A very good commentary/opinion piece taken from CNN titled “So what if Obama was a Muslim or an Arab?” written by CNN’s very own host of the “Campbell Brown: Election Center” program, Ms. Campbell Brown.
You may find it hard to believe that this remains an issue in this campaign, but it does.
The candidates, both candidates, are still getting questions about Barack Obama’s ethnicity and religion. If you are even semi-informed, then by now you already know that of course, Barack Obama is an American.
Of course, Barack Obama is a Christian. Yet just a few days ago, there was a woman at a rally for John McCain incorrectly calling Obama an Arab:
Woman at rally: I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.
Sen. John McCain: No ma’am, no ma’am. He’s a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That’s what this campaign is all about. He’s not, thank you.
Now, I commend Sen. McCain for correcting that woman, for setting the record straight. But I do have one question — so what if he was?
So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter?
When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical?
Whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim. And the media is complicit here, too.
We’ve all been too quick to accept the idea that calling someone Muslim is a slur.
I feel like I am stating the obvious here, but apparently it needs to be said: There is a difference between radical Muslims who support jihad against America and Muslims who want to practice their religion freely and have normal lives like anyone else.
There are more than 1.2 million Arab-Americans and about 7 million Muslim-Americans, former Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, successful business people, normal average Americans from all walks of life.
These are the people being maligned here, and we can only imagine how this conversation plays in the Muslim world. We can’t tolerate this ignorance — not in the media, not on the campaign trail.
Of course, he’s not an Arab. Of course, he’s not a Muslim. But honestly, it shouldn’t matter.
She is absolutely right. It shouldn’t matter what racial background, religious background or ethnicity background a person is, as long as they are capable and are up for a job, they should be able to get it.
There is a BIG difference between how the western world (Americans or Europeans) and Indonesians treat their minorities. The former tries to make the minorities as comfortable as possible; tries to learn about their minorities’ culture and customs; tries to make them feel welcome; tries to integrate them with the rest of the society, also to make it easier to adapt, etc.
While it’s nice to see how Americans go out of their way to keep the feelings of their minority from being hurt by being politically correct all the time and trying their darndest to make things as comfortable and as equal possible for them, the same is done by the Europeans, Scandinavians and the British, I don’t understand why Indonesians cannot do the same. Unlike some countries that are more advanced in compassion, human rights and morality, the Indonesian majority group don’t care about the minority and funny enough, they love to play ‘victim’ like it’s the other way around, like they are the minority whose rights are abused.
It’s amusing how foreigners see us as a very friendly, welcoming and hospitable nation – which we are, but exclusively to white people foreigners and rich people – however, when it comes to the minority or poor people, even those of the same race and background, we can be very suspicious, totally harsh, judgmental and sometimes just downright cruel.
Another thing I don’t understand is why ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ in Indonesia automatically relates to religion. Why not ethnic background? Why not race or racial origin? Why not island origin? Why not social status? Economic background? Educational background? There are other things that can be the basis of determining the majority or minority of a country, but somehow, in Indonesia it’s always religion.
The Indonesian Constitution, Chapter III Article 6 (The original Indonesian Constitution you can find HERE, English translation HERE) said, the Indonesian President must be a native Indonesian citizen.
Well, that rules me out of the possibility of being the next female President, doesn’t it? Yet, although I have Arab, Dutch and Indonesian blood in me, in Indonesia I am viewed as a native Indonesian and people are nice to me (when they don’t know my religion, which is none). But even if people view me as a native Indonesian, even if I have all the necessary credentials, knowledge and degrees, even if I have the support of many, I still can’t run for president because there is an unwritten rule that the President must also belong to the majority. (Guess what that is? 100 brownie points for the person that gets it right!)
