Indonesia told to learn from U.S. on ethnic equality

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia should learn from the United States on how that country has integrated those of Chinese descent into its society, says a scholar from the University of Indonesia.

"We have to take a lesson from the history of the United States on how that once-racist country eliminated discrimination against Chinese Americans," Parsudi Suparlan, head of the American studies program at the state-run university, said after addressing a seminar on Chinese Americans here on Thursday.

Parsudi said the U.S. started the fight against racial discrimination by scrapping its discriminatory laws and policies, and persuading its Caucasian citizens to treat Asian migrants, including those of Chinese descent, as equals.

The empowerment program was promoted and campaigned for both among Asian and non-Asian citizens so that they could assimilate an integrate in a humane and natural manner, he added.

According to Parsudi, the government should revoke some 60 laws, regulations and policies which are considered discriminatory, and launch a campaign to promote an assimilation program if it wanted to made people of Chinese descent an integral part of Indonesian society.

Racial discrimination against Indonesians of Chinese descent would continue in the country unless the government revoked all the discriminatory regulations and policies.

"Both Chinese Indonesians and indigenous people should also be encouraged to assimilate in a natural manner," Parsudi said.

He said that a hundred of years ago, the United States used to be one of the most racist nations in its treatment of Asian migrants and blacks.

"At the time, Chinese Americans, particularly laborers, were the target of insult, anger, violence and even murder by white Americans," he said, citing the 1882 immigration law, which banned the Chinese from entering the Unite States.

However, Congress scrapped the immigration law in 1943 so as to end legalized discrimination.

The repeal of the law was partly due to the fact that China under the rule of the then president Chiang Kai-Shek declared itself a democratic state in 1937, waged war against Japan, and campaigned against discriminatory treatment of the Chinese in America.

"The (political) situation made China an ally of the United States, with both of them having the same enemy, namely fascism in Japan," Parsudi said.

The U.S. government under president John F. Kennedy repealed other discriminatory laws in the 1960s, and most American people backed the antidiscrimination measures.

"This turned the racist and monocultural American people into a multicultural nation that respected differences and ethnic equality as they do now," he said.

Consequently, he said, ethnic Chinese citizens were given equal right as regards education, business, culture and other sectors of life in America.

"They then began to abandon their Chinatowns to assimilate with and live along side other Americans ... The Chinatowns later were turned into attractive tourist attractions there," he said.

Many Chinese Americans have even been appointed or elected to strategic positions, including former Cabinet member Elaine Chao, Congressman David Wu, and governor Gary Locke in Washington.

In Indonesia, discrimination against the ethnic Chinese has prevailed since colonial days, during which period their role was limited to trade.

Under former dictator Soeharto's 32 years of rule, a large number of rulings were issued to restrict the roles and movements of ethnic Chinese.

However, several of the rulings were scrapped during former president Abdurrahman Wahid's short spell in office. And President Megawati Soekarnoputri's current administration has declared the Chinese New Year to be a national holiday.