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Agreement on Indonesia Policy
By Carl R. Fritz
I agree with Theodore Friend's analysis and recommendations for U.S. policy toward Indonesia [Indonesia: Confronting the Political and Economic Crisis, Spring 2000]. I look forward to reading his forthcoming book.
I was also very impressed by Ambassador Palmer's bringing me up to date on events [From Repression to Reform? Indonesian Politics and the Military, 1997-1999, Spring 2000]. I served as a private consultant in Indonesia 1977-87, and I traveled over much of the country. My language tutor was a guerilla against the Dutch and later a high official. I was a friend of Gen. and Mrs. Nasution, and I have a shelf of books about Indonesia, but I learned much about what has been happening in Indonesia from my reading today.
Indonesia was one of favorite places to work and live. One slight difference between this life and the [usual] Foreign Service life: every day I found myself in situations where everyone else was Indonesian. I found all of the people friendly, I had many Indonesian friends, and we got along well together. One slight exception was the rapping on my car window by youths on the backs of trucks during election campaigning. They wanted me to stick my thumb up to register approval of their party!
I wrote of Ambassador Palmer's knowledge when he earlier wrote about East Asia's economic problems. I must confess that he also shows great knowledge of Indonesia.
Carl R. Fritz
Chapel Hill, NC
Crfritz@aol.com
The writer is a former USAID official and a member of the governing board of this journal. — Ed.