Govt must protect all communities

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