"New thinking Asia solves the oil spill problem," (the Post, June 13) is pretty good opinion and article, but the new Asian think-tank for the US oil spill solution is incomplete without more research from Bangkok, California and Tembagapura, West Papua, Indonesia.
The writer from Bangkok, our friend from California, and the US scientists from BP, NASA (London, Houston, Texas, Florida and Arizona) before throwing everything they've got at the worst oil spill in the US, are welcome to visit and exploring the ecosystem in Tembagapura.
President Obama and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal should invite the inhabitants of Papua from Tembagapura to share their own experience as to why they seem to be immune from such a long-term environmental impact on less than US$1 per day income?
How come they still survive? They've never eaten gumbo and crawfish like the Cajuns and Creoles in Louisiana, never mind chicken McNuggets at "Mac D". The male Papuan doesn't wear blue jeans, but looks pretty enough in koteka and as do female Papuans, who don't need to wear short skirts and marquee dresses but have the freedom to go bare-breasted almost like in the New Orleans Mardi Gras.
I am sure that the Dani, Asmat and other Papuan tribes are never tired of the environmental impact of the shallow-water, open-cast mining, but here in the US with the deepest sea oil drilling permits, likely most Americans just don't care, because there are no worries.
We've still got millions of dollar of lawsuits to file.
Tole Balak
Portland, Oregon State
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
