'Stop discrimination against ethnic Chinese'

'Stop discrimination against ethnic Chinese'

JAKARTA (JP): Hailing the move of President Abdurrahman Wahid
to allow Chinese-Indonesians to openly practice their religion
and perform traditional Chinese ceremonies, sociologist Melly G.
Tan on Thursday hoped that discrimination against her ethnic
group could be immediately stopped.

Melly cited the requirement for Chinese-Indonesians applying
for a passport to show their citizenship paper.

"Whereas for non-Chinese people, it's enough to show a birth
certificate. It means there's discrimination against Indonesians
of Chinese ancestry," she said on the sidelines of a book
launching ceremony.

Such unfair treatment, she added, has created a great
opportunity for immigration officers to get extra money through
bribery.

Melly also questioned the possibility of Chinese-Indonesians
becoming civil servants, top government officials or students at
state universities in this country.

"There was a Chinese-born minister recently, but that was only
one," she added, referring to former coordinating minister of
economy and finance, Kwik Kian Gie.

During the 32-year-old New Order era of president Soeharto,
Chinese symbols were banned and other Chinese cultural traditions
were restricted.

President Abdurrahman Wahid recently revoked Soeharto's
Presidential Instruction No. 41/1967, which restricted Chinese
religious practices and traditions.

Expert on Chinese-Indonesians, Gondomono from University of
Indonesia, shared Melly's views.

"Just because there are several Chinese-Indonesians who
collaborated with this country's elites and became successful and
rich, then the are Chinese always stereotyped and identified with
shrewd business," he said.

According to Melly, many people like to assume that all
Chinese are the same as certain Chinese-Indonesian businessmen
who committed corruption, collusion and nepotism.

"People blame the prolonged monetary crisis on Chinese
tycoons, such as (Muhamad) Bob Hasan, Eddy Tanzil and Liem Sioe
Liong, while they actually couldn't do it if they didn't
collaborate with non-Chinese people in the government and banking
industry," she said.

Melly and Gondomono were speaking at the launch of a book
titled Prejudice on Ethnic Chinese, An Abstract, written by Yusiu
Liem, an Chinese-Indonesian professor.

The book is actually a translation of the summary of Liem's
dissertation he made during his study in Germany. It is about the
condition of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia during the 1970s to
1980s plus several writings on the May 1998 riots. (hdn)