by TL
The
racist slurs of certain groups
and members
of the security
forces against Papuan students, which took place on August 16, 2019,
in Surabaya, have sparked extreme anger and
violent
protests from the Papuan and other ethnic communities in Indonesia.
Racism and discrimination cannot be tolerated. It must be condemned
and opposed. We have to support the manifestations organized by
various mass organizations and institutions to protest and demand
that the
responsible for that racist actions be
thoroughly investigated
and
punished accordingly.
Racism
and discrimination are an inseparable part of the economic, political
and social system that exists in Indonesia. It
is a
legacy left by Dutch colonialism. At that time, the native people
were the
lowest stratum of society.
Chinese, Arabs, Indians and other foreigners belong
to
the second category. Included in the first category were
the Dutch and other whites.
The
categorization of the population based on race is the Dutch policy to
divide and to
play one off against the others
for their economic and political interests. The Chinese are used by
the Dutch as intermediaries in trade and agents in collecting taxes
on the population. This position brought prosperity to a small number
of Chinese citizens who were finally considered by the VOC to be
their rivals, when the latter had declined.
That
was one of the factors that led to the massacre of ethnic Chinese in
1740. 10,000 Chinese were killed.
Furthermore,
to be able to control the activities of the Chinese, the VOC issued
passenstelsel
which required Chinese citizens to have a special travel permit to
travel outside the district where they lived. Wijkenstelsel
was issued to require the Chinese to live together in one village.
From there came the term “pecinan"
(Chinatown).
The
gap
and the
role
as
agents of the
colonial
and
feudal class
in collecting taxes has led to anti-Chinese sentiments among the
population. This has triggered riots in various cities in Java, such
as Solo in 1912, Kudus in 1918 and also the massacre of Chinese
citizens by Raden Ayu Yudakusuma in Ngawi in 1925.
During
Sukarno government,
on May 10, 1963, there were anti-Chinese riots. First in Bandung,
then
it
spread to other cities. There
have been allegations of US
imperialist
involvement in those riots
through their anti-communist accomplices aiming
at
destabilizing
the Government
because of its close relation with the
Communist
Party of Indonesia and the People’s Republic of China.
Bung Karno acted decisively by punishing those involved
in those racial actions against Chinese citizens.
General
Suharto, who was
in
power from
1965
to 1998,
was
the best heir to Dutch colonial action against communists who were
exiled and ostracized indefinitely in the Boven Digul concentration
camp. It happened after the First National Insurrection
Against
the Colonial
Authorities erupted
in 1926. The
smiling General
also inherited Dutch cruel policies towards Indonesian
Chinese.
The
biggest
and heinous crime
against humanity was committed
by
Suharto with the massacre
of
approximately 3 million (the number
recognized by General Sarwo Edi) of communists, workers,
peasants, youth, women, intellectuals and Bung Karno's followers from
various ethnic and religious groups and ethnic Chinese.
Besides
communists and progressive leftists
supporters of
Bung Karno's policies
against neo-colonialism and imperialism
, in terms of ethnicity, Chinese Indonesians
were
specifically targeted by Suharto’s
regime.
In addition to those who had been victims of mass
killing,
imprisonment and enforced disappearances during the 65-66 period,
ethnic Chinese in West Kalimantan were slaughtered in the context of
the extermination of the PGRS (People’s
Guerrilla Forces
of
Serawak) / PARAKU (North Kalimantan People's Party) in 1967.
In
that
genocide
against
ethnic Chinese,
27,000 people
were killed, 101,700
people were displaced in Pontianak and 43,425 of them were relocated
in Pontianak Regency.
(Tanjungpura
Berdjuang,
1977).
Suharto
further enhanced and fostered anti-Chinese sentiments through the
Circular Letter Number 06 of 1967
issued by Ampera
Cabinet Presidium which formalized
and standardized
the
word “cina” as the term of address to Indonesian Chinese. It is
a term with derogatory connotation.
It
means that they were
intentionally
separated from other Indonesians.
Then,
savage atrocities against Indonesian
Chinese
occurred again in May 1998. Looting, killing, arson, plunder and
raping were
committed by
the New Order regime
which was
being
hit by
the 1998 economic crisis and overwhelm-ed
by waves
of
demonstrations launched by students and other sectors of the
population who were fed up with the corrupted government.
In Jakarta alone, 1188 were officially recognized as having lost
their lives.
Facts
on
discrimination and racism
against ethnic Chinese since
the Dutch colonial era till
the Sukarno government and the
New Order regime of
Suharto need
to be presented in order
to remind the
Papuan
brothers and sisters
as well as the
young
generations that discrimination and racism are not new
in Indonesia. The discrimination and racism against the Papuan people
are not caused by the fact that Papua is part of the territory of
Indonesia. Thus, its solution cannot be the separation of Papua. The
existing economic, political and social system which serves the
interests of the big landlords, big bureaucratic and comprador
capitalists and imperialism gives rise to discrimination and racism.
Only by changing radically that system can we eradicate them.
