Open letter to ethnic Chinese

From Pikiran Rakyat

As a Moslem I wish to apologize sincerely to my brothers and sisters of Chinese ancestry who were the victims of brutality and terror from my brothers who are said to call themselves Moslems.

I cannot imagine the sadness and pain in your hearts caused by the reality that your existence is seemingly not recognized in the country where you were born, but only because you happen to be citizens of Chinese descent.

However, have trust that not all of us hate you. We are aware that not all ethnic Chinese take an attitude of isolating themselves, justify every means when conducting business, etc. If negative acts have been committed by a few Chinese Indonesians, we pray that by the various tragedies they have now become aware of their deeds and are ready to correct themselves, so that their brothers and sisters are not victimized because of the deeds they have never committed.

Perhaps as from now we try to be more open, paying respect to each other, appreciating each other and casting off the partitions of mistrusting each other. Thus, finally there will be no more terms like indigenous and nonindigenous because, after all, the difference lies in physical characteristics only.

To my fellow Moslem brothers who joined in the looting and acts of violence, are you not aware that your actions are the same as hurting our Prophet, the Messenger of God?

Didn't He order us to honor and not to hurt our neighbors? (regardless of whether our neighbors are Moslems or non-Moslems).

However bad the economic situation is, we should not direct our disappointment to our brothers and sisters of Chinese descent, because in fact they are only the "victims" of the system maintained by the power holders.

We have always felt we are being oppressed, mistreated and deprived of our rights but in the meantime we do the same toward others.

To my Chinese-Indonesian brothers and sisters, once again forgive us. Perhaps through the momentum of reform we will together eradicate the individualistic and racist characteristics in us.

In fact, you, I and all of us are in one big family called Indonesia.

SYAHYURLI AB

STISI (KISI) Moslem Students Association

Indonesian Art and Design College

Bandung, West Java