To all my native Indonesian friends all over the world:
I am a Chinese Indonesian living in the United States. As Chinese blood
still flowing in my body I certainly fear for all the Chinese community
living in Indonesia. Especially I still have a lot of family and friends
living in the chaos country. I am very upset reading all the news,
hearing the barbaric acts native Indonesians do to all the Chinese
people. I always pray for all the Chinese living in danger and for all
my family and friends.
While I was still in Indonesia, I have a lot of native Indonesian
friends. I like them all. And I guess we did not care that we came from
a different racial background. I still don't care, because I know that
my native friends will feel the same. I'm crossing my fingers all the
time for that matters. Because friends are very important to me. And I
don't think I have to hate them because their people do something really
really terrible to my people. That would not be fair for them since they
did not do anything wrong themselves. And I thank God and I thank all my
native friends and their families for their being clear headed about the
situations.
But I keep wondering if all my native friends and all other good native
Indonesians will help us going through this serious crisis. Indonesia is
now a war zone, a land with no hope. Not only for us Chinese, but also
for the native Indonesians themselves. Chinese Indonesians live in fear,
live in danger every minute of their lifes. I am really hoping that my
native friends will help us. Please pray for us, please spread the words
of wisdom and peace to your own people. Please explain to them that the
Chinese did nothing wrong. Please let the all native Indonesians know
that their anger toward us Chinese is very unreasonable. Please stop the
torturing. Stop the raping. Stop the humiliation toward Chinese. Stop
the killing. Stop the harrassment. Stop burning the churches, temples
and chinese owned stores and businesses. Stop the hate. Stop the anger.
Stop the racism.
I don't care what causes the riot and all of those barbaric acts the
Indonesians perform to us Chinese, still we, Chinese, don't deserve to
be treated that way. Especially because we did not do anything wrong. We
are only scapegoats of the authority.
Finally, to my all native friends, please support our Chinese rights. We
are also human being with flesh and blood attached to our bones. Our
blood is still as red as yours. And if we do did some mistakes, maybe
our mistakes are bad as yours also. I am not accusing, I am not judging.
I just want to get my point accross, for the sake of all the Chinese
people living in fear and danger in Indonesia. Let your clear voices be
heard by your own people, let your wisdoms melts their unreasonable
furious minds.
And I thank you for your help and support in behalve of all the Chinese
community struggling to survive in Indonesia.
God bless you all:
Catherine
Washington