This is actually implied in Chapter III article 9 (original Indonesian HERE, English translation HERE). Look at the Indonesian Constitution first that says (pay attention to the words in bold):
Sebelum memangku jabatannya, Presiden dan Wakil Presiden bersumpah menurut agama, atau berjanji dengan sungguh-sungguh di hadapan Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat atau Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat sebagai berikut:
Sumpah Presiden (Wakil Presiden):
“Demi Allah, saya bersumpah akan memenuhi kewajiban…..”tr:
“Before assuming office, the President and the Vice-President shall take the oath of office according to their religions, or solemnly promise before the Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat or the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat as follows:
The President’s/Vice-President’s Oath
“In the name of God Almighty, I swear that I will perform the duties……”
The literal translation of Allah is not God Almighty. Allah is certainly God Almighty for the Muslims, but last I checked there are other official religions in Indonesia and for the others, God Almighty goes by other names. I don’t understand why the Constitution does not change the word Allah with Tuhan (=God), unless my conspiracy theory is true and the President really must be of a certain religion *twilight zone” music playing in the background*
Hindus will certainly not say “Demi Allah..”, nor would Confucians, or Buddhists. Christians and Catholics in Indonesia, but well, that’s another story. They are somewhat lost in translation and lost in identity when it comes to the name of their God. They have adapted the name of the Muslim God, actually, the Catholic missionaries and traders from the 15th century and Protestant missionaries from late 17th early/18th century did, if I’m not mistaken – and it has kinda stuck with them eversince.
My half Caucasian and half Indonesian brothers and sisters enjoy nice and proper treatment from others and viewed as a bi-racial (we call them “Indo”) which is actually a class above the natives (sadly, this is perpetuated by the ‘native’ Indonesians themselves). They can be models, stars, divas, business people, but I guess, if the Constitution is genuinely upheld, they can’t run for President (but we’ll have to wait and see for this).
Not for my half-Chinese, half-Indonesian or Indonesian or Chinese origin brothers and sisters, though. No matter how nationalistic they are (and I know plenty who are more nationalistic than the so-called ‘natives’) , no matter how much they have contributed to the country, no matter how hard they try to integrate, most ‘native’ Indonesians will always view them as Chinese, they have less kind different treatment from the rest of the nation, even if they are the descendants of one of the Chinese Wali Songo, it wouldn’t matter.
They (Indonesian of Chinese origins) especially can’t be President because the constitution clearly states that the President can only be NATIVE Indonesian citizens. Even if they convert to the religion of the majority, the majority of the ‘native’ Indonesians will be a bit nicer to them but they will always be labeled as ‘Cina-muslim’ instead of what they really are, ‘Indonesians’ like the rest of us. No President from Chinese origins, people. Except maybe if they are Cina tapi Hitam, (=dark Chinese) as rumors were said about the late President Soeharto.
But what is NATIVE INDONESIAN, really? Weren’t we at one point or another also a product of mix race/ethnicity? We have native Indonesians from Sumatra (Palembang and Jambi), Java, Sulawesi and Kalimantan who look a bit Chinese, then there are people who have Arabic and Indian features which no doubt come from their Arab/Indian ancestors, there are those who resemble Filipinos and Thais, there are those who look Aboriginese, there are those who resemble Pacific Islanders, etc.
So which ones of us are really NATIVE? If we are talking about pure unmixed breeds of the Indonesian people, then maybe the Irians are our safest bet. Irian Jaya is a part of Indonesia, and there are still many Irians that have not been spoiled by mix-marriages, particularly the cannibals in the deep jungles. Let them be our President! They are much more native than Soeharto, Megawati, Gus Dur, Habibie and SBY for sure!
Indonesia, and even the world, is slowly but surely becoming a giant melting pot, where more and more people of different races are procreating, creating a totally new race of their own. More and more people are learning about the cultures of others and infusing it into their own. This shouldn’t be an issue anymore, as religion or lack there-of should also not, but stupidly, these are and always will be an issue in Indonesia, because the government and most of the people don’t know how to prioritize and take care of real problems.
What is considered a “native” Indonesian? To be frank, one must be either Javanese, Betawinese, or anywhere that is in the Java island region. Must also hold Islam as a religion, wear kopiah all the time and have a face that’s bound to corrupt a helluva lot money in the near future, like Mr. Fauzi Bowo, for example.
If it’s female, must wear some kind of a cloth-like material to cover hair during public appearance, a little bit overweight and if bears an ex-Indonesian president’s blood, is also an additional point. Oh, and MUST hold Islam as a religion as well.
Anyone wants to disagree with me? Because you know I’m right!!!!!!!!!!! (GJ’s TM)
“no comment they. lol”
Gee.. u r damn right about this. I’ve been avoiding this kind of subject for a freaking long time. I was raised as a minority in Indonesia and and been out here for sometime. But then again.. there’s nothing we can do about it..
