Root of disintegration

Root of disintegration

From Media Indonesia

It is the right of all people to defend their country and
ensure that their nation and culture remain glorious. The
Indonesian people proved this in 1945 when they drove away the
Dutch colonial power, and in early 1950s when they sent back to
China migrant Chinese who refused to speak Indonesian and adopt
the Indonesian culture. Ethnic Chinese adopting the Indonesian
culture remain here and many of them have brought glory to the
nation in the international arena.

We may not be aware that another ethnic group is in the same
situation: the Papuans in Irian Jaya.

Until today the Indonesian government, the House of
Representatives and the Supreme Court have yet to give
recognition to the rights of ethnic groups. This recognition must
be incorporated into law, because in the absence of legal
protection small ethnic groups living in vast areas in Kalimantan
and Irian Jaya can only be a minority in their homelands. Or
perhaps, they may someday become extinct.

The threat of national disintegration must not be dealt with
by massacring members of the so-called gangs who disturb
security, like GAM, GPK, GPM, the militant people in the
Moluccas, West Kalimantan and in other regions, but by respecting
their ethnic rights.

SARKAT DANIMIHARJA

Bogor, West Java