How Indonesians could learn from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Samsudin Berlian, Graduate Student, Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey

Indonesian people could learn much from King in dealing with racial injustice. First, they could learn to recognize the problems and talk about them openly. Before the civil rights movement in America started in the late 1950s, whites did not see any problem and most of the blacks kept quiet for fear of retaliation, which would make their lives even harder. King brought the issue to the surface, trying to instill courage among the victims and shame on the perpetrators. Spotting racist acts was not easy.

People who have lived all their lives in a racist environment, the ones who enjoy the privileges and those who suffer discrimination, often consider the social structure they live in to be God-given and think that all they have to do is to try to improve their lives within the existing system.

Racism should be differentiated from the attachment and pride one has about his or her roots. The feeling of pride for one's origin, family, clan, ethnic group or nation does not constitute racism. Even the feeling of superiority is not in itself a matter of racism. Only when this unfounded superiority is translated into oppressive policies against other groups does it become racism.

Racism has no scientific basis. The differences within races are much more significant than the superficial differences between races. But racism is not only about false belief. Racism is a major problem because it is mainly about involuntary imposition of official or public discrimination on a group of people based on its phenotype. By this definition, racism can only be put into effect by the state or relatively powerful groups.

Useful in recognizing racism is the compact definition from the ICERD (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination): "Any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life."

Second, King called for resistance. The people, i.e., the victims, the religious leaders, the intellectuals, and the general public have to have the courage to resist. Identify the specific problems and raise a defiant voice. Change the racist mind-set and embrace inclusiveness in thought and action. Human rights activists have done this. The majority of religious leaders and intellectuals still have to follow suit.

Unfortunately, many Indonesians are, by nature, reluctant to voice dissenting opinions because they want to maintain harmony. But harmony without justice is not peace. As has been proven time and again, such an unpalatable harmony has the tendency to explode into open hatred and violence.

The government discouraged all kind of discussion on the topics it categorically lumped under the term SARA (ethnicity, religion, race, societal grouping). Many Indonesians seem to subscribe to this view. But such a cowardly attitude could never solve the problem. If a discussion about racial issues were joined heatedly, it would be a sure sign that there were genuine problems. Preventing the problems from being aired freely would not solve them. Only transparent and honest dialog would do that.

Third, the resistance King called for was nonviolent. Most Indonesians are familiar with Gandhi's nonviolence movement. King also learned from Gandhi. The struggle against racism should never be clouded by hate or revenge. The victims of racism, of all people, should be the first to realize that to emulate the action of the perpetrators of racism is to become one of them.

Nonviolence is the only option. Even though to remain nonviolent after a physical clash has occurred is difficult, it is the only feasible solution. Bitter experience in Maluku and Poso proved the futility and senselessness of trying to fight violence with violence. Anyway, it is easier to have open discussion and dialog between different groups while tension is still low. It would also be much better for the government to openly discuss new plans and policies that would affect minority groups before they were enacted and implemented.

Fourth, the goal of the resistance should be integration, not one-sided victory. The idea is not to defeat or expel one group or the other. The goal is to find a solution that would satisfy all parties concerned. King envisioned a situation where people of different races lived together in love and with respect for each other's differences. This could never be done top-down. Neither government regulations nor handshakes under the media spotlight could solve grassroots problems.

Fifth, King strove to achieve his goals step-by-step. Although his ultimate goal is integration, his immediate goal was desegregation of American society. That meant the end of all federal and state law and policies that discriminated against people based on their race. In Indonesia, it means that the government, national and regional, has to end all existing racist law, regulations and policies. This could be done at the stroke of a pen.

Later, antiracist movements should root out hidden racist policies such as unannounced limiting quotas in university admissions or discriminatory recruitment in business and the bureaucracy. There is no shortage of such abhorrent policies and, as the American experience showed, the struggle would be long.

Sixth, King's concern was not only on racism but also poverty and militarism. He strived to build good relations with the labor unions, made efforts to help poor whites -- whose number was larger than the black poor -- and he was ardently opposed to the Vietnam war.

To him all these were related issues. His compassion for the suffering of blacks would not be genuine if not universal. His love was for oppressed blacks, poor whites, tormented Vietnamese, and even powerful and racist whites.

When we look at the problem of racism in this country, we also need to pay attention to the related issues of poverty, the prosperity gap and militarism, as well as the problem of gender discrimination.

The first part of this article appeared on Wednesday.