Danger of racism lurks everywhere in the world

By Ester I. Jusuf

This is the second of two articles on the roots of racism. The first article appeared on Saturday.

JAKARTA (JP): After the 1740 massacre, the Vereenigde Oost- Indische Compagnie (VOC or United East India Company) administration issued an edict called passenstelsel. The edict specified that every ethnic Chinese was required to hold a special pass when traveling outside of the district where they resided.

The introduction of this special pass enabled the colonial administration to keep an eye on the social activities of ethnic Chinese, prevent acculturation (to ensure that race-based discrimination would remain) and ensure no economic, political and social interaction between ethnic Chinese and the rest of the population.

In addition to the passenstelsel, the VOC administration also introduced wijkenstelsel, under which ethnic Chinese were prohibited from residing in the center of the city, and were therefore required to set up a ghetto in the form of a residential Chinatown enclave.

During the New Order era, racial discrimination against ethnic Chinese was considerable. The Soeharto administration openly practiced discrimination against ethnic Chinese. Various regulations (all in the form of presidential decrees, issued directly or through the Cabinet) were drawn up to provide a segregation line so that the discriminatory gap between ethnic Chinese and people of other ethnic origins would remain.

These presidential decrees were made even when the New Order administration made use of many ethnic Chinese in its capitalism development program. This ethnic Chinese business network has proven its dominance since the Dutch colonial period.

Besides, by using ethnic Chinese -- who needed protection from waves of mass riots -- the Soeharto administration could feel sure that the profits reaped from these businesses would not be spent on financing activities carried out by opposition forces. A racist sentiment was needed to secure the obedience of ethnic Chinese to this administration. Racial riots also provided legitimacy to the emphasis on the security approach, allowing the Soeharto administration to strongly suppress the opposition.

The great number of victims of the massacre in the post-Sept. 30, 1965-putsch period deeply traumatized the ethnic Chinese, and encouraged them to nurture a phobia of anything smacking of politics.

This phobia was made more acute with the introduction of a number of Soeharto administration political decisions that made ethnic Chinese second-class citizens in terms of civil rights and social, cultural and political matters. Take the residential identification card (KTP), for example. There used to be a special symbol on the card denoting that the holder was an ethnic Chinese.

Ethnic Chinese were also excluded from the opportunity to join the Army and they found it very difficult to join the civil service -- two opportunities leading to positions of some political clout.

Then there was a special intelligence agency assigned to deal with "the Chinese problem" under the name of the Coordinating Agency on Chinese Problems, a name that would give the impression that the presence of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia was indeed a problem. Worse still, there were at least 21 racist laws enforced by the Indonesian government on ethnic Chinese. At this point, a strongly racist policy was applied to ethnic Chinese.

Nevertheless, ethnic Chinese are not alone in experiencing discriminatory treatment. There are also practices of racial discrimination against other ethnic groups in other parts of Indonesia. This is a problem that has arisen because of a higher level of physical similarity between the ethnic groups suffering discrimination and the ethnic group practicing this discrimination. Ethnic clashes between the Dayak people and the Madurese, for example, reflect this difficulty.

A problem like this was also known during the Nazi administration in Germany. In fact, the victims of racism in Germany were not only the Jews, but also the Gypsies. Like the Jews, they had no native land and wandered to all corners of Europe. But, unlike the Jews who were in search of a piece of land to settle on, the Gypsies wandered and did not establish a class-based society under capitalism.

Some people believe that the pursuit and murder of Gypsies was only a diversion in the Nazi's application of racism against the Jews and ultra-nationalist Aryans. The Gypsies, who could not be categorized as Aryans, had to be eliminated in line with the racial cleansing program (genocide) carried out by the fascists. However, whether deliberately or not, they had undergone terror brought about by the last self-defense mechanism of capitalism.

The same is true of the peoples in Irian Jaya, Aceh and East Timor. Whether they realize it or not, everything they have gone through is an excellent example explaining the meaning of racial discrimination. According to the United Nations Convention on the Abolition of Racial Discrimination, all forms of political, economic, social and cultural discrimination solely because of someone's ethnic or racial origin or his religious background may be categorized as racial discrimination.

It is clear to us now that the danger of racism is lurking not in one or two countries alone, but also in many countries in all its different forms. Therefore, racism may be categorized as the enemy of humanity. Undeniably, the danger of racism has damaged the pillars of mankind's social life. Not a single religion condones racism, because it is a denial of God's creation.

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