Govt must protect all communities
This is to provide feedback on the article Susilo denies anti- Chinese economic policy which was published on Aug. 20.
In this article we are somehow seeing just one side of the story, whereas I would not like to take Jusuf Kalla's comment into account. The oppression against Chinese-Indonesians is here regarded as a victim, instead of as a result of something.
It is not fair of course for Chinese-Indonesians if the government is enacting policies, which favor indigenous citizens. However, we need to explore deeply all the reasons why the indigenous citizens in Indonesia are cautious about ethnicity- related issues.
We need to look at the other side of the story by scrutinizing what is happening currently with all the commerce/businesses here, where (the Chinese-Indonesian owners) are either unconsciously or intentionally forcing indigenous Indonesians to leave the company, thus leaving all the Chinese-Indonesians to stay and work for the company. In many cases, people are thrown out of an interview in a matter of minutes after the employer realizes that the candidates are not Chinese-Indonesian. We need to look at these real incidents closely and meticulously. It is happening! These incidents were not mapped out and recorded.
Perhaps the government should try to strike a balance by stipulating policies that protect both Chinese-Indonesians and indigenous people. For instance, when running a business or whatever organization involving the welfare of the community, it must at least have an organizational structure with a 50:50 ratio of indigenous and Chinese-Indonesians and/or others.
The government also needs to establish serious policies on what action should be taken when it is discovered that a certain company abuses human rights and violates equal opportunities at work. This should be a two-way street, where perhaps a complaint/input box should be available at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration where complaints are properly prioritized based on validity.
The indigenous Indonesians are still traumatized from centuries of polarization and domination by a certain group of people and that includes, in some cases, Chinese-Indonesians. Every result has a cause. Imbalanced policies can keep us in a stagnant position if we focus on ethnicity-related feelings. The government should not just be trying to guarantee full protection for a certain group of people, but they must be able to enact policies that offer protection for some ethnic groups and encourage other ethnic groups to grow equally.
MIRNA MUTIARA
Jakarta