Ethnic hatred still a threat to melting pot city

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's statement that pluralism has proven to be a blessing for Indonesia rather than a threat to national unity, apparently is not understood by all. An example of that is the terror threats by religious extremists ahead of Christmas. Some people do not understand the meaning or spirit of pluralism, and are thus easily provoked to participate in ethnic or religious conflicts -- often sparked by trivial incidents. The Jakarta Post's Abdul Khalik has delved into these sensitive issues and this is the second of four articles dealing with society's understanding of pluralism.

Ali Basya, the community unit (RW) 10 chief of Kali Baru subdistrict in Bekasi, has struggled to understand the recent clash between Ambonese residents of Titian Indah housing complex and Betawi people outside the complex.

"An Ambonese man was Brushed by a motorcycle ridden by a Betawi person. He scolded the motorcyclist but the motorcyclist only returned with more people and the seemingly trivial incident escalated," he said.

The July 17 incident caused people around the complex to unite against the Ambonese. At least five people were seriously injured, while several buildings were destroyed and burned.

Over 100 police officers were deployed to restore order. They built a barricade along the road, separating the two areas for days.

After three days, the situation returned to normal and representatives of both sides were taken to Bekasi Police station to sign a peace agreement.

However, Ali expressed concern that, as socialization between the two ethnic groups was uncommon, such an incident could reoccur.

Sociologist Ida Ruwaida Noor of the University of Indonesia (UI) agreed with Ali, saying that unless the root causes of the problem -- the economic and social gap, lack of communications and history of conflicts between ethnic groups -- were not adequately addressed by the government and society at large, such conflicts would continue to reemerge.

"Our survey of conflicts nationwide has revealed that most of them were sparked by small matters. But since there is an underlying problem among ethnic groups, it is enough to spark a bigger clash," she said.

Data from the Central Statistics Bureau (BPS) shows that Javanese people comprise the largest ethnic group with almost three million people of the Jakarta's nine million residents. Other dominant ethnic groups are Betawi with 2.4 million, Sundanese 1.3 million, Chinese 500,000 and Batak 300,000. The remaining 1.5 million are Minangkabau, Melayu and Palembang people.

With such a multi-ethnic population, Jakarta is prone to miscommunication and conflicts, Ida said.

"Compounded by economic injustice, whereby one ethnic group is 'wealthier' than others, a little provocation is enough to spark a conflict," she added.

Ida proposed that the city administration formulate a plan and related policy to prevent such conflicts from recurring. The plan and policy should be inherent in economic and social development strategies, she said.

"Recently, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) designed a sustainable peace development plan. They have termed it 'conflict sensitive' development planning. I hope it can be implemented," she said.

She said that the government should take into account feelings of injustice that could arise among ethnic groups in the implementation of its development programs, such as the construction of housing complexes, markets or offices.

Major ethnic conflicts 1998-2004

No. Incident Ethnic group involved Victims

1. May riot 1998 Chinese and Betawi helped Hundreds of Chinese

by other ethnic groups people reportedly

were raped and

killed

2. Ketapang riot Multi-ethnic and religious Seven killed and

Nov. 1998 brawl allegedly sparked by hundreds injured

gambling and drinking

3. Manggarai Multi-ethnic brawl Several people

brawl 2000 killed, countless

others injured and

dozens of houses

burned

4. Kebayoran Lama Betawi and Madura sparked One killed and four

clash 2001 by traffic accident injured

5. Cakung riot, Betawi and Madura sparked 17 people injured

March 2002 by jealousy over a woman

6. Kalijodo riot, Makassar and Mandar sparked One killed,

March 2002 by gambling hundreds of houses

burned

7. Duren Sawit Multi-ethnic sparked by 10 injured

clash, August quarrel in dangdut

2003 music show

8. Titian Indah Ambonese and Betawi sparked Five injured,

clash, 2004 by motorcycle accident several buildings

burned

Source: media reports