Ethnic Chinese at fault for riots
By Masli Arman
JAKARTA (JP): The May 13-14 violent riots here could well prove to be a major watershed in the history of the relationship between indigenous Indonesians and those of Chinese descent. The government must see to it that the culprits are quickly identified, taken to court and punished severely according to the law.
Some observers have commented that the riots were a result of economic disparity regardless of the racial origin of the opposing groups. I do not think so.
Economic inequity could have been a contributing factor, but the root of the problem lies in what might be tersely described as a racially derived arrogant attitude and superiority complex on the part of the Chinese.
If the conflict was a result of economic imbalance, why were the mansions and other property of very wealthy indigenous Indonesians hardly touched?
And inversely, why were many shops owned by not-so-rich Chinese-Indonesians extensively destroyed?
The following cases show how little economic resentment was evident, while the Chinese do appear to be harboring a feeling of superiority, arrogance or even contempt toward the indigenous people:
* One day in November 1995, a Chinese shopkeeper in Purwakarta, West Java, wantonly accused a young indigenous Indonesian girl wearing Islamic dress of stealing in the shop. Without bothering to find any proof or leaving the matter to the police, the shopkeeper had the poor girl paraded around the shop and at the same time made her admit she was a thief.
The girl was later forced to clean the toilet and mop the dirty floor while still wearing her full Islamic dress. As may be expected, Purwakarta later experienced vicious rioting for at least two days, during which hundreds of Chinese properties were burned or destroyed.
* One early morning in December 1996, a Chinese family in Rengasdengklok, West Java, made some highly insulting remarks to a group of rather noisy Moslem youths near a mosque just before dawn prayers.
Without going into the details of the predictable riots that ensued that day, I think that this type of Chinese-Indonesian who does not like the way Moslems congregate or conduct their prayers should not live near a mosque at all.
But more importantly, they should for their own sake be more tolerant toward Islam and Moslems in general because there are bound to be millions of Moslems and thousands of mosques wherever they go in West Java.
* Several years earlier, a young Indonesian housemaid in Surabaya was tortured by her Chinese employer with a hot iron rod for obviously no justifiable reason. She suffered many burns all over her body.
* A few months ago, as widely reported in the media, another Indonesian housemaid was cruelly forced by her ethnic Chinese employer in Singapore to eat dog's feces which resulted in serious illness.
Without in any way trying to belittle the deep trauma and humiliation experienced by the Chinese girls and women raped during the May riots, the equally deep suffering and humiliation felt by the Indonesian girl in the Purwakarta example as well as those in the Surabaya and Singapore cases was not dissimilar in nature to what the Chinese women experienced.
* An Indonesian-Chinese woman (Yeni Kwok) wrote in the May 29, 1998, issue of the Hong Kong-based magazine Asiaweek that her family and relatives in Jakarta often refer to indigenous Indonesians as fangui, meaning inferior.
She also wrote that many Chinese-Indonesians simply had no social contact with indigenous Indonesians except for their household staff.
My comment is that if the Chinese really want to be accepted, they should cast off any ill-conceived superiority complex they might have and mingle more freely with indigenous Indonesians.
* A news item with cultural significance was published a few weeks ago in the Republika daily concerning a meeting between the head of the Supreme Advisory Council, A.A. Baramuli, and more than a hundred members of the Chinese community.
The daily reported that the Chinese present were clearly heard speaking in Chinese whenever they talked to each other, obviously preferring it to Indonesian.
This flagrant example of disrespect of our national language in a public place strongly reminds me of a very strange suggestion made recently by a well-known person of Chinese descent who often speaks in Chinese.
He hinted that the public use of the Chinese language and Chinese characters should be reintroduced in Indonesia and public performances of Chinese cultural dances should be allowed in the streets of Jakarta.
I am sure no responsible government of this country would accept such an amazing suggestion because it would easily result in a severe backlash or even rioting.
* One conflict which I will never forget is the famous Kuala Lumpur riot. It was caused by the outrageous and uncalled-for provocations by thousands of parading Chinese who became so bigheaded after what they thought was a significant gain made by their political party in a recent general election.
On a number of occasions the Chinese opened their trouser flies took out their penises, showed them off to the unfortunate Malay men and women who happened to be around at the time and told them to get out of Kuala Lumpur and go back to their supposedly natural habitat in the jungle.
