PDI Perjuangan apologizes for racism incident

Bambang Nurbianto and Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) offered a public apology on Friday for an incident involving one of its legislators this week that some said smacked of racism.

PDI Perjuangan faction chairman Roy B.B. Janis said, however, that no disciplinary action would be taken against Gusti Basan Burnia, who was accused of physically and verbally abusing fellow legislator Alvin Lie of the Reform faction on Wednesday.

Alvin, a vocal and brash legislator, is one of a rare breed of ethnic Chinese Indonesians who have made it to the House. As recently as three years ago, the Chinese were virtually barred from a political career.

The precise nature of the verbal attack is unclear, with Alvin claiming that Gusti used the word "Chinese".

Gusti said he referred to Alvin as a keturunan (descendant), popular shorthand for ethnic Chinese, but stressed that there was nothing "racist" about the term.

"For the incident, we apologize to the public and to the House's faction whose member became a victim," Roy told reporters, choosing his words carefully by not mentioning the specific details of the incident or the individuals involved.

"We hope such an incident will never happen again," he said after chairing a faction meeting.

Gusti and Alvin, both members of House Commission V, became locked in a shouting match during a hearing with the directors of PT Jamsostek, the state-owned workers social insurance company.

According to newspaper accounts, Alvin's probing questions of Jamsostek directors so irked Gusti that he took on the job of answering them instead of the directors.

That, in turn, so irritated Alvin that he sarcastically asked the forum, "Is there a Jamsostek spokesman among us?"

Their row continued later outside the meeting room, with Gusti grabbing Alvin by the collar.

What exactly happened afterward is still a contentious point.

Alvin claimed that Gusti said, "As a Chinese, you should not overact."

Gusti claimed he merely said, "As one of the keturunan, you should not overact because you could offend a lot of people." He added that there was nothing racist about that.

The House members' code of ethics, updated only this year, apparently makes no provision for such behavior; hence Gusti is unlikely to be punished by the House's leadership.

Article 7 of the Code calls on members to show decorum and to maintain order during meetings.

Alvin, who briefed his faction's leaders on Friday about the incident, called on the House's leadership to set up a disciplinary committee to investigate the matter, suspecting that there was more to the incident than met the eye.

"The council should look into allegations that 12 Commission V members had dinner with a Jamsostek director at the Hilton (hotel) two days before the hearing," Alvin told The Jakarta Post.

Alvin said there was another legislator, besides Gusti, who verbally attacked him on the basis of his race, but he could not recall his name.

"It's sad to learn that some of my colleagues still have this racist attitude." he said.

Reform faction chairman Ahmad Farhan Hamid said he would write to the House Speaker next week about the incident.

"Let's await the Speaker's reaction. If the incident comes up before a disciplinary committee, we will be ready to speak," Ahmad told the Post.

Nusa Bangsa Solidarity, an organization promoting racial harmony, urged the House to dismiss Gusti, saying that in his position, he should have set an example to the public.

The group recalled that in 1999 Indonesia ratified a UN convention on the elimination of all racial discriminative practices.

"Indonesia should take concrete action to implement the convention, particularly in state institutions like the House of Representatives," it said in a statement.