To: All honorable members of the society
Dear Sir, and/or Mdm,
If you have watched TV, read newspapers, or turned on the radio this past several days, you may heard of the riots in Indonesia. News media are telling us the Indonesian Pribumis (Malay) people are rising up against the Suharto dictatorship. We are told that the Indonesia poor Malay suffered a lot under Suharto's corrupted regime, and they wanted change.

The Indonesia Pribumis (Malay) comprises over 80% of the total population. Most of them are Muslims. The Indonesian ethnic Chinese minority are mostly Buddhist or Christian. The news media portrayed the Indonesian Malay as honest, decent, peace loving people who rioted because they were hungry, they were poor, and they were victimized by Suharto, and his filthy-rich Indonesian Chinese allies.

Who is Suharto?
Is Suharto an Indonesian Pribumi (Malay,) or is he an Indonesian Chinese? Is Suharto a Muslim, or is he a Christian or a Buddhist?
Aren't you curious that almost all reports about the Indonesian rioters savagely attacking businesses owned by the Indonesian ethnic Chinese minority come with the DISCLAIMER-like pseudo-economic news attachment that reminds us of the "disproportion wealth gap" between the Chinese and the Malay in Indonesia? A disclaimer-like news attachment usually looks like this: "The Indonesian ethnic Chinese minority only comprises less than 4% of the Indonesian population, but they controlled more than (70%, 75%, 80%,85%,90%, take your pick) of the entire Indonesian economy." Don't you find it strange the news media attach an ECONOMIC disclaimer whenever they report the BLATANTLY RACIST RIOTS in Indonesia perpetrated by people from the MAJORITY RACE against people of the MINORITY RACE? Could it be possible that 4% of the population controlling over 90% of the economy?

Suharto and his family are reported to have accumulated up to 40 BILLION USD in wealth. Is Suharto and his family counted among the 4% of the population? Is Suharto and his family ethnically CHINESE? Is the World Press reporting from Indonesia consistent with their reporting from elsewhere around the world? Here are several recent world events, as reported to us by the same International Media:

* In Rwanda, when the MAJORITY Hutus attacked and massacre the minority Tutsis, the World Press reported it as a racial-based tragedy. There was no mention of the economic differences.

* In Bosnia, when the MAJORITY Serbs and/or the Croats attacked and massacre the Bosnia Muslims, the International Media told us it was religious-based.

* The conflicts between the Albanian and Serbs in Kosovo are being reported as race-based conflicts.

Why then, whenever the Indonesian Malay MAJORITY savagely attacked the Indonesian Chinese minority, the World Media kept on insisting that the attacks motivated by RACIST hatred were ECONOMIC-related riots? Have you heard any single news story that portrayed the Indonesian Malay as racists for their attack on Chinese owned businesses? Have you wonder why the Indonesian Malay only attacked the Chinese shops, and not the Malay, American, British, or Arabian businesses? Are ALL Indonesian Chinese FILTHY-RICH?

Of the Indonesian Chinese, only 5% can be classified as wealthy. The rest-NINETY-FIVE PERCENT (95%) - of them are either in the medium or lower-income strata of the Indonesian economy. Today, many Indonesian ethnic Chinese are still living in wooden shacks because they can NOT afford brick houses. Many of the poor Indonesian Chinese worked very hard but they still find it extremely difficult to make enough money to feed and house their family.

Most of the really wealthy Indonesian Chinese already LEFT Indonesia. hose stayed behind in Indonesia are the poor Chinese who don't have the economic means to escape. And they are those whose businesses are being LOOTED, whose merchandizes are being PLUNDERED, whose buildings are being TORCHED, whose women are being RAPED, and whose children are being BRUTALLYSLAUGHTERED. They are the ones made homeless by the Pribumis savagery attacks, they are made even poorer for having their small business totally destroyed by the rioters. The shops that were destroyed were mostly mom-and-pop type of small business. With their shops burnt to the ground, those already poor Chinese gotten even POORER. They lost not only their businesses, they lost their home, and they lost many of their family members who were killed by the Indonesian Malay rioters. How many of the news reports you have read regarding the Indonesian riots mentioned all these facts?

