Govt's antidiscrimination commitment questioned

Govt's antidiscrimination commitment questioned

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

For Chinese-Indonesians, albeit a minority, the government of
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledge to fight
discrimination is not convincing.

During a discussion held by the Chinese-Indonesian Association
(INTI) on Saturday, a number of participants recalled the
controversial remarks made by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on the
government's plan to help native Indonesians in the economic
sector.

"Honestly, we're cautious about JK's statement that the
government will introduce a policy to help small-scale enterprise
businesses, which is likely to sideline us," a businessman, Budy,
said, referring to Kalla by his initials.

Kalla was a renowned businessman from South Sulawesi.

Another participant, Sunarti, said Chinese-Indonesians were
not "100 percent sure" the president could take firm decisions
regarding all forms of discrimination following his failure to
meet his promise to announce his Cabinet lineup on Oct. 20.

"Some say he (Susilo) is indecisive. We're afraid he could not
do anything to protect the rights of minority groups like us
here," she said.

Susilo unveiled his United Indonesian Cabinet on Oct. 21,
which many have seen more as a compromise.

Under founding president Sukarno, Indonesia once adopted an
economic system which protected indigenous entrepreneurs called
Politik Benteng (Fort Politics). But when his successor Soeharto
took office, Chinese-Indonesian businesspeople ruled the roost.

Chinese-Indonesians account for about 4 percent of the
country's population of 215 million.

Melly G. Tan, a Chinese-Indonesian sociologist, confirmed the
anxiety among the non-indigenous community.

"There is distrust among Chinese-Indonesians, that's the major
challenge the new government has to deal with," she said.

Political expert J. Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS) acknowledged concern about
discrimination which remains unabated.

"Most Chinese-Indonesians are still traumatized by state-
endorsed discrimination which has been in place for years," he
said.

Kristiadi suggested that Susilo be firm in protecting the
rights of all citizens, including minority groups, in a bid to
win popular support.

"Susilo could start with revocation of all regulations deemed
discriminatory against the minority groups," Kristiadi said. He
pointed at the citizenship certificate required in obtaining
immigration documents for Chinese-Indonesians called SBKRI, which
remains effective in practice despite the central government's
decision to scrap it.

Economist Faisal Basri said Chinese-Indonesians, who cast
their votes in the legislative and presidential elections, could
press the government and the House of Representatives to live up
to their expectations.

"They are now sitting on their respective chairs thanks to
your votes. Don't be afraid to push them to end discrimination
against you," he suggested.

Kristiadi also asked Chinese-Indonesians not to be easily
satisfied by the previous governments which allowed them to
celebrate Chinese New Year and declared it a national holiday.

"The government has scrapped discriminatory policies. You
still have to fight against other forms of discrimination which
infringe on your rights as citizens," he said.