Govt asked to protect indigenous businesspeople

JAKARTA (JP): A government ruling that keeps people of Chinese descent from business fields traditionally run by their indigenous counterparts will avoid further ethnic tension, former minister of home affairs Rudini suggested yesterday.

Rudini said such a regulation would ensure that small businesses would not succumb to big companies, especially those owned by ethnic Chinese. The government could expand the protective measures to informal sectors, he added.

"We have learned that it is shops and houses owned by ethnic Chinese that always become the target of vandalism in riots, no matter what triggered the riots," said Rudini, chairman of the Institute for Strategic Studies of Indonesia.

He was speaking at a preview of a national dialog on a harmonious relationship among various ethnic groups in Indonesia, scheduled for next Tuesday.

The dialog is organized by the Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES), a think tank affiliated with the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI).

Rudini, also a member of the ICMI board of patrons, said the protective regulation should clearly define areas in which ethnic Chinese were allowed to run their businesses.

People of Chinese descent make up less than 5 percent of Indonesia's population of 200 million people, but they control approximately 60 percent of the national economy, causing resentment in some layers of society.

A series of sectarian riots in Java prior to the May 29 general election deteriorated into anti-Chinese sentiment. A riot broke out last month in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, after a mentally ill Chinese man killed a nine-year-old "indigenous" girl.

At least eight nightclubs, a Buddhist temple, a Protestant church, 25 shops, 10 cars and 58 motorcycles were burned and another 1,471 shops, 67 cars and 100 motorcycles were damaged in the Ujungpandang unrest.

Rudini said ethnic Chinese businesspeople should also encourage a more balanced economy by helping their indigenous counterparts improve their competitive power and increase their income.

"The Chinese descents are Indonesian citizens who have to apply economic democracy as stipulated by the state ideology Pancasila," he said.

Military experts Lt. Gen. (ret) Sayidiman Suryohadiprodjo and Maj. Gen. (ret) Maulani Z.A., entrepreneurs Sofyan Wanandi and Jusuf Kalla, historian Ong Hok Ham, economic analyst Kwik Kian Gie and human rights campaigner Baharuddin Lopa are scheduled to speak at the one-day seminar. (amd)