Open letter to ethnic Chinese

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