More wisdom needed

There is an African saying that goes like this: "Error is a filthy room where everyone has to spend at least one night, but settling there is insane". The Jakarta Post responded to Michael Hailu's letter of a "consistently negative and racist bias" in its reporting on Africans by an editor's note that is definitely not the wisest piece of journalism I have seen.

The editor claims (as an apparent justification for such reporting) that "some people from some African countries" are involved in drugs and that hotel operators in Jl. Jaksa have closed their doors to "any Africans". But it should be obvious that the many horrible crimes that you report in your columns do not make the people from Bogor or Jakarta criminals. The Post draws the nail further by publishing in the same issue (Dec. 27, 1999) an openly racist article that insults Africans at length and tries to draw a wedge between Africans and African-Americans. I will not quote the article; it is full of unchecked and unproved accusations about alleged "bad deeds" of Africans. There is no fact and no balance in the paper, just allegations.

The only facts worth investigating relate to the evidence of systematic discrimination against Africans that the Post seems to condone. Sure, I would be mad if waiters in a restaurant make me wait two hours because I am black and do other things to piss me off so that I would not come back. That's disgusting.

David Jardine's response (Be fair to black men) the following day put things in a fairer perspective. As "a longtime user of Jl. Jaksa hostelries", Jardine says flatly that he does not see the type of behavior described as associated with Africans. The type of commercial discrimination that the Post describes and seems to promote as "legitimate" is unacceptable.

In most democratic countries, discrimination based on race (or gender, ethnicity or physical ability) would be illegal, no matter what the excuses are. I am very surprised that the Post does not seem to grasp this basic, fundamental element of modern civil societies. Instead of fueling a lynch-mob African paranoia with sweeping generalizations and negative buzzwords, the Post would do a better service to its readers and to Indonesia by reporting about "real" Africans in the country. These are people with faces, histories and purposes, who develop the flow of trade between our countries and who, most often than not, find themselves explaining to their people abroad that the negative reports in the international media do not represent the real Indonesia as they see it.

CHIMERE DIAW

Jakarta

Note: The Jakarta Post continually strives for the highest standards in journalism, which includes upholding the principles of fairness, justice and objectivity. Our newspaper has always fought all forms of discrimination -- especially concerning race, ethnicity, gender and physical disability -- in our society and the world. Your criticism and the input from Mr. Michael Hailu in this column last month commenting on our coverage and treatment of Africans will contribute to our endeavors to achieve journalistic excellence and fight prejudice. They are noted and truly appreciated.

-- Editor