Calling for a

Calling for a Betawi manifesto

From Sinar Pagi

The involvement of some members of the Betawi community -- the indigenous people of Jakarta -- in recent destructive action and physical violence can serve as something that the Betawi people, now increasingly marginalized, can reflect upon.

The Betawi people should now find uniformity of action and share a common goal. Is the collective anger of the Betawi people, as shown recently, a sign of how to survive? Has the increased pace of development, the march toward globalization and the organization of urban people triggered the anger of the Betawi people, an ethnic group known to be tolerant to multi- culturalism?

It is left to the Betawi people themselves whether or not this sign will be a ball of fire that will explode into a big bang conducive to the Betawi people being hosts in their own land or one that will slowly offer this ethnic group to be overwhelmed by the megapolitan culture of Jakarta.

AHMAD FAUZI

Jakarta