Hate and anger prevail<\/p>\n
When I read The Jakarta Post's editorial of Sept. 18,
\nA familiar story, I began reading it with great interest. Not
\njust because of its good and eloquent writing but it also seems
\nthat the Post is the only Indonesian paper which gives enough
\nspace to the debate of one of the most urgent problems of this
\nnation, which seems to be neglected by many: anti-Chinese riots
\nwhich occur again and again, with no sign of when these ugly
\ndemonstrations of hate and anger will end.<\/p>\n
However, when I was about finished reading, I was a bit
\ndisappointed when the writing comes to the conclusion about why
\nthese abhorrent demonstrations of shortsightedness, hate,
\nignorance and impatience always happen. The writer says: \"It is
\nbecause nothing has been done to address the scandalous social
\ngap left as a legacy of Soeharto's regime.\"<\/p>\n
While it is hard reality that there is economic and social
\ndisparity (and there always will be, except in an ideal society,
\nwhich doesn't exists), with the stigma that the Chinese \"own
\nvastly disproportional amount of the country's wealth\", and it is
\nquite reasonable to put the blame partly on the economic gap, it
\nwould be totally wrong to draw a single conclusion\/answer on why
\nthe above problems keep recurring.<\/p>\n
The Post misses one, and perhaps a major, explanation about
\nthe problems: there still exists racist mayhem, hate,
\nshortsightedness and jealousy in our society. Only when we have
\nthe courage to admit that there are still many shortcomings will
\nwe be able to strive, struggle and tackle the problems with
\nhonesty and determination, even though honesty is, at times,
\npainful.<\/p>\n
ILHAM DJAJA<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hate-and-anger-prevail-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }