Learn to respect others

Learn to respect others

Since the May riots I have been following with interest the
letters and articles that have been published in The Jakarta Post
and have noted that not one pribumi, or indigenous person, has
actually apologized for the barbaric acts committed by the
people. Instead letters of justification have poured in.

The most appalling article was the one by Masli Arman printed
on July 30.

Do we really think that we can generalize and say that all
Chinese are bad just because a few have behaved in that manner?
In that case Hitler is justified for the massacre of Jews, for I
am sure he must have had his own grievances against a few of
them.

We, during the Soeharto regime, became used to being oppressed
and therefore do not see the need for freedom of expression,
respect for other races and habits.

When in a foreign land, a person feels secure among his own
race until the indigenous people make him feel so at home he
actually forgets his origin. I think, in that way, the Chinese
have actually done that. As Masli Arman himself puts it 70
percent of the Chinese have assimilated and 75 percent don't even
know Mandarin.

If the Chinese tend to stay in one area -- they do in all
countries, but then so do the Indians, the Africans, the Italians
and the Indonesians -- they cannot be chastised for it. I think
that an Indonesian in America or India would be delighted to
speak his own language on meeting a fellow Indonesian, or would
you rather speak English or Hindi for fear of disrespecting the
national language there?

So why this stress on assimilation, especially for the
Chinese? Where is the respect and regard for a foreign race? What
about Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity)?

Yes, surely they say, in Rome do as the Romans do -- but this
means adapt yourself to the situation at hand. It does not ask
you to forget your culture. It does not ask you to forget your
roots. It asks you only to be social, to live peacefully, have
regard for the indigenous people's habits and to enjoy whatever
is available without discrimination.

As a mother and a woman, the acts of barbarism have so
frightened me that today, when I go out of the house, I am not
sure what my fate will be. I am not the only mother who thinks
like this -- there are mothers who all over this country worry
about the welfare of their daughters.

A letter by Sumarsono Sastrowardoyo in the July 29 edition
says that the Chinese should not blame others for their fate. I
would like to ask him, Should every Chinese-Indonesian become a
martyr because it is their unfortunate fate that they chose to
stay and settle in Indonesia? Should they just wait for another
wave of barbarism, the rape of their women and children and loss
of their life's earnings? Should they just silently suffer?

I would request the Post not to print such articles. Although
I fully believe in the freedom of speech, in the current
situation such articles will only serve to fuel the minds of more
people. The article has lowered the dignity of journalism.

Let us learn to respect others and to accept them for the way
they are, for don't we accept every child of ours regardless of
how good or bad they may be?

POONAM

Jakarta