Oppressed minorities

So far in my life I have seen riots against Chinese at least five times: when the Dutch surrendered to the Japanese, when Japan surrendered to the Allied forces, during the backlash after the attempted communist coup in 1965, during demonstrations against Japanese investment, the so-called Malari in 1974 and the May riots.

Donna K. Woodward's letter of June 16, opened many eyes to the real problem. Instead of accusing each other, we should realize that we are all victims of a system, starting with the Dutch colonial time when trade was the exclusive rights of the Dutch with the assistance of the Chinese community. The "natives" were more or less barred from entering trade. From that time on, the Chinese community had the experience and expertise to handle most trade in Indonesia, while the "natives" lagged behind.

Through the difficult war years and the revolution years, the Chinese were discriminated from entering education and the bureaucracy but they maintained their acquired dominance in trade. As Woodward said in her article, Chinese-Indonesians are not typical of oppressed minorities. Oppressed minorities like the African Americans and Native Americans and the Gast Arbeiter in Europe are also barred from entering trade.

Donna Woodward wrote: "... the pribumi are more oppressed though by economic deprivation rather than by the absence of civil rights. Many pribumi would, I venture to say, gladly trade their right to government employment, their possession of an uncoded identity card, their access to state universities for the freedom of lifestyle that economic privilege can bring." The result is that 4 percent of the population is controlling 75 percent of the economy.

What is the way out from this distorted condition? First, educate the Indonesian masses to the world of trade. Second, create laws and enforcement them, to make it illegal to bribe and to receive bribes, and laws against monopoly. Third, and most important of all, secure an adequate salary for those working in the bureaucracy. In the past, a department head was considered a hero fighting for the integrity of the country, receiving a very small salary and, therefore, had the right to have special rights, including corruption. Let them work for the money expressed as their monthly salary.

Let us create a society where there is no economic dominance by a small minority and no discrimination by the government or by ethnic Chinese enterprises.

SUMARSONO SASTROWARDOYO

Bogor, West Java