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