Press told to do more to end discrimination

Press told to do more to end discrimination

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A prominent human rights activist urged national press over the
weekend to do more to put an end to rampant racial discrimination
in the country by helping to build better understanding and
awareness of racial issues.

Esther I. Yusuf from Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa said on Saturday
that the national press were eager to uncover incidents of
discriminatory treatment, but did little to eradicate racism.

"Many media stop at the sensation of unraveling discrimination
issues and do not go further so that the public have a thorough
understanding and awareness of it," Esther said.

She, however, failed to explain how the national press could
contribute to eradicating discrimination.

Esther, who won the human rights Yap Thiam Hien award in 2001,
pointed to the case of issuing identity (ID) cards for
Indonesians of ethnic Chinese descent as an example.

Although media coverage brought the discrimination case to
light and forced the government to address the issue, the public
had yet to understand and to be aware of other similar
discriminatory practices, she said.

"What about the regulation that requires family registration
cards and the (Indonesian Citizenship Certificate) be shown for
Indonesians of Chinese descent to get ID cards," said Esther.

Chinese-Indonesians are still required to show their
citizenship certificate, or SBKRI, to prove their Indonesian
citizenship when applying for official documents such as birth
certificates and passports.

The public, she said, had yet to be made aware of gender
discrimination connected to racial discrimination against
Chinese-Indonesians.

"In this patriarchal society, children born of an ethnic
Chinese mother and a non-Chinese father do not need an SBKRI, but
in the opposite case, they do," she said.

Esther expressed the hope that the 2003 International
Federation of Journalists' Journalism for Tolerance Prize would
encourage Indonesian journalists to be more thorough in
uncovering and combating discriminatory issues.

The IFJ is an annual competition held to promote tolerance and
pluralism, combat all forms of discrimination and build an
understanding of cultural, religious and ethnic differences.

The competition is open to all journalistic works --
electronic, print or broadcast on television or radio -- produced
during the year.

The competition will award 3,000 Euros to each regional winner
from Latin America, Central and Western Africa, Eastern and
Southern Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Last year, the first year the competition was held, Indonesian
journalists took two prizes in the category of radio and
television media, while the prize for print and online media went
to a Thai journalist.