King's 'Dream' fits for Chinese-Indonesians

JAKARTA (JP): Today, the issue of racial discrimination anywhere in the world seems to be inseparable from Martin Luther King's speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on Aug. 28, 1963.

Although there is a marked difference in terms of economic status and political history between the Chinese in Indonesia and the African-Americans in the United States, it is still relevant to refer to King's I have a Dream speech.

The issue is that discrimination based on race breeds racial prejudices that lead to ethnic tensions, and it does not matter whether the race in question is of high, middle or low economic status. However, it is certainly those of the lower economic strata that feel the burden of the discrimination.

Many Chinese-Indonesians have a dream much like King's. They, too, dream that one day right down in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, little pribumi (indigenous) boys and Chinese-Indonesian girls will be able to join hands with little Chinese-Indonesian boys and pribumi girls as sisters and brothers. They too dream that their little children will one day live as a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.

One day, a well-respected Indonesian businessman, who has developed a successful housing complex on the outskirts of Jakarta, said he hoped that the community around the complex would also be able to enjoy the benefits of the facilities that he has built, which included a shopping mall, schools, a university, a hospital and other facilities.

He wanted to pour back his profits into the community. He wanted to show people in the community that the Chinese also wanted to provide the local community with the benefits of the public facilities, and that the Chinese were not merely interested in making money.

Although to some it may sound like he was perpetuating racial tendencies, what he actually hoped was that the racially biased perception of the Chinese would change.

During the mid-May riots, this businessman's shopping mall was completely looted and heavily damaged by mobs more than 1,000 strong. Structural cracks can be seen on the walls of the many parts of the mall that were burned. Most, if not all, of the shops in the mall were also destroyed and looted.

It will take a fortune to restore the mall to its former glory, but that is perhaps the easiest part of rebuilding the business. It will also take great courage for the shop owners to open their businesses once again. Yet, despite the damage, the mall will be repaired. This shows that the dream of the Chinese- Indonesians remains in their hearts and souls.

Even a poor Chinese-Indonesian in the Central Java town of Surakarta (one of the areas worst hit by the riots), who lost her small shophouse during the violent unrest, still has a dream that someday, little Indonesian boys and girls of Chinese descent will be able to join hands with little pribumi boys and girls as true sisters and brothers.

She is also dreaming that the Chinese will no longer be judged by the color of their skin or the squint of their eyes, but by their character. However, perhaps at the moment she has no choice but to continue to imagine this hopeful dream.

-- Amir Sidharta