Without
the slightest wish to minimize the deep
resentment
and sufferings
of the
Papuan sisters
and brothers,
I only try
to show and prove that they are
not "alone" facing
discriminatory and racial crime.
Discrimination and racism suffered by the
Papuans
cannot be compared to what has
been
experienced
by
the
Indonesian
Chinese.
And remember,
actually
there
are many other ethnic groups and sectors of the population who
have been treated arbitrarily and violently
by the government
and its military and paramilitary apparatus.
For example, women, LGBT, followers of non-Islamic beliefs,
adherents of Islam’s
sects
that are not recognized by the majority, victims of the 1965-66
massacre,
their
families and
offspring, victims of killings such as the
case of
Marsinah
(a worker)
, the
case of Udin
(
journalist)
, the
case of Salim
kancil ( environment activist)
, the
case
of
Tanjung Priok, Trisakti, Munir,
the
abduction of activists in 1998.,
etc.
Gross
human rights violations in Papua make the list even longer. I can
ironica-lly
say that the Papuan sisters
and brothers
do not have "the
privilege"
for discriminatory and racist treatment.
The Indonesian working class, independent-ly of their ethnicity and
religion have been suffering decades of exploitation and repression;
their economic and democratic rights being trampled by the
govern-ment who serves the interests of the big landlord, big
bureaucratic and comprador bourgeoisie and imperialism.
Not
a single one of the responsible and perpetrators
of the gross violations of human rights and the genocide of 1965-66
was investigated
and brought to justice.The
name of the presidents
can be different, but the structure of the economic and political
system does not change. General Wiranto and Kivlan Zein challenged
each other to reveal
the mastermind of the May 1998 incident, but
all
legal institutions were
indifferent and
nothing happened. Impunity goes on.
People’s
reaction to injustices,
abuses,
violences
by the state apparatus, discrimination and racism is not the same.
The Papuan
separatists and
their national and international supporters
have been using
the incident in Surabaya to hold various kinds of demonstrations
demanding Papuan independence.
Discrimination
and racism among the leaders of Papuan Separatism
In
a conversation with Jawa Pos, on 6 December 2018,
Sebby Sambom, spokesman
for the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organization
(TPNPB-OPM), blatantly stated:
"Our attack continues until a total revolution. At present the
revolution is still in the stages of small attacks to certain points.
"When we reach other stage of the revolution , we will expel all
non-Papuans from this country."
One
of the points in
the
statement of
Goliath Tabuni who
claimed
himself to be the General and National Command of the West Papua
National Liberation Army (TPNPB), reads as follows:
"TPNPB and the people of West Papua fully support ULMWP to
become full members of the MSG, at the MSG Summit on 21-22 December
2016 in Vanuatu, on the grounds that the Papuans are not Malay, we
are a Melanesian race ”(Gatra, 1/8/2017).
An
ultimatum of Purom
Wenda
from TPNPB, was placed in MAJALAH-WEKO WAMENA , 3 September 2019,
demanding the migrants
to return to their villages or their respective regions within one
month. He
threatened
"If my appeal is not listened, we will shoot them, no matter
whether he is a civilian businessman or a civil servant. Motorcycle
taxi drivers will also be shot ". In
addition, he also requested
that
all Papuan students throughout Indonesia immediately return to Papua.
In
a telephone conversation with Suara.com, September 2, 2019,
Benny Wen da, Chair
of the "United Liberation Movement for West Papua" (ULMWP),
stated, on the one hand, strongly condemned racial discrimination
including against the Indonesian people, but on the other,
stressed that racially, geographically, culturally, linguistically,
we Papuans are different from Indonesians.
All
the differences he expressed above cannot be used as justification to
demand a referendum and independence for Papua. The Mollucans and the
people in Est Nusa Tenggara are also Melanesians. Everybody knows
that Indonesian people consist of Malayan and Melanesian races.
What
did Benny Wenda mean by saying geographically, the Papuan people are
different from the Indonesian people? The territory of Indonesia
consists of thousands of islands, including the islands of West
Papua! Java Island is separated from Sulawesi Island, separated from
the Maluku Islands, and all the other islands ...
Who
does not know of the diversity of cultures and languages of so
many ethnic groups living in the Indonesian archipelago? Javanese
culture and language are clearly different from Dayaks, Bugis, Bataks
and so on. Is that difference a reason to separate from Indonesia and
form a Dayak Republic, a Bugis Republic, a Batak Republic???
It
is precisely the fact that there is a diversity of cultures and
languages from more than thousand tribes and ethnic communities
living in the archipelago, that there has been a nation building
since the first national uprising against the Dutch colonialism led
by the Communist Party of Indonesia in 1926. Followed later by the
Youth Oath at the Second Congress of Youth, 1928, which declared One
Motherland, One Nation and One Language. The Indonesian nation was
born in a long historical process of struggle against Dutch
colonialism. The independence of the Indonesian people was paid for
by millions of lives, sufferings and extraordinary sacrifice of the
people of various ethnic groups in the archipelago. It is absolutely
not a gift of the Dutch Colonial Government.
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