What is the percentage of those news reports even talked about the Chinese who were BRUTALLY BUTCHERED by the rioters? Think back for a minute, of the many of the news reports you have read about Indonesia, can you think of one which mentioned the number of Chinese killed in by the Malay rioters?

How many of those news reports focused on the plight of the Indonesian ethnic Chinese minority?
Did the News Media ever tell us how many Chinese were hurt?
Did they tell us how many Chinese women were RAPED?
Did they tell us how many Chinese were SLAUGHTERED?
Did they described to us what type of HORRIBLE DEATHS the Chinese had suffered by the hands of the BRUTAL HANDS of the Malay rioters?
Do you know the story of the innocent THREE-YEAR-OLD Chinese GIRL who was BRUTALLY BUTCHERED by the Indonesian Malay rioters when they broke into her parents house, in Tanjong Pinang, of Indonesia? The rioters first broke into her parents' house. They KILLED her grandmother. Then the rioters RAPED and BUTCHERED her mother. Finally they MURDERED this INNOCENT 3 year-old Chinese GIRL, by smashed open her skull, with a metal pipe.

Has CNN reported this news?
Has BBC covered this event?
Has AP, UPI, or Reuters distributed this story?
Wonder why none of the Wold Press is interested in reporting the horrible death of an INNOCENT 3-year-old GIRL?
Was it because the little girl is from the Indonesia ethnic Chinese minority background?
Was it because her family is definitely NOT rich, which may jeopardized the Indonesian Chinese = FILTHY-RICH" image painted by so many journalists reporting from Indonesia, for the World Media?
Was it because she was a innocently sweet little girl, unlike the "Indonesian Chinese = COLD-HEARTED, EVIL BUSNESSMEN" image so many journalists would have us believed?
Was it because her INNOCENCE may proved to us that Indonesian Chinese are flesh-and-blood human beings, much like the rest of the humanities,which again, may smash the "Indonesian Chinese = NON-HUMAN" image many members of the World Press would like to plant deep into our minds?
What motivated the International Press members to engage in such a world-wide scale of DIS-INFORMATION campaign?
Why are so many journalists trying to make the Indonesian ethnic Chinese minority into a "FILTHY-RICH," "COLD-HEARTED," and "EVIL" people, and In the meantime they try to portray the Indonesian Pribumi (Malay) rioters, who would NOT even spare the life of an INNOCENT 3-year-old LITTLE GIRL, as "MILD-MANNERED"?
The Indonesian Chinese are the VICTIMS, the Indonesian Pribumis are the PERPETRATORS.
But yet, every time a news story of Chinese houses being burned, the same news story also told us how WEALTHY those Chinese are. Did you ever read a news report which scrutinized the wealth of the victims who just had their house burned to the ground?

Every time there is a mention about Chinese business being looted, there is also a mention of how much ECONOMIC POWER those Chinese have. How many time have you ever read a news report which linked the economic status of a mug victim, to the crime (of mugging) itself?

Just how credible are the news reports from Indonesia? How ludicrous the journalists want to be?
How much DIS-INFORMATION they are allowed to pump out before they are called to task to answer for all the GARBAGES they have written? Are the Indonesian ethnic Chinese minorities strong allies of Suharto? The Indonesian ethnic Chinese minorities had been victimized underthe Suharto-led Pribumi government..

Although they are ethnic Chinese, they are NOT allowed to have a Chinese name. The Suharto-led Pribumi regime dictated that NO Chinese in Indonesia can have Chinese name. ALL Chinese in Indonesia MUST have Indonesian name, or they will not be granted an Indonesian citizenship. This law only applies to the ethnic Chinese. A person with Italian ancestry applying for an Indonesian citizenship is allowed to keep his Italian name. A person born in Indonesia by a Mexican parentage is allowed to carry a Mexican name on his Indonesian citizenship form. A Russian is allowed to keep his Russian name as well.

