Learn to honor others as individuals<\/p>\n
By Harry Bhaskara<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): People who live in a pluralistic society like
\nIndonesia find it difficult to imagine social conflicts in more
\nhomogeneous societies.<\/p>\n
There are so many things which can trigger social conflict in
\npluralistic societies, as the numerous riots and bloody clashes
\nin Indonesia have attested. Curiously, however, the same can be
\ntrue in homogeneous societies.<\/p>\n
To most Indonesians, a mixed marriage is one in which a
\nChristian marries a Muslim. If a Protestant married a Catholic,
\nit would not be a mixed marriage because both Protestants and
\nCatholics are considered Christians.<\/p>\n
But this is a mixed marriage according to the people of
\nManson, a small town in Iowa, the United States. This town is a
\nvery homogeneous society.<\/p>\n
Now, if Hong Kongers had a dispute with mainland Chinese,
\nwould this be a racial conflict? No, because both are Chinese,
\naren't they?<\/p>\n
The Feb. 24 edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review
\nreported this was a racial conflict. The dispute swirls around
\nHong Kong's immigration policy, which is considered by many as
\ndiscriminating against mainland Chinese.<\/p>\n
Why the seeming inconsistency?<\/p>\n
\"People have a tendency to label their enemies as coming from
\ndifferent ethnic or racial groups,\" Merle Ricklefs of the
\nUniversity of Melbourne said in a lecture here last Saturday.<\/p>\n
The people of Manson, where Ricklefs comes from, have very
\nsimilar backgrounds. The town of 2,000 in the central part of the
\nUnited States is very homogeneous in term of race (white),
\ncitizenship (Americans), language (English), religion
\n(Christian), tradition (northern Europe and British), level of
\nincome and education.<\/p>\n
And yet people are divided into several groups according to
\neither their religious or family lines. And conflicts do occur.<\/p>\n
A Catholic-Protestant marriage is a mixed marriage, so it
\ncould create problems, according to Manson residents. More
\nstartling is their perception that a marriage between someone
\nfrom the German Lutheran Church and American Lutheran Church is
\nalso a mixed marriage, Ricklefs said.<\/p>\n
\"Humans will always look for their differences despite their
\ngreat similarities. Manson proves that there will always be
\ndifferences between people anywhere in the world all the time,\"
\nhe said in a lecture organized by the University of Melbourne
\nalumni association at the Regent Hotel.<\/p>\n
Racial prejudice can be based on small differences considered
\ntrivial by outsiders, he said.<\/p>\n
What factors contribute to racial stereotyping? Ignorance is
\none, said the professor of Asian Studies.<\/p>\n
The five districts which supported Pauline Hanson's anti-Asian
\nOne Nation party in the 1996 elections were those districts with
\nthe lowest average educational level in Australia.<\/p>\n
Ricklefs added that well-educated people like Margaret
\nThatcher also held that every ethnic group had a distinct
\nculture, characteristics and ideas which would be wiped out
\nshould different ethnic groups mix.<\/p>\n
Presaging Hanson's idea of Australia, Thatcher said she was
\nafraid Great Britain would be swamped with different types of
\npeople from other Commonwealth countries.<\/p>\n
The British had contributed democracy and a good judiciary
\nsystem to the world due to its distinct characteristics, Thatcher
\nsaid in 1978.<\/p>\n
Ricklefs said the works of two other intelligent people --
\nArthur Schlesinger Jr. and Samuel Huntington -- had traces of
\nracism.<\/p>\n
Huntington asserts in his book Clash of Civilizations that
\nWestern civilization is the most precious not because it is
\nuniversal but because it is unique.<\/p>\n
Ricklefs said that Huntington, who predicted a clash between
\nWestern culture and Chinese and Muslim cultures, overlooked the
\ncultures of Latin American countries and Greece, as well as
\nBuddhism.<\/p>\n
\"If Huntington was only a lecturer at a small university in
\nJakarta, nobody would have noticed his book,\" Ricklefs joked.
\n\"The problem is that he is a Harvard professor.\"<\/p>\n
In Clash of Civilizations, Huntington quoted Schlesinger, who
\nwrote about the uniqueness of European ideas, such as individual
\nfreedom and democracy, in his 1992 book The Disuniting of
\nAmerica.<\/p>\n
Schlesinger also wrote racial antagonism was the most natural
\nreaction following the Cold War.<\/p>\n
According to Ricklefs, Schlesinger displayed inverted logic.
\n\"The natural reaction is not racial antagonism, but the depiction
\nof enemies as a different ethnic group.\"<\/p>\n
Alas, Ricklefs said, the concept that a race has unique ideas
\ncould also be found in Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf.<\/p>\n
As a historian, Ricklefs contents these people have a
\ndistorted view of history.<\/p>\n
\"Their views (on racial relations) are very shallow. The
\ndefinition of an ethnic group is always changing, depending on
\nsocial conditions. There are numerous examples of excellent
\ninterracial relations,\" Ricklefs said.<\/p>\n
He cited two reasons why these racist views were flawed. One
\nis that a community of man -- with their different religions,
\nbeliefs and habits -- is never static, but always changing.
\nSecond is that a culture can never be isolated, but always
\ninteracts with other cultures.<\/p>\n
Citing an example from the history of Java, he said the term
\nwong Jawa (Javanese) was a relatively new one which was first
\nintroduced in the 17th century. Prior to that there were only
\nwong Mataram or wong Pajang or wong Tuban.<\/p>\n
The identity of an ethnic group is fluid and depends on social
\nconditions, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The important differences are those defined by men themselves
\nwithin given social conditions,\" Ricklefs said.<\/p>\n
During the War of Surabaya in the early 18th century, when
\nSurabaya aristocrats rebelled against the Central Java-based
\nSusuhunan Pakubuwana I, who was an ally of the Dutch colonial
\npower, the Javanese ethnic identity was just beginning to be
\nassociated with Islam.<\/p>\n
There was a group in the Surabaya camp which only recognized
\nMuslims, including Chinese Muslims, as members of their group.
\nThey rejected Balinese, who were Hindu.<\/p>\n
Ricklefs acknowledged there were ideas and questions related
\nto racial issue which were still being debated.<\/p>\n
Experts still differ on questions such as why certain races,
\nlike the Japanese and Europeans, are more productive compared to
\nother races.<\/p>\n
\"What is clear is that we are all influenced by our genes, but
\ndifferences among individuals are a great deal bigger than
\ndifferences among groups,\" he said.<\/p>\n
When asked how people can accept each other's differences and
\nlive together peacefully, Ricklefs said: \"Leadership has an
\nimportant role to play .... we have to learn to appreciate others
\nas an individual and not as an ethnic group. But this is an
\nextremely difficult thing to do.\"<\/p>\n
What to do if these differences have resulted in bloody
\nconflicts, as in the case of Christians and Muslims in Ambon, and
\nan aspiration to secede, as in Aceh and Irian Jaya?<\/p>\n
One has to identify which social elements, including politics,
\neconomics, religion and language, have fueled conflicts in a
\ngiven place at a given time, and replace those elements with
\ncooperation, he said.<\/p>\n
In a bloody conflict, do not hastily conclude it is people's
\nnature to kill each other, Ricklefs said.<\/p>\n
\"Rather look at history. Wherever and whenever it is,
\ndifferences exist among people,\" he said.<\/p>",
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