Racial discrimination

Racial discrimination

I almost choked on my nasi goreng (fried rice) when I read in
The Jakarta Post letters section (On racism, July 29, 1995) that
my words "It has never been this writer's intention to draw
attention to his family and his person" had somehow metamorphose
into" ...Mr. Gulliver and his family" during the newspaper's
production process! Oh, well...

What prompts me to write once more is to point out the recent
hypocrisy by Western writers who rail against perceived racism
directed towards them as a group.

Earlier this year, a reader from New Zealand wrote to "Your
Letters" and made some profoundly scathing remarks about the
Maoris in his country. Among others, he stated that "Eighty
percent of (Maoris) are too lazy to work."

Not a single Western reader of The Jakarta Post felt the need
to refute or protest that view. Not a word!

Some weeks later, an alert The Jakarta Post journalist, in a
feature article on race relations in New Zealand, mentioned the
letter that denigrated Maoris and suggested that perhaps such
attitudes contributed to racial problems there.

Last June, I poked some fun at certain Westerners and the
questionable perceptions they had. My letter drew irate responses
from several readers, including a touchy Dutchman in Bekasi who
seemed accustomed to lecturing Indonesians. Only one Italian
wrote to say he found nothing offensive about my letter.

An overweening sense of racial self-importance and lack of
concern for other ethnic groups is racial discrimination in
itself.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta