Habibie issues antidiscrimination ruling

Habibie issues antidiscrimination ruling

JAKARTA (JP): With next to no fanfare, President B.J. Habibie
issued last month an instruction barring government agencies and
officials from discriminating against Indonesians based on their
origins.

In a decision dated Sept. 16, the President ordered ministers,
heads of state agencies, governors, mayors and regents to
dispense with use of the terms pribumi (indigenous) and
nonpribumi (nonindigenous).

The instruction was "to give equal treatment and services to
all Indonesian citizens... and to remove any discrimination in
any form, nature or level, to all Indonesian citizens, be it
based on tribal, religious, racial affiliations or origins."

Chinese-Indonesians have often complained that the government
systematically treats them as second-class citizens. Their
identity cards (KTP) are given special codes, and careers in the
military and government bureaucracy are practically closed to
them.

In a meeting with the country's top newspaper editors in June,
the President said he would regard any citizen who was concerned
about and committed to improving the fate of the nation as
indigenous, regardless of their ethnicity.

One month later, in a meeting with business tycoons, the
President reiterated the government's plan to ratify the United
Nations antidiscrimination convention to lay the foundation for
campaigns to ensure equality for all and to eliminate the issue
from Indonesian society altogether.

In his instruction, the President also decided to review any
unfair laws or government regulations in business and service
sectors, "including the issuance of permits in business, finance
and banking, education, health, job opportunity and scheme of
salary or income for workers".

Lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta said he welcomed the decision, but
urged concrete steps from all government institutions to
eradicate any form of discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians.

"The government still needs to repeal one by one policies
(that discriminate against ethnic Chinese)," said Frans, a
longtime observer of Chinese-Indonesian issues and himself of
Chinese ancestry.

Frans cited a litany of discriminative policies. Among them
are a circular letter from the information ministry's Directorate
General of Press and Graphics SE.02/SE/Ditjen/PPG/K/1988 on the
banning of publications and advertisements using Chinese
characters, and Presidential Instruction No. 14/1967 on Chinese
religions, beliefs and traditions.

Others include the Minister of Home Affairs Instruction No.
455.2-360/1968 on the arrangement of Chinese temples; the Jakarta
City Regulation on family registration card (K-1/OS-11/OS-12); a
Cabinet presidium's circular letter SE-06/Pres-Kab/6/1967 on the
change in usage of Tiongkok and Tionghoa -- both meaning Chinese
-- to Cina, which is often considered pejorative.

Dating back to Dutch colonial times, Staatsblad 1917-130
mandates civil registration for Chinese-Indonesians in eastern
Indonesia; the Ampera presidium Cabinet's decree Kep. Presidium
No. 127/U/Kep/12/1966 requires Chinese-Indonesians to adopt
Indonesian names, and the presidential instruction No.
37/U/IN/6/1967 establishes the role of the Coordinating Agency
for Chinese Affairs (BKMC). (aan/prb)