Toward a new and better Indonesia
Toward a new and better Indonesia
The "time bomb" finally exploded and caused massive riots to
erupt in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities.
The mobs attacked, looted and set buildings on fire. Public
facilities, banks, malls, shops and even homes were destroyed and
looted. And most of them belonged to Indonesians of Chinese
descent.
Some experts said that the social gap triggered the lootings
and arson, which especially targeted the properties of Chinese-
Indonesians. A social gap is not the only factor which caused
such barbaric actions. The incapability of our House of
Representatives to express people's aspiration directly to the
government and racism are the other factors which must be
considered.
Even after we got our independence, there are still 'pribumi'
(indigenous), 'nonpribumi' (nonindigenous) and 'WNI Keturunan'
(Chinese-Indonesians). Some said that the Chinese-Indonesians
were always targeted by mobs because they have privileges
provided by the New Order government. They are probably referring
to some business tycoons. But what about the shop owners or the
small entrepreneurs who worked hard, starting from nothing and
never getting the privileges provided by the government?
Discrimination against minorities is also implemented by the
government. They should let the Chinese-Indonesians enter
politics and the Armed Forces. If the government denies that they
implement such a discriminating policy, they must declare loud
and clear that government departments, political parties and the
Armed Forces are wide open for every citizen, whatever ethnic,
racial or religious group they belong to. Set this policy
parallel with the eradication of corruption, collusion cronyism
and nepotism.
Referring to the Thomas Cup team which retained the
international badminton Holy Grail, I suggest that TVRI and other
private television stations present community service ads
featuring the harmonious relationships in our Thomas Cup and Uber
Cup teams. These teams really represent Bhinneka Tunggal Ika
(Unity in Diversity) -- Moslems, Catholics, Protestants, Hindus,
Buddhists, Javanese, Chinese, Ambonese or other ethnic groups and
tribes are united to produce a marvelously synergical power.
Hopefully such actions will increase cross-cultural awareness
and understanding to remove prejudice and suspicion and boost
tolerance and mutual help among the people in a new and better
Indonesia.
BUDI SETIAWAN
Jakarta