On lawlessness<\/p>\n
I am writing in response to an interview with Sofyan Wanandi
\nof July 17, in which he warned that continuing lawlessness
\nthroughout the country would scare businesspeople away from
\nIndonesia. He referred to the seizure of land owned by developers
\nand other companies by people now claiming that the land had been
\npurchased at unfair prices. He is correct that lawlessness will
\nhurt Indonesia. But he seems to gloss over the fact that this
\nparticular complaint may have a basis.<\/p>\n
The past duress which some local groups are citing to justify
\ntheir present, albeit unlawful actions, often did characterize
\nthe sale of lands to developers and business owners. A business
\nowner or land developer in collusion with government or military
\nofficials often had the power to dictate unfair sale terms to
\nsmall landowners. When a developer offers several hundred or
\nthousand rupiah per hectare to farmers, then turns a profit of
\nhundreds of thousands of rupiah per hectare, is it any wonder
\nthat the former owners later feel cheated?<\/p>\n
If one wants to characterize this in terms of race, as Mr.
\nWanandi has done, then this type of transaction is a textbook
\ncase of collusion between Chinese business owners and indigenous
\nofficials, cooperating with heavy-handedness for financial gain
\nat the expense of the small landowners. Other law enforcement
\nactivities have also been perverted by collusion.<\/p>\n
One cannot sympathize with looters who from venal motives
\nbreak into factories and warehouses and steal for private gain.
\nBut what about workers who have been employed year after year at
\nmarginal wages and in substandard conditions in factories and
\nwarehouses? What about white-collar violations of law perpetrated
\nby factory and warehouse owners with the tacit approval of
\nofficials. e.g. violations of minimum wage laws, child labor
\nlaws, workplace safety laws, etc. Aren't these instances of
\nlawlessness, too?<\/p>\n
Too often only physical violence arouses the community's
\nwrath. As long as no blood is shed we see no violations of
\npersons, of rights, of law. For 30 years the international
\ncommunity praised Soeharto for maintaining peace and stability
\nthroughout Indonesia, conveniently closing their eyes to his
\ngovernment's corruption and other human right abuses. Was
\nIndonesia a law abiding society all those 30 years? Aren't
\nIndonesians now suffering the consequences of a very lawless
\npast, where money rather guns was the usual medium of force?
\nChinese-Indonesians as a group have not resorted to physical
\nviolence to get what they want. But they have used money
\nillegally to do this. This form of lawlessness also destroys the
\nsocial fabric and political stability, as we now can see.<\/p>\n
Mr. Wanandi casts the Chinese business community as victims of
\ntoday's lawlessness, while seeming to ignore their past
\nparticipation in law-breaking by evasion of laws through payoffs.
\nThis biased view will not do justice to either the Chinese
\ncommunity as a whole or the indigenous community. Lawlessness has
\nnot been one-sided, and amends are not the responsibility of only
\none side. Unless Mr. Wanandi and his colleagues from the business
\nworld will look calmly and honestly at the issue of adherence to
\nlaw, and acknowledge the role of the Chinese business community
\nin Indonesia's lawlessness, the problem they decry will elude
\nsolution.<\/p>\n
The national lawlessness cited by him was denounced even more
\nstrongly in the same day's editorial. The point is correct, as
\nfar as it goes. But compassion for those Chinese whose lives were
\ndevastated in the May riots, and sympathy for the Chinese who
\nhave suffered discrimination and legalized indignity from their
\nown government for generations, should not lead to a kind of
\n\"political correctness\" that stifles honest discourse and
\ncollusive role that the largely Chinese business community has
\nhad in creating Indonesia's inequitable, lawless socio-economic
\nsystem. If honesty yields to political correctness, interethnic
\nresentments will not be extinguished, only buried alive.<\/p>\n
DONNA K. WOODWARD<\/p>\n
Medan, North Sumatra<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/on-lawlessness-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }