Gaining freedom by refusing to answer the cries of 'wolf'
Gaining freedom by refusing to answer the cries of 'wolf'
By Myra Sidharta
JAKARTA (JP): We were left wondering when we heard that Celia
and her husband were not leaving the country during the campaign
and the elections. After all, they had every reason to be scared
and to run away.
On May 13 last year they were in their office on Jl. Thamrin,
Central Jakarta, and could see the burning of the shop-houses
elsewhere. They knew that her parents, who own a medicine shop in
the Glodok area, closed the shop early because the mob was
looting and burning everything around them. It was all the more
frightening because they could see the smoke and the flames, but
did not know exactly where the fires were. There was no news
about rapes then, so they were not worried about their children,
at home with their servants.
When their parents returned to their shop the next day, they
found that it was, miraculously, still standing. "It was saved by
the street vendors," said Celia with tears in her eyes. "They
usually keep their merchandise in my parents' store after closing
time and on that day they told the looters not to loot the shop
because they would be victimized, too."
Celia has sent her children to school in Australia. Whenever
there were rumors about possible violence, she went away, too,
only to find that nothing happened. She felt she was running away
every time there was a cry of "wolf", but they were all false
alarms and she felt guilty for being a coward by leaving.
Yes, violence occurred, but not against Chinese-Indonesians.
Other ethnic groups were the target, which was just as painful
and sad. She felt guilty for spending so much money on going
abroad when it could have been used to help the victims or
malnourished children.
One day she could not stand it anymore.
"It was like living on a roller coaster," she said.
"Sometimes, we felt like we were riding happily and even had the
feeling of being on top of the world, but sometimes we became so
scared that we wanted to get off and leave the whole thing
behind.
"But then I realized that a roller coaster is a commercial
invention. People have to pay to get scared and scream. While we
are getting scared, someone else is getting rich! So I suspect
that we are being exploited by groups or organizations who are
getting rich by instilling fear in us. The more we show our fear,
not by screaming, but by packing our luggage and running away,
the more they enjoy it and the stronger the rumors circulate to
make us even more scared!"
So this time, during the campaign, Celia decided to stay home.
Not only that, she enjoyed a first-class view of the
demonstrations around the Welcome Monument at the Hotel Indonesia
traffic circle.
"This is an important historical event. So many parties are
taking part in the rallies that it looks more like a carnival
than the usual rallies," she told me. "Some parties are really
original with their shows. I could even see a complete Chinese
lion dance performance and also a dragon dance, which I had never
seen before, because it was banned during the 32 years of the New
Order.
"The lion dance was so similar to the Barong dance in Bali, I
wonder why it was banned for the Chinese and considered a tourist
attraction in Bali?"
Although I could not answer her question, I told her that she
would get to see it more often from now on. The biggest hope is
that the losing parties will be able to accept defeat, and not go
on a rampage when they lose the elections, like hooligans at a
soccer game. After all, the results will affect the fate of more
than 200 million people.
Whatever happens, Celia is ready and, if necessary, is willing
to help.
By Myra Sidharta
JAKARTA (JP): We were left wondering when we heard that Celia
and her husband were not leaving the country during the campaign
and the elections. After all, they had every reason to be scared
and to run away.
On May 13 last year they were in their office on Jl. Thamrin,
Central Jakarta, and could see the burning of the shop-houses
elsewhere. They knew that her parents, who own a medicine shop in
the Glodok area, closed the shop early because the mob was
looting and burning everything around them. It was all the more
frightening because they could see the smoke and the flames, but
did not know exactly where the fires were. There was no news
about rapes then, so they were not worried about their children,
at home with their servants.
When their parents returned to their shop the next day, they
found that it was, miraculously, still standing. "It was saved by
the street vendors," said Celia with tears in her eyes. "They
usually keep their merchandise in my parents' store after closing
time and on that day they told the looters not to loot the shop
because they would be victimized, too."
Celia has sent her children to school in Australia. Whenever
there were rumors about possible violence, she went away, too,
only to find that nothing happened. She felt she was running away
every time there was a cry of "wolf", but they were all false
alarms and she felt guilty for being a coward by leaving.
Yes, violence occurred, but not against Chinese-Indonesians.
Other ethnic groups were the target, which was just as painful
and sad. She felt guilty for spending so much money on going
abroad when it could have been used to help the victims or
malnourished children.
One day she could not stand it anymore.
"It was like living on a roller coaster," she said.
"Sometimes, we felt like we were riding happily and even had the
feeling of being on top of the world, but sometimes we became so
scared that we wanted to get off and leave the whole thing
behind.
"But then I realized that a roller coaster is a commercial
invention. People have to pay to get scared and scream. While we
are getting scared, someone else is getting rich! So I suspect
that we are being exploited by groups or organizations who are
getting rich by instilling fear in us. The more we show our fear,
not by screaming, but by packing our luggage and running away,
the more they enjoy it and the stronger the rumors circulate to
make us even more scared!"
So this time, during the campaign, Celia decided to stay home.
Not only that, she enjoyed a first-class view of the
demonstrations around the Welcome Monument at the Hotel Indonesia
traffic circle.
"This is an important historical event. So many parties are
taking part in the rallies that it looks more like a carnival
than the usual rallies," she told me. "Some parties are really
original with their shows. I could even see a complete Chinese
lion dance performance and also a dragon dance, which I had never
seen before, because it was banned during the 32 years of the New
Order.
"The lion dance was so similar to the Barong dance in Bali, I
wonder why it was banned for the Chinese and considered a tourist
attraction in Bali?"
Although I could not answer her question, I told her that she
would get to see it more often from now on. The biggest hope is
that the losing parties will be able to accept defeat, and not go
on a rampage when they lose the elections, like hooligans at a
soccer game. After all, the results will affect the fate of more
than 200 million people.
Whatever happens, Celia is ready and, if necessary, is willing
to help.