Indonesian Chinese

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