Has anti-Chinese sentiment ebbed?

Has anti-Chinese sentiment ebbed?

By Harkiman Racheman

MEDAN (JP): In the middle of May 1998, a series of engineered
anti-Chinese riots culminated in a horrific series of rapes in
Jakarta and Surakarta. Condemned by the international community
for its barbarity, the organized violation of human rights,
especially women's rights, also triggered off the unprecedented
student-led overthrow of Soeharto's dictatorial regime.

As a result, the whole country, still not fully recovered from
the nightmare, has continued to lament the disappearance of its
once-boasted "racial harmony". This atmosphere of mourning has
seemed to worsen day by day, with similar racial wars in Sambas,
Ambon and elsewhere.

Today, the masterminds behind these highly organized riots and
rapes have not been brought to court. Neither has any suspect
been clearly identified or disclosed to the waiting public. In
fact, the Habibie administration seems to have turned a blind eye
to all the international pressure on it to unravel one of the
most wicked human tragedies in modern Indonesian history.

Thus, in conjunction with the first-year commemoration of the
mid-May national tragedy, we may need to remind ourselves of how
destructive the long-term institutionalized practice of state
racism is, especially toward the vulnerable Chinese minority. At
the same time, it is essential to ensure that similar dark
incidents will never again happen in this reformed era of
accelerated democracy.

Under the New Order regime, with its inherited Dutch colonial
racist politics -- devide et impera (divide and rule) --
Indonesians of Chinese descent for over three decades could only
submit themselves to various kinds of political mistreatments,
exploitation and other kinds of injustices imposed on them.

It is widely acknowledged that, due to a blatant lack of
political and human rights protections, Chinese-Indonesians were
forced to become political scapegoats. They were used by the
corrupt regime as a sacrificial buffer against indigenous
Indonesians' often radical anti-establishment outcries.

Today, despite growing sympathy from around the country toward
Chinese-Indonesians, there are clear signs that this pattern will
not disappear immediately. Although major political parties, such
as Amien Rais's National Mandate Party (PAN) and Gus Dur's
National Awakening Party (PKB), have openly condemned
institutionalized practices of racial discrimination against the
Chinese, their promised corrective actions remain to be seen.

However, such apparent willingness to accommodate the social,
political and cultural grievances of ethnic Chinese, as well as
aspirations to eliminate the minority's historically inherited
misfortune, cannot be underestimated. To a certain extent, it
will suffice to lay down the necessary foundations for future
genuine rehabilitation. That is to say, until the post-June 7
government materializes.

The inconsistency of the New Order administration in
implementing the state ideology Pancasila and the 1945
Constitution -- especially with regards to fair and equal
treatment of all Indonesian nationals -- has turned the Chinese
into a "floating mass" or, in other words, an unprotected
minority community.

Becoming a political orphan in the New Order political
constellation, as it were, Chinese-Indonesians were continually
victimized, systematically deprived of powers and constantly
frustrated in their efforts to secure basic human rights,
especially in the face of the excesses of indigenous Indonesians'
political intrigues.

The Chinese were (and, to a certain degree, still are) banned,
or at least strongly discouraged, from demanding their
fundamental rights openly. Why? In order that they could be
easily turned into targets. It is not surprising, therefore, that
the upsurge of Chinese cultural revivalism in Indonesia these
days, in addition to the long-awaited Chinese political party the
Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Party, has seemed to worry a number of
status quo supporters, who may be planning a political comeback
through cliched anti-Chinese political tactics.

However, with mounting pressure from the country's vocal
reformists, we can rest assured that this old racist political
plot is not going to resurface unchallenged. With the idea of
civil society ahead of us as the be-all-and-end-all destination
for the entire nation, there is no way Chinese-Indonesians can
again be easily exploited or utilized as political guinea pigs.

However, it must be stressed here that, despite some
noticeable changes of attitude within the indigenous majority,
there is still in our society a disturbing amount of ethnic
nationalism. Closely associated with the sense of indigenousness,
this demonstrative moody love for the country, though seemingly
innocent, spontaneous and natural, is still heavily characterized
by unhealthy anti-Chinese sentiment, deeply rooted in racist and
religious fanaticism. It is not surprising, therefore, that
unless this apparent misconception is reformed, this species of
nationalism will potentially be the primary source of
discriminative and xenophobic attitudes.

Deliberately nurtured by the New Order regime (why?, some
ask), this primordialism is still "alive and kicking" in our
neighborhood, even though the initiator may have temporarily left
the country's political scene. The present government, in fact,
seems to continue to underestimate and ignore the continuing
contributions of Chinese-Indonesians in all spheres of national
life (including, of course, the economy).

To mention but one example, the assassination of Hendriawan
Sie, the Chinese reformist student martyr from Trisakti
University, has not even been properly mentioned in contemporary
discourses on the country's political reformation. It is as if,
due to Hendriawan's ethnic Chinese background, his self-sacrifice
is not deemed instrumental to the reform movement at all.

That is why the racial polarization, coldbloodedly slicing the
country into indigenous and nonindigenous segments across the
formal, social as well as bureaucratic structures, should be
immediately abolished forever.

Such anti-Chinese sentiments will not only continue to
discredit the Indonesian government as well as the indigenous
population (for continually committing wicked discrimination),
but will increasingly cause suffering on the part of the Chinese-
Indonesians themselves. If unfair practices are not halted but
tolerated, the Chinese will soon be deprived of all their natural
rights.

In other words, unless the "legalized" practice of anti-
Chinese discrimination is totally terminated, ethnic Chinese will
always be the traditional targets of the tyrannical indigenous
majority (backed by the government) who are not only judgmental,
but dictatorially undemocratic.

With the May 1998 fall of Soeharto's administration,
remembered by the Chinese for its transparently unjust and
unprotective policies (except for a handful of corrupt Chinese
tycoons who were Soeharto's accomplices), it is now time for
indigenous Indonesians to put an end to the anti-human rights,
anti-religion and anti-nationalism practices that the old regime
has handed down.

Now, exactly one year later, the question remains the same:
What can we do to solve the problem of anti-Chinese racial
discrimination in Indonesia? Even though the answer does not get
any easier, the following suggestions may prove realistic and
relevant.

First, structural racism implemented by the New Order regime
should stop right now. Authorities must put an end to racial
discrimination, including numerous gaps in the legal system still
existing, from the top of the bureaucratic ladder down to the
very bottom.

Although some of these measures have been implemented by the
Habibie transitional government, more far-reaching policies to
stop racial discrimination be encouraged. It seems that, in the
absence of necessary legal sanctions, these new regulations will
not be translated into empirical actualization.

It is also high time that the nation returned whole-heartedly
to the contextual substance contained in the all-encompassing
Pancasila ideology and the undiscriminating 1945 Constitution.

Even though a certain amount of revision of certain parts of
the Constitution has been suggested to be essential to bring it
up to date to the test of time, the ideology, not yet
contaminated by biased interpretations, may function as the most
legitimate reference for equal treatment for all citizens of the
country.

Finally, it cannot be overemphasized that there is nothing
more urgent today than legal certainty to bring about justice and
order. For instance, criminals must be brought to court
regardless of their backgrounds. The provocateurs or
"intellectual actors" behind the racial riots must be arrested
and held responsible for the collateral damage they have caused.

Thus, even though it would be too much to ask for a complete
abolition of anti-Chinese discrimination now -- the ideal
standard which Indonesia will find hard to achieve -- there is
optimism for a future Indonesia free of racial discrimination.

The writer graduated from Victoria University of Wellington.
Based in Medan, he is currently a freelance writer and teacher at
private universities.