Ethnic Chinese and amoral acts

Ethnic Chinese and amoral acts

In response to Sumarsono Sastrowardoyo's letter of Sept. 17, I
venture to say that most Chinese-Indonesians hate and condemn the
individuals, especially ethnic Chinese, who smuggle rice and
commit other amoral acts, such as bankers pillaging banks.

In past times, Chinese-Indonesians gave the impression of
passivism with regard to such cases because they were conditioned
to believe that "silence is golden". In talks with friends,
colleagues and customers (I am a banker) of Chinese origin, there
is a wish, even a hope, that the government will immediately mete
out heavy penalties to criminals, especially the ethnic Chinese
among them. It is their acts which have ruined the image of
ethnic Chinese.

I am convinced there is not one ethnic group in this country
that does not condemn criminals, independent from whether the
criminals belong to their ethnic group. I am also sure that the
majority of ethnic Chinese, because they were born and raised
here, have given or wish to give their commitment to Indonesia in
their own way.

I wish to thank Sumarsono Sastrowardoyo for having given me
the courage to write this letter.

RUDY KUSWORO

Jakarta