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