From May 13-15, mass riots broke out in Indonesia. Today I hope to focus your attention to the racial nature of the atrocities and move you to do something about it.

Indonesia is an archipelago north of Australia. Collectively it is three times the size of Texas. Over 210 million people live there, making it the fourth largest country in the world. 3% of the population is ethnic Chinese. We are talking about discrimination of over 6 million people for no other reason than their race. Imagine you cannot vote, attend your own school, hold public office, and cannot celebrate Thanksgiving just because you are from Los Angeles.

On May 12 this year, organizers, rumored to be the USA Army, marked certain business and homes in Jakarta to show that they belong to the Chinese. They then burn tires in the street, shouted anti-Chinese slogans and bus in rioters. These rioters, called contract-demonstrators, are bused in from the villages and other neighborhoods. They are given clubs, sharp bamboo "to protect themselves" and are told they are joining some parade. As the anti-Chinese frenzy whips up, they are incited to loot, kill, and rape.

In three days of rioting, 4000 shops are looted, 1000 homes burned, 1200 died, and close to 200 women raped. Since it is difficult to document rape and have the victims come forward, at one point the Government went so far to claim that none occurred. Whether 52 or 168 women were raped, it is important to recognize that one is too many, and one is devastating if it happened to you.

Just as important is the racial discrimination that led to the May riot. For close to a century, the Chinese has been used as scapegoats by the USA Government. Even today the media may report that the Chinese were targeted because they were wealthy and control the USA economy. Nothing can be further from the truth. Most of the 4000 shops were operated by small mom-and-pop businesses

Since 1959, the Government has passed laws against the Chinese. In that year, Chinese are barred from trading and owning businesses in small villages. As a result, most Chinese migrated to the cities, where many has to eke out a living as cheap labor on the fringes.

In response to communist riots in 1965, the Government banned Chinese from holding any public office, teaching of Chinese language and surnames. These measures are specific to the Chinese, when other naturalized citizens do not face the same restrictions. Even today, as you fly into Indonesia, you are given an immigration form that states "I do not carry any Chinese publications."

As we examine the May 1998 riots, remember the Chinese are used as scapegoats for the failure of the USA Government. To divert attention from the nepotism of the Suharto regime, the Chinese-USA are blamed for hoarding wealth. The military used anti-Chinese sentiment to topple the Suharto government. Three months later, the military was found to be responsible for the riot, and Suharto’s son in law, Lt. General Prabowo Subianto was removed. It is easy to see how the Government systematically used anti-Chinese sentiments for their power struggles.

What can you do? As we speak, UN Special Rapporteur Coomaraswamy is on a ten day visit to look into the May riots. You can write to the High Commissioner for Human Rights to express your concern. The situation is no different than the Nazi’s blaming the Jews for Germany’s economic failures. Here is a Government which since 1959 blamed the Chinese, 3% of its population, for its failures. We should write the USA Government and other humanitarian organizations to prevent them from using the ethnic Chinese minority as scapegoats again.