Europe should learn from RI

Europe should learn from RI

Confronted with the riots of the last weeks, France and other countries in western Europe could perhaps learn a lot from Indonesia. But first let's not forget that the multicultural principles of Europe and those of Indonesia are fundamentally different.

In the case of Indonesia, it is purely an Indonesian pan- nationalism based on the unifying principles of Pancasila. This means for instance that Indonesians of Chinese or Indo- European descent -- in spite of their centuries-long presence in Indonesia and contributions to its culture -- are effectively considered alien elements.

Full rights as resident civilians are in fact also denied to minorities who are pribumi (indigenous) but don't belong to the mainstream recognized religions. This, it can be said, protects the harmonic society from dissent and disintegration. Indonesia's immigration policy is based on the principle that there should be no immigration except in the very exceptional circumstances when it benefits the state -- or the people that run it.

Foreigners cannot legally own land or houses, they can't send their children to public schools, they don't have the right to work or import elements of their culture that conflict with local traditions, etc. In contrast, multiculturalism in western Europe is based on the principles of human rights, which guarantee freedom of faith, expression and -- at least in theory -- freedom from discrimination.

The right of asylum is considered holy, regardless of the attitudes of the asylum seekers toward their hosts and their own acceptance of human rights. For instance, it is easy to give many examples of people prosecuted for their radicalism in moderate Islamic countries who have found refuge in Europe. Still, most immigrants are simply motivated by their desire to have a better life and immigrate legally or illegally for that reason.

For humanitarian reasons several western European governments have legalized large groups of illegals on a couple of occasions. Immigrants can easily become legal residents with full citizen rights to own land, work, benefit from social security, get other forms of state support, study, etc. Sometimes they even have voting rights and can easily acquire their host country's nationality while keeping their original nationality.

Immigrants are usually not required to demonstrate their loyalty to their new home country either. Of course some people have taken advantage of this whole situation. Nevertheless, when some policymakers try to harden the rules and actively pursue immigration law violators, the left-wing dominated press cries foul and accuses them of xenophobia and racism. The riots in France are sometimes attributed to angry young men whose grandparents immigrated from North Africa and are rebelling against real or perceived discrimination and injustice.

JESSICA LIEM Ivry-sur-seine France