Says Time:
Deteriorating diplomatic ties have turned to anger in Indonesia as Australia refuses to apologize over claims it tapped the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and other senior politicians.
“CrushAustralia” (#ganyangaustralia) was a trending term on Twitter on Wednesday as Yudhoyono held an emergency meeting with his foreign minister and Indonesia’s ambassador to Australia, who was recalled from the country on Monday.
“Rather than cracking down on street thugs, better have them trained to be reserve troops and send them to #CrushAustralia,” read one tweet.
How does one go from allegations of phone tapping to a call to arms? If the father of your next door neighbor were to be caught eavesdropping on your family’s father’s conversation, would the proper response be to cut off all ties and communication with the next door neighbor’s entire family or to fight it out with them? Wouldn’t the ‘grown up’ response be just to have both fathers talk to each other and sort out their problems without the involvement of any of their family members?
The Indonesian society indeed has never been known for rationality. In fact, ‘amok’ as in ‘to run amok’ was loaned from the Malay-Indonesian word with the same meaning. But really, this society is becoming dysfunctional. Just a few days ago, I was at a restaurant that was hosting a birthday party for some children when I overheard a youngish mom who was telling her husband how great it was that their daughter used a pejorative and yelled at another child for touching her balloon.
That piece of property across the world seems even more alluring.
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