“There should be something we can do about it, but it’s just that there aren’t enough influential people that cares about this matter..”
[...] How we treat our minority. Like crap! [...]
I do not consider myself native. I was born in Holland as Indo, grew up in Bandung and Jakarta. Went to high school in Holland again and at age 23 I swapped the Green Passport for the Dutch. Guess it’s there where it ended. What is funny, my relatives do not consider me necessarily Indonesian but they do consider me Manadonese because I continue the marga name and bloodline. Don’t even understand it myself but it doesn’t bother me either.
Mrs. L. used to consider herself Sundanese but is really gado-gado herself (Sunda-Jawa-Ambon).
And yes, we are all agnostics
Teh rima, I closed my old e-mail account. Too much spam and other crap. You know where to reach me.
“it’s nice to know a bit of your background..
yes, i know where to reach you!”
hear hear!!!
the writer´s last blog post..Moving!
“Another thing I don’t understand is why ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ in Indonesia automatically relates to religion. Why not ethnic background? Why not race or racial origin? Why not island origin? Why not social status? Economic background? Educational background? There are other things that can be the basis of determining the majority or minority of a country, but somehow, in Indonesia it’s always religion.”
Err, I have to disagree with you there Rima. Ethnic background certainly plays a part in majority/minority conflicts in a lot of places (e.g tragedi sampit, ethnic Bugis as dominant economic players in Eastern Indonesia etc). Indonesians with Chinese ancestries get the minority treatment, be it that they are Muslims, Kong Hu Cu, Catholics or whatever. Glitzy Malls in Jakarta are for the middle class “minority”, as the “poor” majority are banned from entering (say anak jalanan, pengemis dll). Island origin also matters. If you’re in the outer islands, Javanese will be a minority, and the locals will address you as orang jawa (they don’t really care whether you’re sundanese, betawi, Javanese). But I guess, you already adress this in your following points on being “native”.
katadia´s last blog post..Palin, Megawati, and Women in Politics
“perhaps i wasn’t clear enough, but what i meant was the ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ that matters, like in politics, votes in the people’s representative office etc. of course there are others as you mentioned, but those don’t really matter when it comes to these things.. and yeah, i did say that indonesians of chinese origin gets the minority treatment no matter what.”
minority in one place is majority in other place..
have you joined Blog Action Day 2008 yet?
koko´s last blog post..XDR-TB, A New Threat for The Poor
“that’s true. but it should not make a difference in how we treat them.
no i havent joined the blog action day 2008, what is it about?”
Because the concept of treating minorities well is from western countries, and western countries are evil liberals and all their values are evil, so we should follow our own Indonesian values. No baring of skin(what about kebaya?? koteka??), musyawarah/mufakat(collective corruption/collusion/cronism), tolerance(yeah rite!!), respect to the elderly(asal bapak senang), friendliness and hospitability(as Rima stated above), etc, etc. The late Pramoedya even went to the extreme to say that there were no such thing as Indonesian values, Indonesian values were taken from Javanese values. I don’t necessarily say that it’s true, but if we think about it, the concept of Indonesia as a nation is more or less only a century old. Some people still consider Javanese as foreigner in their land when they were migrated by means of the transmigration program. That’s why there’s so many animosity towards Javanese outside Java. We might have Indonesian cultures from different regions in Indonesia, but what Pram said might be true, our values was a Javanese values(I never say it’s bad) and currently the values are drifting towards middle eastern values. For me, even some westerners still have prejudices toward others, but at least their law protects everyone, not only the majorities. We should look for what is best for all of us Indonesian irrespective of where it came from.
“couldn’t have said it better!”
I thought Obama is African-American (he’s dad from Kenya)? I guess the lady on McCain campaign represents his voters: those who think if they’ve been to Alaska, they’re experts for foreign policies since it’s very close to Russia….
Current Brazilian Ambassador for Indonesian, Edmundo Sussumu Fujita is Japanese. A former Chilean Ambassador for Indonesia, James Sinclair Manley (gorgeous man, by the way) is Scottish descendant. The former Peruvian president is Japanese, he even has Japanese passport.
