Ethnic, racial and religious issues through children's eyes

Ethnic, racial and religious issues through children's eyes

JAKARTA (JP): Seven-year-old Kartika knew that the Chinese are
not the same as other ethnic groups in the country. She learned
the difference when her mother took her along to wedding parties
-- the Chinese bride usually wears a Western gown, while the
Javanese is clad in traditional outfit.

Later on, she learned more about the differences when her
friends called her Cina (Chinese).

Alfonsus Arista Tefa, 13, said that when he was in the second
grade of an elementary school, his friend called him Cina while
laughing, sneering and pointing his finger at him "as if I was a
thief caught redhanded".

"I was hurt and confused because I felt that we were good
friends," Alfonsius said.

Like it or not, at an early age, many Chinese children have
already faced ethnic problems that are hard for them to digest.
Yet, they were ignored when they wanted their rights observed.

Until recently, that is, when the Indonesian Anti-Racism
Society organized a national writing contest on SARA, an acronym
of race, religion and tribal affiliations or societal groups --
for elementary school and junior high school students.

Many students described religious and racial tension in their
writing very well. They cited the May riots in Jakarta, the
Ketapang riots here and the Kupang incident among examples of the
SARA-related problems around them.

Rembulan Indira, a junior high school student in East Jakarta,
for instance, revealed that her Chinese classmate planned to seek
refuge in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, after her father's store
was burned down during the bloody May riots when hundreds of
stores were looted and set ablaze.

Novia Rachmayanti, a sixth grade student of an elementary
school in West Jakarta, still remembered how panicky and
horrified she was during the May riots.

"...we were studying, suddenly the teachers told us, students
of the sixth grade, to assemble in the school yard as we would
all be sent home... because there were riots... which would
spread in the direction of our school. Some of my friends cried
in fear," she wrote on a piece of paper with the picture of
Sailor Moon bottom right.

As children, all participants have their own way of expressing
their opinions before getting to the main point.

A junior high school student, for example, opened his piece by
saying that SARA is not the name of MTV's VJ, the main cast of
the Saras 008 TV series on Indosiar, or a name of a beautiful
girl next door.

It seems that many writers were well-informed about the latest
developments in the country's politics, economy, social life and
culture. Some students expressed their opinions fluently, using
sophisticated terms, sounding very much like adults.

Dwi Avanti Indriana, a second year student of a state-owned
junior high school in East Jakarta, referred to HAM dan
Pluralisme Agama (Human Rights and Religious Pluralism), a book
by former religion minister Tarmizi Taher, in her writing.

Yamin Prihatini, a first year junior high student in East
Jakarta, who referred to Lise Funderburg's Black, White and
Other, citing: "The first impression, a long-lasting one, about
racism originates from parents and family. Different attitudes
toward one's race can also spread as the result of suppression or
bad treatment faced by a person."

Angela Hahm, a seventh grade student of the Australian
International School, wrote: "Racism is part of mistrust, of
jealousies and of power struggles among various groups and the
most violent and barbaric conflicts are the ones that are based
on religion. It seems that religion encourages people to act
primitively. The people who commit these acts consider the
burning of houses of worship, the killings of innocent people and
other atrocities, holy deeds."

There are also pieces containing Pancasila propaganda.

Nonin Niadisti, a sixth grade elementary student in
Tulungagung, East Java, wrote how the Pancasila and Citizenship
Education course solved the SARA problems in her school.

It was a story about her classmate, Susi, who was bright but
would not mingle with other students who were poor, had a
different religion or came from a different ethnic group.

As Nonin learned that Susi's close friends started to act like
her, she told them: "Friends, the teacher has taught us the
Pancasila and Citizenship Education lesson with a theme of unity
and unification. And until now, haven't you understood?"

In short, the story ended happily as everybody, including
Susi, realized their mistakes.

And Nonin took the first prize in the elementary school
category.

The top prize in the junior high school category went to
Rembulan Indira.

Each of them received Rp 750,000.

The writing contest was part of the planned publication of an
introductory book on SARA written by a team consisting of social
and political researcher Mohamad Sobary, cultural observer Ignas
Kleden, child educator Seto Mulyadi and chairman of the
Indonesian Anti-Racism Society, Bambang Jatmiko. The team also
performed as jury for the writing contest.

The book is to be distributed for free in five cities:
Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Ujungpandang and Medan.

One could easily argue about the originality of the pieces
since the organizers did not supervise the process of writing.
The teachers or parents may have interfered in the writing, or
even written the stories for the children. But Bambang is not
worried.

"We got what we wanted, SARA in the eyes of the children. But
we also see that their understanding is still superficial," he
told The Jakarta Post.

"The main point of holding this contest is to make the
children communicate, ask questions of their parents, or their
teachers." (ste)