Chinese descent misconceptions

Chinese descent misconceptions

Benny Subianto has accurately unveiled the love-hate
relationship between Indonesians of Chinese descent and other
Indonesians. This is due to the authorities' attitude and
policies dating back many years regarding people of Chinese
descent.

Allow me to quote Mr. Subianto's vivid description from his
article No easy answer to racial issues (Nov. 14, 1997). "In the
last 30 years, the New Order government has opened big
opportunities to a small number of Chinese who have direct
connections to the power elite to build their business
conglomerates. On the other hand, the Chinese have been excluded
from public activities, badly discriminated against by the
bureaucracy, and also in matters of education, and even worse,
they have been a permanent target of racketeering by bureaucrats.

"They are also deprived of their cultural right such as the
prohibition of the circulation of books with Chinese characters,
the establishment of Chinese schools and celebration of the
Chinese New Year.

"The New Order seems to have an interest in maintaining the
powerful business skills and the networks of the Chinese, but at
the same time to make them politically precarious, in order to
enable them to keep those of Chinese descent in control."

In addition to that, we see other phenomena in action. When
crimes, or misdemeanors are committed by individuals who happen
to be of Chinese descent, the issues tend to be blown up or
overshadowed with racial sentiment rather than treated with a
dispassionately criminal outlook.

But we tend to disregard their identity when Indonesians of
Chinese descent excel in sports, art, academia, the economy or
any other areas that contribute to the nation. We close our eyes
to the fact that our compatriots of Chinese descent are not such
bad citizens after all; instead we prefer to keep in mind the
less good things about them. We seem to forget that good guys and
bad guys come from any race.

We have been carrying misconceptions about all those of
Chinese descent being rich and all their fellow Indonesians being
poor for too long. We've urged the rich Chinese to mingle with
the poor Indonesians. The fact is that there are a lot of rich
Indonesians and there are also poor Chinese.

Forcing the rich to mingle with the poor and vice versa, in my
opinion, sounds rather absurd. As the old saying goes: "Birds of
the same feathers flock together." The Indonesian tycoons can get
along beautifully with their counterparts of Chinese descent.

It is also true that low-income Indonesians of Chinese descent
and their Indonesian counterparts have integrated naturally and
harmoniously in rural villages as well as in cities. I don't
think the rich Indonesians of Chinese descent can get along much
with the poor people in their own community, let alone other
communities. Neither are the rich Indonesians interested in
mixing with poor Indonesians That is human nature, I suppose.

The racial problem does not have a solution, the situation
will not change unless the authorities, the intellectuals, and
the media, are willing to correct their attitudes toward our
compatriots of Chinese descent.

They have to encourage people to have a better understanding
of and tolerance toward ethnic groups other than their own. Every
one of us has to start thinking positively about each other. Then
we can build trust between all Indonesians, whatever their
ancestry.

JENNY LAURITZ KHOENG

Jakarta