ONLY the Chinese are prohibited from having a Chinese name. The law specifically discriminates against the ethnic Chinese. Indonesian Chinese are NOT allowed to learn the Chinese language.

In Indonesia, a couple from Nigeria can teach their children the Nigerian language. Anyone interested in learning French can enrolled into French courses offered in several Indonesian colleges and universities. But if a Chinese is caught learning the Chinese language in Indonesia, [s]he may be thrown into jail for breaking the anti-Chinese law. A person caught TEACHING Chinese language in Indonesia may face the DEATH penalty if he is charged under the "subversive" act. In Indonesia, ONLY the Chinese-language is forbidden.

Indonesian Chinese are not allowed to celebrate the Chinese New Year. In Indonesia, Muslim's holy days such as Ramadan are celebrated. In Indonesia, Christian's holy days like Christmas and Easter are celebrated. But in Indonesia, the Indonesian Chinese are prohibited from celebrating their Chinese New Year.

In Indonesia, the Chinese are not allowed to work for the government. Persons from Brazilian or German heritage are not barred from working in the Indonesian government. But a ethnic Chinese who was born in Indonesia is not allowed to work in ANY Indonesian government department.

In Indonesia, the Chinese are discriminated. The ethnic Chinese are not permitted to have permanent land title. The same restriction does NOT apply to Caucasian from the United States, however. The ethnic Chinese are prohibited from obtaining governmental scholarships. No such restriction for people of ANY OTHER ethnic background. The Indonesian ethnic Chinese minority is the ONLY group of people in Indonesia who are officially PERSECUTED by the Suharto-led regime.

A coup led by Suharto, back in the 1960's, resulted in a total defeat of PKI (Parti Komunis Indonesia, or the Indonesian Communist Party). Suharto and his army cracked down on members of the PKI, and more than 2 MILLION people died during the purging process. Among the dead were more than 300,000 (some estimates ran up to more than 500,000) INNOCENT ethnic Chinese who had nothing to do with neither Suharto, nor PKI, were MURDERED.

How possible do you think a group of victims will strongly supported the person [or regime] who stripped them the right to practice their own culture?

Mild-mannered people don't loot, plunder, rape or kill people, no matter how economically-challenged they are. The Indonesian Pribumis who looted, plundered, raped and killed the Chinese are definitely NOT mild-mannered. The Indonesia Malay attacked the Chinese not for the money, they attacked the Chinese because they [Pribumis] are RACISTS. The attacks are blatantly RACIALLY-MOTIVATED attacks. Why is the World Press keep avoiding to report the TRUTH? Why are the journalists trying so hard to hide all those RACIST ATTACKS under the economic banner?

What objective[s] the World Media like to achieve by misguiding us, their audiences? What are the possible reason[s] beneath this massive DIS-INFORMATION campaign? We want the world to witness the TRUE PLIGHT of the Indonesian Chinese. We want to spread this TRUTH to the world. Please help us. We do not ask for money, we don't ask for pity. What we ask, and hope you will do, is to HELP us. Help us by distributing this message, to everyone you know. We need to spread the TRUTH to as many people as we possibly can, we need to tell the world that the Indonesian Huaren are not the evil people the mass media would like you to believe.

We also need your help to contact people in political offices. We urgently need outside pressures stop the save the lives of innocent ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. With only less than 4% of the total population, the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia can't possibly withstand the unrelenting onslaughts by the Indonesian Malay.

In Rwanda, the Hutus massacred 500,000 Tutsis. In Indonesia, if the world do not step in, over 7 MILLION people may be butchered. This is the time we need as much outside pressure as we possibly can gather. We need the world's response to STOP the Indonesian Malays from committing even more heinous murders.

Please call or fax this message to your local council persons, the mayor of your city, your state's representative, national representative,parliamentarians or congressmen/women, ask them to voice their support PUBLICLY for the Indonesian Chinese, and ask them to put pressure on the Indonesian government in preventing more bloodshed from occurring. Our heartfelt thanks to each and everyone of you for your help.

David Susilo

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