The fate of ethnic Chinese

I am writing in response to Sumarsono Sastrowardoyo's letter of May 30. Mr. Sumarsono prefers to blame the victim rather than look in the mirror and realize that because of people with an attitude like his, Indonesia is a country where the ethnic minority is systematically persecuted and lives under the constant threat of racial terror.

First, it needs to be stated that many Chinese-Indonesians did not leave the country before the riots broke out, and we all know the consequences they suffered. Rampaging mobs stopped cars and motorcycles, and if the passengers were ethnic Chinese, the vehicles were burned on the spot and the passengers beaten.

Reports of rape of Chinese-Indonesian women by rioters are also widespread. Many ruko (shop-house) were ransacked and burned. Unfortunately, in such a building the owner and his family often inhabit the top floor, and if rioters set the bottom floor ablaze we can only wonder at the fate of its inhabitants trapped on the top floor. Even private residences were not exempt in last month's rioting, with whole housing complexes being invaded and ransacked by mobs.

It is easy to see why Chinese-Indonesians would try to escape in a crisis. They are discriminated against on every level of government and society. Differentiated from "natives" by their identification card numbers, they must pay extra legal fees to process even the simplest of documents. They are subject to restrictive quotas by government as well as private universities and excluded from employment in the civil service and the Armed Forces. Is it any wonder that they choose to become entrepreneurs?

The differentiation between native and nonnative is especially ironic considering that some of Indonesia's most famous citizens on the international level, such as Onghokham, Kwik Kian Gie and Susi Susanti, are of Chinese descent but they still have to suffer from this double standard.

I think that in the spirit of reform it is time that all Indonesians contemplate the true meaning of the concepts of human rights and democracy as well as how to apply them universally and fairly to all layers and segments of society, including ethnic Chinese. Until this society does so, real democracy and genuinely universal human rights will remain an elusive dream and innocent people will continue to be persecuted.

JIWAY FRANCIS TUNG

Jakarta