Thomas Wagner, Jakarta – About 25 youths held a protest outside the presidential palace on Thursday that appeared to be the first public demonstration by Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority in many years.
The youths demanded that former President Suharto and previous military and police commanders be put on trial for allowing rampages by the Muslim majority in the late 1990s. The rampages, in cities such as Jakarta, involved the burning of Chinese homes and businesses and the rapes of Chinese women.
Nobody has ever been arrested or charged in the attacks, even though a government inquiry confirmed reports by human rights groups that such crimes were committed.
"The rapes happened, Gus Dur!" said one banner, using the nickname of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who has taken steps to allow greater freedom for the Chinese minority since coming to power in October. "The state must prosecute and punish the attackers," the sign read. The demonstration ended peacefully after several hours, and 10 policemen standing nearby did not intervene.
The protest was small by Indonesian standards, but it was an unusual and potentially risky step for the Chinese minority to take. "This was a first," said Ignes Kleden, head of the Institute for Indonesian Affairs, a local think-tank. "For many years the Chinese haven't been able to practice their own culture. Now they can demonstrate. It's a big change for Indonesia. This shows they are finally getting their political rights," he said.
The Chinese make up only about 3.5 percent of the country's 210 million population. But their success in business and commerce has generated resentment among many indigenous Indonesians.
Suharto, who came to power in 1966, blamed the Chinese for a bloody, but abortive, communist coup that he claimed took place against his predecessor, President Sukarno. Thousands of Chinese were imprisoned or slaughtered with other suspected leftists following the coup. Suharto also banned the use of the Chinese language and forced Chinese families to adopt indigenous names in a campaign of assimilation.
During the massive pro-democracy protests that drove Suharto out of power in 1998, Muslim mobs rampaged through many areas, often burning the Chinese homes and shops, especially in Jakarta's Chinatown.
Since coming to power, Wahid, a reformist Muslim cleric with a Chinese ancestor, has promoted religious tolerance and lifted a ban on public Chinese festivities, such as the Chinese Lunar New Year in February. The government also now allows the minority to operate Chinese-language schools and to use store signs written in Chinese characters.