Read between the lines

Read between the lines

It is very interesting to read the tremendous responses to Masli Arman's July 30 article Ethnic Chinese at fault for riots. But if we read between the lines, Masli Arman points out that the mid-May riots have put all indigenous Indonesian Moslems in a very disadvantageous position. People and the media have bluntly claimed that all indigenous Indonesian Moslems committed the looting and the rapes. No one claimed that the riots were instigated and carried out by a few members of the public. This generalized accusation is what Masli Arman tried to explain in his article.

In fact, the riots were just the cultivation of a forced assimilation policy of the New Order regime. This fragile assimilation process was taken advantage of by some "individuals" for their own sake of interest.

As my marriage is a mix between indigenous Indonesian and ethnic Chinese, I have experienced that assimilation cannot be forced. It needs willingness, commitment and understanding from both sides for the assimilation to succeed. This theory also applies in the larger community; it will have to take both sides, indigenous Indonesians and ethnic Chinese.

We have to admit that in the past, some people thought that their ethnicity was better than another's. This way of thinking can be easily misused by a small number of people to force their own interest. I hope that in this reform era, the assimilation will come naturally; that we all have the same commitment, willingness and understanding to be one nation, one country, one language: Indonesia.

DERHAM BURNEWI

Jakarta