Righting a wrong

Amid the endless and often absurd demands for reform aired lately, Monday's joint statement by Abdurrahman Wahid, the respected leader of the 30-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization, and William Soeryadjaya, one of Indonesia's most prominent Chinese-Indonesian business tycoons, was without a doubt one of the most sensible and constructive to date.

After reportedly meeting at the Moslem leader's South Jakarta home, the two issued a statement urging the thousands of Chinese- Indonesians who have fled the country in the wake of last month's rioting to return to Indonesia and help rebuild the nation's near-bankrupt economy. They acknowledged that Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneurs constituted the backbone of Indonesia's business sector, and that their return was a necessity for the nation to pull itself out of its economic doldrums.

In remarks he made to the press after the meeting, Abdurrahman Wahid disparaged Indonesians who have claimed that the departure of their fellow Chinese-Indonesian citizens is a heaven-sent opportunity for indigenous Indonesians to take control of the country's economy.

"I consider that opinion a mere daydream. For years, I have been saying that without Chinese-Indonesian citizens...there would not be an economy here. At that time, I came under fire for saying that, but it is still my opinion," Abdurrahman said.

Although many indigenous Indonesian entrepreneurs have in recent decades shown a good talent for business if given the opportunity, the significance of the Chinese-Indonesian community's role in the economy cannot be emphasized enough. The disruption of the country's distribution system due to the May riots is proof enough that this is a fact of life that cannot be simply ignored.

We hope, as William Soeryadjaya believes, that "it is only a matter of time" before those who have fled the country in the wake of the May riots will return. How soon that will be obviously depends on this country's ability to guarantee their safety in the future. Many of them have suffered horribly from traumatic experiences that will not be easily forgotten.

Constructive as Abdurrahman Wahid's and William Soeryadjaya's statement may be, much more needs to be done to bring about the conducive environment needed to encourage our Chinese-Indonesian citizens to return. They must be able to live and work in the certainty that they will never again have to endure the traumatic experiences they became subject to last month.

Laws must be prepared and passed to provide protection to all citizens and residents of this country, irrespective of their ethnicity, race, nationality or religious background. Equal and fair treatment must be assured for all -- not only before the law, but in all matters of daily life.

The practice of marking a person's ethnicity or race on ID cards, for example, most be stopped. So too should the practice of extortion by public officials when dealing with businesspeople belonging to minority groups, such as Chinese-Indonesians.

Evidently, the task that lies ahead is not an easy one. Nevertheless, it is a task that must be accomplished if this nation is to reemerge from its present crisis and prosper. It is fortunate, indeed, that among our leaders, both in the government and in private life, many have shown the good sense and responsibility to make us believe that this is not impossible. It is important, however, that we begin the task at hand without delay.