typical '€œwhite supremacists'€ versus the '€œEastern give face'€. Australia and France approached it in exactly the same Western fashion, while the Philippines and Indonesia approached it from a similarly Eastern fashion. The difference between Australia and France, however, is that France is not situated in the geo-politics of ASEAN and Asia as Australia is. It is interesting to see how the Dutch reacted, as they should know Indonesia better than most countries.

Indeed, in the future if Australia wants to be respected amongst the Asian countries it needs to learn to respect them more than just pay lip service. Their double standards, hypocrisy and patronizing traits are as clear as day.

Paul Tan
Jakarta