Dear Barack,

A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal has it that your administration's foreign policy will be defined, at least initially, by U.S. policy towards Indonesia. The Journal goes on to recommend that you reject change and uphold the status quo U.S. foreign policy, which the Journal in its innocence of the lives (and deaths) of the world's poor thinks is wise counsel. It is not.

This country, to say nothing of the world, will swiftly take back all of the goodwill it has so generously lent you thus far, if you kick hope and change to the gutter and carry on the traditional U.S. foreign policy that has always been selfish, ignorant and malevolent (only in practice, rarely if ever in intent).

Send a clear message, via Indonesia, that the U.S. will no longer associate with thugs and goons in fancy military and business attire. Even when doing so will mean a loss of business activity or military influence.

You can bring the U.S. one step closer to having a foreign policy founded on justice, rather than narrow pecuniary interest. That step is your policy towards Indonesia.