Sure enough, the following day thousands of Malays (plus some Indonesian sympathizers) retaliated furiously and massacred hundreds of Chinese men, women and children.
* In the Purwakarta, Rengasdengklok and Kuala Lumpur riots the Chinese were clearly the guilty party as their arrogant acts provoked the indigenous people to retaliate. The May riots in Jakarta were not as clear cut.
However, I believe the basic underlying causes are still linked to the Chinese, such as the accumulated grievances over the years about the slights, discourtesies and even rude treatment encountered from time to time by ordinary Indonesians when visiting Chinese shops in the Glodok area and elsewhere.
Also, a general dislike of the Chinese has built up because of their disinclination to mix socially with Indonesians and their clannish preference to live exclusively with each other in certain residential areas.
But I think the most pertinent Chinese-related cause of the riots was the realization that many Chinese conglomerates were unable to repay their huge international and domestic debts.
Added to this was anger that the deliberately manipulative tactics of some Chinese foreign exchange speculators had played a major role in bringing about the current economic crisis, the collapse of the rupiah and soaring food prices.
At any rate, while the above-mentioned cases evidently originate with Chinese-Indonesians, the immediate cause that actually triggered the riots seems to be the confusing tension created by the Trisakti shooting of May 12. This clearly had nothing to do with the Chinese.
There is no doubt in my mind that public resentment against the arrogance of the Chinese and their large responsibility for the recent deterioration in the economy was so deep and so widespread across much of the country that it would not have needed a big organization to deliberately instigate the people to riot.
Generally, however, the riots in Purwakarta, Rengasdengklok, Kuala Lumpur and even in Jakarta (including the rapes) would not have happened in the first place had the Chinese shown greater sensitivity to indigenous people.
I would like in this connection to make the following illustration. In West Sumatra, where I come from, there is an ancient Minangkabau proverb which seems to be specially applicable to the local people who, for centuries, have liked to travel and emigrate to places and regions far away from home.
It says: Dimana bumi dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung. In more simple and less allegorical language, this means that wherever you travel and settle down, always endear yourself to the local people and adjust yourself to the culture and traditions of your newly adopted land.
It is rather like a precept on how a guest should behave toward his host and hostess. I believe the Chinese could learn one or two things from this proverb in order to assimilate themselves better.
For instance, they should renounce much of their "Chineseness" such as the Chinese language, Chinese characters, Chinese names etc. I am sure these are only a very small price to pay for the privilege and benefits of having Indonesian citizenship.
According to my rough estimate, about 70 percent of the approximately six million ethnic Chinese in Indonesia at present are already fairly well assimilated, while the other 30 percent are either indifferent to or reject the idea of assimilation.
I earnestly hope that by the next generation, that is by the year 2020, all or the vast majority of Chinese-Indonesians will have been thoroughly assimilated and acculturated.
At that point in time, it will be pointless and meaningless to refer to them as nonindigenous or as Indonesian citizens of Chinese or Tionghoa decent.
I would simply call them Indonesians, indeed good Indonesians, and I'm sure some of them could be appointed cabinet ministers, ambassadors, directors-general and even three-star or four-star generals.
As for the minority who may still persist in refusing to assimilate and continue with their superior attitude, I would suggest that they relinquish their Indonesian citizenship and live elsewhere.
I am not a narrow-minded or chauvinistic indigenous Indonesian as some readers might suspect. Since obtaining my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from an Australian university in the 1950s, I worked until recently for a number of large mining and oil companies in several countries.
This entailed working closely with many people of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, including a dozen or so Southeast Asian Chinese professionals with whom I had enjoyable working relationships.
Also, after the terrible riots in Jakarta last May, when the house of a Chinese friend of ours was burned down by a rampaging mob, I gave them financial assistance to help alleviate this opinion which is not intended to be an object of heated polemic in the near future but, I hope, could be taken as an input by the Chinese community in their introspection and deliberation as suggested recently by one of their leaders, businessman William Soerjadjaja.
Window: As for the minority who may still persist in refusing to assimilate and continue with their superior attitude, I would suggest that they relinquish their Indonesian citizenship and live elsewhere.