Abolishing discrimination: Is it possible?

By R. Diah Imaningrum S.

MALANG, East Java (JP): The Non-Discrimination Movement (Gandi) established by Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid on Nov. 6 is likely to face tough work and run into opposition.

The movement, acronymed after Indian humanity hero Mahatma Gandi, is aimed at promoting the abolition of discriminatory measures in Indonesia.

Discrimination is the different treatment of individuals considered to belong to a particular social group.

Ordinarily, discrimination is the overt expression of prejudice. It is the categorical treatment of a member of a group which is supposed to be represented by a characteristic type.

In Indonesia, the phenomenon of discrimination has been very striking recently. Mass rioting in May, targeting ethnic Chinese in Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java, is an example. Even more recently there has been the promotion of the discriminatory idea that a woman cannot be appointed president of Indonesia. A discriminatory regulation also says that the Indonesian president must be a native citizen (pribumi).

A phenomenon of behavior that does not respect human dignity can also be seen recently, such as the killing of insane people suspected of planning to murder local sorcerers in East Java. Even though they are mad, as persons they are recognized as equal under the law and as persons whose rights have to be respected.

Does Gandi want to provide an illusion of a non-discriminatory situation based on human dignity? Or does it take concrete steps to realize a better situation?

According to G.E. Simpson, most normal people enjoy the feeling that they are not just average members of society, but are, to some degree, special and important. The feeling of mastery and importance may seem to be a real gain. It is realized through many social channels such as politics and economy.

Apartheid politics in South Africa is an example of human egoism for the domination of others by taking advantage of race through politics. The race differential was interpreted as a white superiority over the black.

In the fields of economy, the middle and upper class whites in the United States, for example, avoid the hardest work and escape the poorest-paid jobs. Many of them can take advantage of the blacks' helplessness to get cheap services.

From the history of race discrimination, it can be seen that a science that is value-free in nature has become a tool to discriminate against particular races. The research of Freiherr von Eikstedt, a German radiologist-ethnologist in human classification based on the similarity of color, hair and body has been used by particular groups to achieve their own purpose.

In adjusting oneself to discriminatory practices, one can adopt either avoidance or aggression. If a member of a minority group cannot abolish the status restrictions under which he lives, he can avoid the situations where he must experience discrimination, or he can avoid some aspects of the situations and then reduce their painful and disagreeable impact.

The avoidance can be permanent or temporary -- simply through crossing to the other side of the street to avoid contact, or reticence in speaking to a member of the dominant group.

If a member of minority groups suffers from some frustration, fears and tensions that come from their contact with discrimination, they could attack the source of their frustration. Members of subservient groups express their aggression by proclaiming a racial particularism or a strong group chauvinism. One small phase of the protest movement of the blacks in the United States has been the assertion of the superiority of all things black, best shown in the doctrine of Marcus Garvey.

There is some evidence that both the origin and the survival of the Jewish concept of a "chosen people" are, in a certain measure, products of the oppression the Jews have experienced as a group. Japanese propaganda in the Far East before and during the World War II to some degree exploited the feelings of resentment that Asiatics felt toward the race prejudice of the white man by developing a doctrine of the superiority of darker people.

Under some circumstances, members of a minority group can express their hostility by withdrawing trade from the dominant group. This is partly an avoidance device, as we have seen, but it is also a sign of aggression. Discrimination against a minority group based on race, religion, or otherwise, often leads to exclusivism that can bring about disintegration.

Can discrimination be abolished? Ironically, in the history of humanity many anti-discrimination fighters have been killed. There have been many anti-discrimination movements through the ages, but discrimination still exists.

Because discrimination is rooted in human egoism and the wish to dominate others, it is difficult to abolish. Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that discrimination can not be minimized.

Discriminatory treatment in politics, economy and other social fields has to be minimized through norms. This means that the details of norms regulating many social fields have to be clear, distinct and firm, in order to prevent interpretations by particular groups or persons attempting to accomplish their discriminatory purposes.

"Equality before the law", as stated in the Indonesian Constitution, has to be realized in the implementation of every regulation. Preparing an inventory of many regulations that are still discriminatory is needed. After that, Gandi should propose changes to the official institutions. So, the birth of Gandi can give hope for the respect of human dignity in Indonesia.

The writer is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Widya Karya Catholic University in Malang, East Java.