CIDES's proposed affirmative action not racist

By Irman G. Lanti

JAKARTA (JP): The problem with indigenous and non-indigenous relations in Indonesia is evidently present and it should become the commitment of intellectuals to address the problems of the nation with sound reasoning, fairness and openness.

Benny Subianto, a Jakarta-based political observer, asserted in his article published in The Jakarta Post on Nov. 14 that economic disparity was not the sole factor behind the numerous recent riots in Indonesia. However, he failed to appreciate the extent of such disparity.

Benny prepared the article to comment about a dialog held by the Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES) on indigenous and non-indigenous relations. The idea behind the dialog was to observe and analyze the problem of such relations in Indonesia, as well as to attempt to find a solution to the problem. It was a constructive idea and certainly far from racial tenets.

According to CIDES research, there were two types of cause to the riots -- the structural cause and the trigger.

The trigger might be unrelated to economic disparity or racial relations but the pattern of target for destruction during the riots showed that economic disparity, especially that between groups in the society, occupied a very significant part of the cause.

During many of the riots, the shops of ethnic Chinese traders and churches (where many ethnic Chinese Christians go to worship) were always targeted by the rioters.

The incidents were cause for great remorse but it was understandable why ordinary people in small cities aimed at those specific targets. As far as CIDES was concerned, economic disparity among ethnic groups both at local and national levels was one of the most compelling reasons.

While economic distribution data in Indonesia varies, it is safe to say, as quoted by speaker A. Dahana at the dialog, that ethnic Chinese in Indonesia comprise only around 4 percent of the whole Indonesian population, but they control around 50 percent of the nation's economic assets and money in circulation. Benny even came up with a figure of 60 percent. Even among conglomerates that dominate the private sector economy, ethnic Chinese conglomerates have assets amounting to US$25.88 billion (80 percent), while the indigenous ones control only $6.48 billion or 20 percent of the whole conglomeration (as reported by Info Bisnis on Jan. 14, 1997).

This is an unhealthy condition and greatly weakens Indonesia's competitive advantage as it is approaching the era of economic globalization. Furthermore, accumulation of economic resources within such a small group is dangerous because the group then has tremendous leverage on governance and possesses the ability to disrupt the whole economy. Hence without regard to any specific ethnic group, this structure is perilous, undesirable and critically needs to be corrected.

Benny was correct in asserting that it was government policies that had created this problem. In his words, "Indeed, the New Order government's economic development policies have thus far marginalized small and medium-scale businesses owned or controlled by Indonesians who are not of Chinese descent." But he failed to follow up on his own logic when he stated his disagreement with CIDES's proposed affirmative action policies. He said that it "would... intensify government intervention in the economic and business sectors".

The function of government everywhere is to govern. Some do it directly with their own apparatus, some regulate through policies. The wave of deregulations in Indonesia during the last decade aimed at minimizing the government's direct role in the economy and at loosening up the tight control of the economy. Needless to say, even in the most open economy, the role of the government remains to regulate the economy through policies. CIDES's proposed affirmative action advised on such a mechanism.

Bearing in mind the fact of economic possession across the groups above, CIDES's proposed affirmative action will certainly benefit indigenous Indonesians. This is not a racist approach due to the fact that most small and medium entrepreneurs fall within that group.

At the same time to most ethnic Chinese public offices seem to be off limits. In the Old Order era, there were some ministers of Chinese descent. The mistakes of the Chinese-dominated Baperki organization which affiliated itself with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the 1960s seemed to cut off ethnic Chinese aspiration to public office.

This was also an equally undesirable situation. It suggested that there were no equal rights among citizens of Indonesia regardless of ethnicity. Furthermore, it put one or more ethnic group in a difficult position when they tried to articulate their public interests.

In Malaysia, whose affirmative action policies were declared by Benny as "racist", for example, the Chinese and Indians own institutions to channel their political aspirations (Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Association).

In Indonesia, the political party system is not arranged according to primordial attributes and a relatively small number of ethnic Chinese are involved. This condition also needs change. In order to balance the development equity side of its proposed affirmative action policies, CIDES also proposed social integration through the opening up of public offices for non- indigenous Indonesians, especially those of ethnic Chinese background.

As a rejoinder, it is true that there is no easy answer to racial issues. But instead of sitting idle fearing to disrupt the status quo, Indonesia must strive to address the problems in a consistent manner.

CIDES is committed to a planned change in Indonesia and never pretends to have an easy answer for any developmental issues. But it remains CIDES philosophy that an open, unobstructed dialog among development actors that includes the government, business community, academics and nongovernmental organizations must be initiated.

Through such an approach radical measures should be avoided for change that will only sacrifice the interests of ordinary people.

The writer is head of the Research Department at the Center for Information and Development Studies, Jakarta.