On a recent trip to Bandung there was one thing that particularly struck my attention. While browsing through the different street stores, I discovered a flag shop. One of the big flags on display was - hold your breath - the swastika flag, which was placed near to the flag of Israel.
Even though there have been a number of anti-Israel and anti-American demonstrations going on here (including several bomb threats targeted at the American embassy which caused them to shut down operations for about a week), it would be wrong to link this observation to the ongoing middle-east conflict.
An Austrian envoy in Jakarta told me that when she was attending an International Aiesec conference in Hong Kong, one of the girls picking her up at the airport was wearing a T-shirt with the swastika emblem. It turned out that she was just not aware of the meaning of it, and apparently she's not the only one in Asia.
Even though there have been a number of anti-Israel and anti-American demonstrations going on here (including several bomb threats targeted at the American embassy which caused them to shut down operations for about a week), it would be wrong to link this observation to the ongoing middle-east conflict.
An Austrian envoy in Jakarta told me that when she was attending an International Aiesec conference in Hong Kong, one of the girls picking her up at the airport was wearing a T-shirt with the swastika emblem. It turned out that she was just not aware of the meaning of it, and apparently she's not the only one in Asia.
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