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)