<<off topic business has become a fashion on this thread, so we might as well follow it. Ghassan.>>
OK....OFF TOPIC (really) Paul, when you were elaborating on the cause of riots in Indonesia and the economic troubles there, I tried to reach a friend in Malaysia (who works for a consultant doing a project for Telekom Maylasia) to see what was up, he checked around and sent me this -
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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. Those who 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 BRUTALLY SLAUGHTERED.
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 GARBAGE they have written?
Are the Indonesian ethnic Chinese minorities strong allies of
Suharto? The Indonesian ethnic Chinese minorities had been
victimized under the 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 of 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,
the 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.
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jww |
