The Forgotten Republic of Indonecia

Even though my word processor gave a red underline for the title I wrote, suggesting that it is a spelling error, I can assure you it isn’t.

I took this photograph below when I picked up my wife at Kansai International Airport (Japan) in 2006 (I don’t know whether they have changed it or not). I don’t think that there is an airline called Garuda Indonecia. So, the sign must have meant Garuda Indonesia, but was miss spelled. A funny thing to encounter in an international class airport, and you don’t expect the Japanese to make many mistakes.

Fly with Garuda Indonecia?

The miss spell is kind of ironic, because the Indonesian – Japanese history is quite tied up to each other. Especially if we go back to 62–65 years ago (1942-1945), when the two countries were very “intimately” connected. The sad fact is that, even though most Indonesians are well aware of what happened then, not all Japanese are (maybe because they don’t teach “negative” history subjects in schools).

Is Indonesia that easy to forget?? :P