Indonesia still considers having female politicians (president, ambassador, etc) is a breakthrough, a success (how many female ambassador? Less than 10).
But again, do you think Chinese-Indonesians are interested in running for presidency, or in politics?
Finally Woken´s last blog post..Speechless
“He is african, it’s the ignorant old lady who thought he was an arab.
i think indonesian of chinese descent would probably be interesting to enter the politics world, given a fair chance..”
all i can say to this is “bingo”
Jed´s last blog post..Uniknya Bahasa Melayu Malaysia
“I prefer ‘jackpot’, but that’s just me.. lol”
Remember back in high school when you had a group of freinds you hung around with. Most people have never gotten out of that habit. They have a group of people that think and act like them and everybody else below them.
Mike´s last blog post..568 – Found another one
“oh yeah.. that’s so true! .. brings me back a lot of memories from high school..”
Here’s a question: if you are Hindu and you were (miraculously) elected, couldn’t you still give the oath? I mean, you’d giving the oath before the Almighty God of those towel-wearing, bible-bashing, Christ-crucifying weirdos, but I wouldn’t care if it meant I could leave the aircon on all day in Mederka Palace…
McCain’s response is more disturbing than the woman’s question. Arabs and ‘decent family men’ are not mutually exclusive.
Brett´s last blog post..blog-bashing bules
“yeah, i think about that too. plus, the first verse of pancasila “believe in the one true god” is also something that totally excludes Hindus..”
but no worries, no Hindus will EVER be a president of Indonesia..
I suppose things will remain the same for a while, because the new policies that are friendlier towards minority are still talk only, no action.
Last year there was this decision that people of Chinese descent like myself don’t need to show proof of citizenship(sertifikat WNI) anymore. This WNI certificate was idiotic in the first place, why would I need to show proof as an Indonesian again and again when even my grandparents were born in this country, and one of them was Javanese? Still, after they waived this WNI certificate, the immigration office asked for it when I applied for a new passport. When I pointed out that the president’s recent decree about the abolishment of the WNI certificate, the immigration officer said “oh, that’s just the president talking. Here we do things differently.” What can you do but obey when you need the passport pronto?
I don’t expect things to happen soon, but I am optimistic that someday, a few generations after me, everybody in Indonesia will be equal.
Mia´s last blog post..Becky On The Beach
“Ohmigod, so sorry that happened to you. It is highly stupid that you have to carry some kind of stupid paper proving your nationality while indonesians of arab and/or dutch descent like me and even the bi-racial like my mom and dad didn’t. It’s such a discrimination.
I do hope things will be different. But couldn’t you like send a letter to a newspaper about this or something? take the name of the bapak-bapaks that gave you a hard time? maybe it will help, no?
in any case, it is something of a very ignorant nature, esp when i know for a fact that there are westerners, for example, that have obtained an RI citizenship who never went what you have to go through..”
“but no worries, no Hindus will EVER be a president of Indonesia..”
Yeah, specially after the gay Hindu wedding in Bali that turns out to be conversion ceremony. Think about this: gay=cold blooded mutilator; By the logic of those stupid fanatics, fill in the rest… :-p
“what gay Hindu wedding??? I have not heard of this..
yeah, that ‘logic’ of the fanatics really makes me shudder”
pengkotak-kotakan, mengkotak-kotakan…well all right, maybe almost everyone loves it
di pemerintahan, katanya, orang Jawa jadi mayoritas. di dunia dagang/bisnis, katanya, orang Cina, Padang, India yang jadi mayoritas. dll.
sepertinya mayoritas di sebelah sana, mayoritas di sebelah sini udah jadi hal yang wajar apa ya?! karena orang cenderung untuk pro pada kelompoknya yang menjadi mayoritas, baik itu karena ras, suku, agama, latar pendidikan, hobi, dll.
PAragraf yang ini:
So which ones of us are really NATIVE? If we are talking about pure unmixed breeds of the Indonesian people, then maybe the Irians are our safest bet. Irian Jaya is a part of Indonesia, and there are still many Irians that have not been spoiled by mix-marriages, particularly the cannibals in the deep jungles. Let them be our President! They are much more native than Soeharto, Megawati, Gus Dur, Habibie and SBY for sure!
