Danger of racism lurks everywhere in the globe

By Ester I. Jusuf

This is the first of two articles on the roots of racism.

JAKARTA (JP): The UN Convention on the Abolition of Racial Discrimination says racism is "any distinction, exception, limitation or choice based on race, skin color, racial descent or national origin or ethnic group with a view to or the effect of removing or damaging recognition, pleasure or implementation, on the basis of equality, human rights and essential freedom in the political, economic, social, cultural or a particular aspect of human life". (Article 1, subarticle 1 of the International Convention on the Abolition of Racial Discrimination).

In reality, human beings are destined to be born with differences. One cannot choose to be born to a particular father or mother, in the same way that one cannot pick an ethnic group or a race to which one wishes to be born. These differences do not necessarily entitle someone to practice discrimination solely because of a person's family origin. One cannot justify the use of difference as a means to legitimize and justify discrimination. Therefore, discrimination based on race and ethnicity (read: racism) is not something natural, but rather something born out of some particular cause.

The adoption of an economically exploitative system, better known as slavery, gave rise to the attitude of looking down on other nations and peoples.

Slavery began when rulers saw the necessity of obtaining cheap manpower. To exploit one's own people as slaves would harm the legitimacy of the rulers. Therefore, cheap labor had to be obtained by subjugating other nations and using the populace of these subjugated countries as slaves. Nations defeated in a war were considered inferior to the victorious nations. Because of this perceived inferiority, the victorious nation was seen as being entitled to do anything it wished to the defeated people. Thus slavery began and it was at this point, perhaps, that racism was born and began to develop.

Slaves could be made to do anything and had to follow the orders of their masters. They were not paid and enjoyed no rights. Therefore, rulers made huge profits from slavery. They could have huge temples, imposing monuments and luxurious palaces built virtually for free.

However, at that time the concept of racial discrimination on the basis of skin color, culture or religion was still alien to the Romans and Greeks. Slaves came from any nation which was defeated in battle or they were purchased from slave traders.

The kind of racism that we now know did not emerge until the end of 16th century when the slave trade flourished. Slaves were taken from Africa to Britain or America. This slave trade was contradictory to the Christianity then professed by most Europeans and Americans. Therefore, to gain people's approval for the slave trade, the slave traders disseminated the idea that the slaves were inferior and were therefore fit to be traded. Racism is an ideology which justifies economic exploitation in a systematic and organized manner.

Seeing the occurrence of various racial riots in Indonesia from Dutch colonial times to the present, one may tend to believe Indonesians are racists. Historical facts show, however, that during the prehistoric era and in the early history of the archipelago now known as Indonesia, people of various racial origins lived together peacefully and harmoniously. It was the "divide and rule" strategy adopted by the Vereenigde Oost- Indische Compagnie (VOC or United East India Company) that put an end to this peaceful coexistence of people of various racial origins.

A human being will be able to see the differences in people of different races, but will not harbor any suspicions or antipathy unless these feelings have been nurtured by a system which intentionally derives benefits from suspicion and antipathy.

And the New Order regime adopted just this strategy. Under the New Order, racism found fertile ground to grow. A number of laws which draw a clear line of segregation between "indigenous" and "nonindigenous" made Indonesians look at one another with deep suspicion.

Racial discrimination first came to this country along with European colonialism in the 16th century. The Dutch colonial administration radically changed the Indonesian social system, from one where racial discrimination was alien to a system fraught with racial discrimination, an aspect very useful to the colonial administration.

The peaceful coexistence enjoyed by people of differing racial origins was disadvantageous to the subjugation of a nation. The cohesiveness of the different sectors in society could lead to a united resistance against the new colonial power. Therefore, the dissemination of racism as an ideology formed an important and essential part of the "divide and rule" policy pursued by the colonial rulers.

After the Dutch traders successfully took control of political power in Indonesia, they had to maintain their grasp. To this end, they adopted a system which pitted one group against the other with a view to ensuring the seeds of hostility would remain planted among social groups.

To achieve this goal, the colonial administration provided a certain social group special privileges. The ethnic Chinese were thus given special business facilities.

The Dutch colonial rulers considered this policy of great importance because disadvantaged social groups would become hostile toward the privileged social group and would, therefore, fail to fight the foreign economic and political colonialism.

On the other hand, the privileged social group would always feel threatened and would seek protection from the ruling government. In this way, they would not oppose the ruler's wishes. Also, race riots could be used by the colonial administration to justify their suppression of nationalist movements which demanded freedom. The colonial powers could accomplish this by claiming the nationalist movements had triggered the race riots.

One of the proofs that the ethnic Chinese were granted special facilities solely to sow racial hatred and divert attention from the colonial rulers exploitation was the imposition of restrictions on ethnic Chinese meant to protect the interests of the Dutch traders.

A rather extreme example of the precarious position of the ethnic Chinese was the VOC's massacre of ethnic Chinese in 1740 under the pretext that they were plotting a rebellion. Those ethnic Chinese who escaped the massacre went east to join ethnic Chinese troops in Sunan Kuning, who were fighting the VOC over the successor to Paku Buwana II, king of Surakarta Hadiningrat kingdom based in Solo.

True, the Dutch colonial administration granted a lot of business facilities and monopolies to ethnic Chinese businessmen. However, their social status was maintained at the level of a necessary evil, a scapegoat which could be used as a safety valve to vent explosions of popular anger which resulted from economic and political oppression.

In this regard, whites became first-class citizens, while those labeled "indigenous" were given third-class status. Those who were called "alien oriental" were in some undefined place in the middle.

However, it turned out that those to whom "special facilities" were granted were also subject to certain restrictions. The mobility of the ethnic Chinese was limited and they were forced to live in ghettos.

The writer is chairperson of the Standing Council of Solidarity of the Motherland