Sannita Lam
ENG 101.0779
Prof. Victor Rosa
Revised Essay #1
Discrimination in Indonesia
As I read “The Myth of Latin woman” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, I remembered my
experience as a teenager when I was in my country, Indonesia. I was still in junior high
school when the riot in Indonesia happened. The discrimination among the native
Indonesians and the Chinese ethnics was intense. The intenseness finally caused the
riot. Lots of Chinese ethnics were afraid to go outside of their houses. They were afraid
to practice to their religion and it took a lot of effort to rebuild their businesses because of
the riot. That is why I decided to go to the United States for my safety and my future.
The Chinese ethnics, mostly women, were thought twice before went outside of
their houses. A great number of Chinese ethnic women were raped in the past three
years. At least four women were raped weekly, based on what was reported by a
Chinese journalist on the news years ago. I knew for sure that my mother would not let
me go outside without my brother’s supervision and I had to be home before it got dark.
When the riot happened, women from Chinese ethnics were raped in front of
their families by several people. Not only were they raped, some of them were killed
after being sexually abused. Fathers were forced to rape their daughters, sons were
forced to rape their mothers, and brothers were forced to rape their sisters. Bottles,
woods, and other things were used to mutilate the females private parts and caused
them bleed to death. I was fortunate enough not having to left the house at that time.
The Chinese ethnics who are mostly Christians were limited to practicing their
religion. The religious community was trapped inside the churches and burnt to death.
All houses had to be marked “pribumi,” which means native Indonesian, in order to
remain safe. Churches were also bombed on Christmas evening 2001. The Chinese
ethnics were restricted in their ability to go to the church and were afraid to show bibles.
The most severe damage was to the economy in Jakarta. The aftermath of the
riot still remains. Most businesses owned by the Chinese ethnics were destroyed,
causing hundreds of unemployed workers. The economy went to its lowest point when
all the investors started to pull out their investments. The businessmen found it difficult to
rebuild their businesses that had been destroyed. Their fears of what happened made
them feel intimidated and afraid that such a thing would happen again.
In summary, what happened to Judith cannot be compared to what happened to
Chinese ethnics who had been discriminated against and persecuted. Since the tragedy,
I made up my mind to get out of my country, Indonesia, and go to the United States. As I
look back today at my decision to come to the United States for my safety and my future,
I know it was the right thing to do.