Biography of human rights champion Siauw launched

Biography of human rights champion Siauw launched

JAKARTA (JP): A biography of former minister and pioneer of
nation building -- the late Siauw Giok Tjhan -- was launched on
Wednesday, following a discussion on the book at the National
Library building in Central Jakarta.

Siauw Giok Tjhan -- The Struggle of a Patriot to Build the
Indonesian Nation and a Plural Society was written by Siauw's
youngest son Siauw Tiong Djin.

Siauw was State Minister for Ethnic Minority Affairs in 1947,
and a champion for equality for Indonesian nationals, regardless
of their origin.

He was imprisoned for 12 years without trial by former
president Soeharto's New Order government for allegedly siding
with the communists in the wake of the abortive coup by the
Indonesian Communist Party in September 1965.

The organization which Siauw chaired, Baperki, was also
banned.

Siauw was released in 1978 and, with the help of then Vice
President Adam Malik, was allowed to undergo medical treatment in
the Netherlands. He died of a heart attack in 1981, at the age of
67.

"Although Siauw was a socialist, he was never a communist and
he befriended a lot of Indonesian politicians and freedom
fighters from various political parties and backgrounds," said
his biographer son.

Speakers at the book launch -- Karlina Leksono Supelli, Ferry
Sonneville, Mohammad Sobary and publisher Hasyim Rachman -- said
Siauw Giok Tjhan played an important part in shaping the modern
Indonesian nation, but that his role had been neglected by the
Soeharto administration.

They said his "nation building and antiracism concepts are
important in a pluralistic country such as Indonesia, especially
now that ethnic fighting and racial violence prevails in the
country". (ego)