Hehe iya juga sih, orang Irian/Papua emang terpinggirkan dari dulu dan dianggap demikian ma orang2 Indonesia Barat ato spesifiknya orang2 Pulau Jawa. Bahkan orang2 luar Pulau Jawa kalo ketemu ama kita2 yang berasal dari Jakarta pasti rata2 langsung nunjukin muka mesem dengan pertanyaannya “Ooh, orang Jawa ya?!” padahal yang tinggal di Jawa bukan berarti asli suku Jawa bisa aja dari Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, dll kecuali kalo kita ngebuktiin kesukuan asli kita misalnya baru disambut hangat.
Tapi di kalangan intern sendiri juga suka ada mayor-minor gitu, sepertinya urusan mayor-minor ini ada dimana-mana dan tak terelakkan, tinggal kitanya aja pandai menyesuaikan diri ato tidak, mungkin….
“iya, tapi maksud gw soal perlakuan kita ke minoritas etnis cina misalnya, seperti yg rekan kita Mia pernah alami. Yang kaya gitu dan juga syarat menjadi president dll yg jadi masalah. Misalnya Amerika aja yg terkenal rasis orang putihnya di beberapa area, skrg mereka bisa menerima calon president wanita dan orang hitam. Itu sudah kemajuan besar utk mereka. Kita seharusnya bisa gitu juga, tapi masalahnya sampai saat ini kita terlalu picik dan saling curiga..”
i had a bad experience as being a “minority” just because of my religion. that sucks!!!! untungnya ga smua temen2 gw yg ‘mayoritas’ sperti itu and i’m grateful of that.
but generally, indonesia really treats the :minority: like crap.
do u believe that one day the president of indonesia will come from a “minority background”?? (gw sih rada pesimis…)
“gue juga pesimis kalo soal president kita dari minoritas or what. dan lo bener, gak semua mayoritas rese kok.. sama aja di amerika misalnya, gak semua mayoritast (org bule) rese ke minoritas (org item).. tergantung org masing2.. tapi by default manusia itu semakin berasa dalam kelompok yang besar, semakin suka semena2 ke kelompok lebih kecil..”
aarrrghhh… i hate the fact when people can’t treat others like normal… it has to be “we are better than you” kinda thing… I am not a racist and I think everyone should be given fair chance to prove their worth just like Obama
Ivy´s last blog post..Every Little Girl’s Dreamland – Sanrio Puroland
“you are really living in a dream world, girl.. lol’
nice post.
i have been reading ur posts today, starting from the boobs story *grin* and i particularly like this one.
nice to meet you, rima
“Hey Citra.. thanks for coming and reading my posts.. nice to (virtually) meet you too!”
Not to mention that minorities have to cater to the whims of the majority, case in point being restaurant closing down during Ramadhan.
It gets frustrating living here at times.
atri´s last blog post..z0mg! wtf! OHMIGAWD!! *SQUEE*
“My friends and family who still live there say the same thing.. although when I still lived there it wasn’t as bad as it is now”
Very interesting. Just a couple of days ago Collin Powell mentioned the same thing when he was endorsing Obama on Meet the Press (you can watch the entire interview on MSNBC, it’s available online).
You really hit it right btw, there is NO such thing as native Indonesian (which also made me wonder when some people says shit like “be like Indonesian!” huh?). Indonesia is composed of numerous cultures and languages, and forcing you to be “Indonesian” is like asking you to be a concept that binds an archipelago to fall under one ruler. Indonesia is only 63 years old. Local cultures have thrived waaaay longer than that. And don’t get me started on the pluralism (or the lack thereof) hahaha…
“Yeah, but this is what the indonesian (and other nations) always seem to forget. I think the only natives in the world are the chinese in their country, the africans in their countries, the indian in their country, and the arabs in their countries. The rest of the countries in the world are of mixed population, nobody are natives anymore. So for Indonesians to treat other Indos bad just because they are of chinese heritage or white americans feeling they deserve the country more than the black/latin/asian americans just make me want to laugh..”
[...] is a good thing, and it happened just a few days after I have written about how there is no such thing as native Indonesians, which makes discrimination towards the Chinese Indonesian or any Indonesians as something [...]