Bali. Some words of reason and sense.

He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I commend columnist  Andrew Bolt for his wise words in today’s “newspaper”.

While hysterical voices bay for Indonesia’s blood, Mr Bolt sets out clearly, concisely and correctly his view on the Bali situation and our  Prime Minister’s over-the-top condemnation of Joko Widodo.

In his page 13 editorial over the shooting of two of our citizens, Bolt says (in part) : “We cannot be such fools as to now insult or destabilise their country or their president.

“We want Muslim Indonesia to cooperate with our anti-terrorism agencies and keep control over the jihadist groups that killed so many of us in Bali in 2oo2 and 2005.

“We cannot risk punishing Indonesian, our 12th largest  trading partner, so hard that we seem bullies.

“We cannot risk provoking Indonesia’s ultra-nationalists and jihadists, already keen to whip up hatred of the West.

“We need Indonesia strong.

“All this should be clear, but many Australians seem blinded by xenophobic or leftist agendas”.

All this, and more, is backed up  by the “On Line” section of the letters pages, with only one writer out of seven opposing Indonesia’s actions.

Thank you, Andrew, for your breath of common sense.