An Unspeakable Woman – And An Unspeakable Newspaper!

An Unspeakable Woman!
Yes, the illustration shows Our Maggie, but that’s not to whom the headline refers – I’m taking aim at the awful left-libber, Julia Suryakusuma, who was once more allowed acres of space in the Jakarta Post for her vapourings last week, this time on the subject of Britain’s greatest post-war Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

I am continually perplexed at the narrow, leftist bias that permeates editorial control at the JP, a mind-set utterly indifferent to the wide range of views among the readership.

Nobody would object to lefty articles like Julia’s if the JP cultural marxist mafia ever gave us a pro-Thatcher diatribe. But no, they’ll print a ‘letter to the editor,’ from time to time, confident that small protests have much less impact than a large and prominent pinko propaganda piece.
I despise the Jakarta Post, wouldn’t waste my time on it, but mention its puking left prejudice occasionally so overseas readers will know not to expect fair play.

Back to Julia. SHE has ‘always despised Margaret Thatcher’s aggressive conservatism, destructive polices and corrosive legacy.’ Really? What a surprise! No, no surprise, but Julia’s opinions on other people’s…one can dislike, disagree, detest others’ views, but DESPISE them?

That shows a fanaticism that wouldn’t be out of place on the part of the PKI, the late and unlamented Communist Party of Indonesia, which I seem to recall has now and then evoked interesting comments on her part. She even referred to ‘Communists’ in inverted commas, as if to suggest there was no real Communist menace in 1965.

She feels sorry for totalitarian hypocrites, but despises us conservatives. Quite telling, really. And same as the JP, which yesterday had another article on ‘victims’ of the anti-communist movement, implying they weren’t Communists, but lacking the investigative journo enthusiasm to find out for sure.  

And what else has she to say on the subject of Maggie, a topic inspired by having seen that new movie, The Iron lady, in which Meryl Streep plays MT? I must go and watch it when it reaches Blok M Plaza!

 

Well, Julia offers this rather pusillanimous assessment, and I say pusillanimous because she uses anonymous others, ‘many,’ even, to express what she herself clearly thinks.

‘…a woman considered as a monster by many, including the unions, miners… the families of hundreds killed in the Falklands war, and the other victims of ‘THATCHERISM..’

What offensive tripe.

Miners who were brutally intimidated by the NUM’s red storm-troops will remember Arthur Scargill as a ‘monster,’ who was so contemptuous of his own membership that his union broke apart, with decent miners joining the UDM. The thuggery of the ‘pickets’ was a foul disgrace, and what a misnomer! Pickets are entitled to peacefully persuade any worker willing to listen to them, not abuse and assault men who want to earn an honest living. They are NOT entitled to force cars or buses to stop if the occupants wish to get to work unhassled.

As for the Falklands, I attended the Thanksgiving Service in St. Paul’s Cathedral, where many of those who lost loved ones were also present. Nobody blamed the Prime Minister, because only a fool would be blind to her obligation to liberate a British population invaded and held captive by an aggressive expansionist enemy.

  Or perhaps Julia is empathising with the Belgrano crew’s kin.

Good shot, Royal Navy! 

 Julia doesn’t always talk rot. She has that other unspeakable woman, Nunun Nurbaeti, figured out.
Her hang-up seems to be that she likes seeing women in positions of influence, but feels compelled to snap at their heels if they don’t accord with her narrow leftist outlook.

She actually had the temerity to carp at a real heroine, Hirsi Ali, JP 27/2/08  Like Taslima Nasreen, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, through her writing (Caged Virgin, Infidel), talks of and extols an ideology of victimization — and is rewarded for it, even being named by Time magazine as being one of the 100 most influential people on the planet.

As a Muslim woman myself, I find this all rather tiresome and in my own personal experience, misleading. Yes, Nasreen and Hirsi Ali’s experience may be shared by many women in their respective countries, but it is not the experience of all Muslim women in the world, and is shared by few here in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim society.

Yes, how very tiresome it is for a rich lady living in a fancy pad somewhere. Now tell that to the lassie scolded for wearing shorts in Tangerang this past week. And now the MUI ‘scholars’ acclaim female circumcision – VERY tiresome operation, I beleive.

And couldn’t Julia spend more time explaining to other Muslim women how the head-scarf, sadly ever more often seen in Jakarta, is a badge of inferiority, unless the MUI stop being sexist and declare that both men and women ought to cover their heads?

I was at a book-function once, only a yard or so away from Julia. She says she’s just turned 57 so I’d need to give her good marks for keeping herself in good nick – she’s still a looker. But I can see why she’s a tad worried about losing her mind. At least she’s honest enough to recognise that as a possibility!

Oya, you’ll want to see what she looks like. Here!

 Hmmm…apparently she left London in 1979, just before I arrived…pity. Coulda made a sensible woman of her!