Lasantha Wickrematunge The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, 20 January 2009
On Sunday, Jan. 11, an editorial appeared in The Sunday Leader, a Sri Lankan newspaper. It was published three days after its author, the editor-in-chief, Lasantha Wickrematunge, had been gunned down in his car. In his article, he predicted his own murder and blamed the government for it. In the past he had been beaten and his home sprayed with machine-gun fire. Both he and his journal were outspoken in their criticism of both the government and the Tamil Tiger separatists for their brutality. What he said has profound relevance for Indonesia, especially as we head toward our elections and as our passions over the ghastly events in Palestine are being exploited by radical parties: “Every newspaper has its angle, and we do not hide the fact that we have ours. Our commitment is to see Sri Lanka as a transparent, secular, liberal democracy. Think about those words, for each has a profound meaning. Transparent, because government must be openly accountable to the people and never abuse their trust. Secular, because in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society such as ours, secularism offers the only common ground by which we might all be united. Liberal, because we recognize that all human beings are created different, and we need to accept others for what they are and not what we would like them to be. And democratic... well, if you need me to explain why that is important, you’d best stop buying this paper.” He also quoted Martin Niemöller’s poem criticizing those who would not speak out against the atrocities of Nazi Germany, “First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.” That poem is highly relevant to Indonesia; all we need is to change the names: “First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Chinese and I did not speak out because I was not Chinese. Then they came for the Ahmadis and I did not speak out because I was not an Ahmadi. Then they came for the Christians and I did not speak out because I was not a Christian. Then they came for the journalists and I did not speak out because I was not a journalist. And then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.” RAFIQ MAHMOOD Bogor, West Java Sumber: THE JAKARTA POST URL: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/20/letter-lasantha-wickrematunge.html-0 ____________________________________________________________________ Kunjungi halaman depan Yahoo! Indonesia yang baru! http://id.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------------ http://www.SuratPembaca.info Komunitas Surat Pembaca IndonesiaYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/surat-pembaca/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/surat-pembaca/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
