Regarding the July 28 article "Winning the transition to democracy": Author Sri Mulyani Indrawati (a former finance minister of Indonesia) is living under the illusion that all the uprisings in recent memory are about democracy.
If not for unaffordably high commodity prices and high unemployment, there would have been few, if any, uprisings. History has shown this time and again. This is true for Egypt, Syria and Indonesia. The same was true for the French Revolution, which was spurred by a food shortage.
Influenced by democratic ideals fed to him by past colonial masters, Indrawati would be better served by meditating on and reassessing the verities of what he has come to believe in.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.