Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia
Letter to the Editor

This is a comment on a response made by Yin Xiaohua, (The Jakarta Post,
April 12, p. 7) to a cartoon about Tibet, (Post, April 8, p. 6).

It seems that when they were busy implementing the so-called reforms in
Tibet, the Chinese government failed to understand a crucial factor.

Mere improvements of living standards did not deter the people of Tibet
to strive for religious freedom. They feel they are being robbed of
their cultural identity, they feel like a discriminated minority in
their own region.

For communist hardliners it is hard to understand that these people are
willing to risk their existence for a spiritual and political leader,
the winner of the Nobel Peace prize, the Dalai Lama, now in exile for
over 49 years.

When confronted, the China of today reacted the same as the China of
yesterday, with brutal repression, news blackouts and a smear campaign
against the Dalai Lama and his "clique", quite a resemblance to the
cultural revolution.

Nobody wants this kind of "democratic reform" anywhere in the world,
neither should the Olympic spirit be betrayed by a repressive government.

ARTHUR WENAS
Jakarta