Indonesian Chinese

Recently there have been a number of letters to The Jakarta Post questioning the loyalty of Indonesians of Chinese descent. While I missed some of these anti-Chinese diatribes, I've seen enough to know that some of these writers are, to put it charitably, very narrow-minded.

The country I was born and raised in, the United States, is populated chiefly by immigrants, and yet Americans are no less loyal to their country than Indonesians. In fact, studies indicate that recent immigrants are more patriotic on average than people who have been in the country for generations. It is true that this is not always recognized, an example being the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II in the mistaken belief that they were disloyal. This was a terrible injustice, and was belatedly acknowledged as such by the U.S. government several decades later.

While some ethnic Chinese may have an excessive attachment to the country of their ancestors, one should look closely at the possible reasons for this. In countries which, generally speaking, welcome their presence, most ethnic Chinese are just as assimilated as everyone else. You will meet few Chinese Americans or, for an Asian example, Chinese Thais who think of themselves as Chinese rather than American or Thai.

On the other hand, if others refuse to regard them as full citizens, is it surprising that they don't assimilate? When it comes right down to it the people with a problem are not the minority groups but those in the majority who can't accept people of different racial or ethnic origin. If Indonesians of Chinese origin are made to feel unwelcome by individuals such as this letter writer, it is no wonder that they retain ties to the land of their ancestors, not because they prefer it to Indonesia, or would take its side in the unlikely event of a conflict, but because they want to have somewhere to go if racism here gets out of hand.

ERIC SCHEIHAGEN

Taipei, Taiwan