Righting a wrong

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.