Only in Indonesia... STUPIDITY 101 !!!
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The Jakarta Post
Fri, 09/11/2009 2:09 PM
Reader's Forum
Issues : ‘Activists conduct sweep on Malaysians’
Fascists: A group of activists hold up banner announcing their search
for Malaysian citizens along Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.
The knuckle-headed miscreants were acting out against alleged claims
made by Malaysia to Indonesia’s cultural heritage. (JP/P.J. Leo)
Sept. 8, Online
Dozens of activists from the Ganyang Malaysia (Crush Malaysia) Volunteers
conducted a street sweep against the neighboring country’s citizens on Jl.
Diponegoro, in Central Jakarta, on Tuesday. The ID card check lasted about
three hours before the police finally stepped in and dispersed the activists,
who failed to find any Malaysian nationals. The volunteers, clad in red and
white accessories, stopped every pedestrian, motorcyclist and driver, asking
them to show their ID cards.
One of the volunteers, Aji Kusuma, said the group initiated the sweep because
they were disappointed with the government’s slow response to what they said
was Malaysia’s repeated claims on Indonesian cultural heritage. “Our dignity
and pride has been trampled on, but the government seems to ignore it,”
secretary-general of the Volunteers to Defend Democracy told The Jakarta Post.
“We need a decisive government and we don’t think it exists under President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.”
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Your comments:
Should Malaysians (we do have hotheads and misguided people like these in
Malaysia) do the same to the TKI (Indonesian workers), both legal and illegal,
in Malaysia? I’m talking about the Malaysian people, not the police, RELA
(auxiliary to the police) and whatnots.
This kind of news will become big news in Malaysia, and rightly or wrongly, a
sense of “Malaysians being put in a corner” will prevail. I for one do believe
that Malaysia (or rather the Malaysian government) is not blameless in this
matter, but the way some Indonesians go about showing their displeasure is
definitely not the right way to go, in the sense of getting meaningful and
lasting results.
Why provoke the whole Malaysian nation? They blame Malaysia for it, and is
Indonesia not also part of the equation in this whole mess? A wise person once
said, “Bad things cannot happen to you if you do not allow it to be so.”
There are an estimated 2 million Indonesians in Malaysia – 1 million legal and
1 million illegal. There are already strong voices in Malaysia for the
government to do something about this flood of Indonesians in Malaysia.
There are already movements in Malaysia to not employ Indonesians, albeit on a
small scale for now; this is in response to the never-ending news about TKIs
being abused in Malaysia. Some are definitely true, some require investigation,
and some are just plain greed on the part of the TKIs.
Do more of these demos in Indonesia, and you will see the trickle turning into
a flood — more unemployed Indonesians, less money from abroad.
Ariffin Abdul Latiff
Bahrain
It is understandable that many Indonesians are upset at what they consider to
be theft of part of their Indonesian cultural heritage for use in Malaysian
tourism adverts.
However, in a democratic society there are proper ways to demonstrate one’s
displeasure through lawful protest.
Carrying out sweeps of innocent Malaysians living or visiting Indonesia is
illegal and totally unacceptable. It is not right that individual Malaysians
should be targeted and held responsible for actions carried out by their fellow
countrymen, to which they may also disagree.
Jack Spratt
Jakarta
Despite the reported demonstration by the “Ganyang Malaysia” volunteers in
Central Jakarta, response from Malaysians was rather muted. This reflects the
mature and rational mentality of Malaysians, who believe the demonstration was
being led by a small group of immature, insecure Indonesians, representing the
downtrodden society, and did not reflect the views or action of the general
public in Indonesia.
We Malaysians have much better things to do, like improving the national
economy and ethnic relations, than to pander. Those who are bent on creating
animosity between Indonesians and Malaysians and clamoring for war must have
viewed their lives as not worth living.
Rusland
Kuala Lumpur
Disgraceful behavior that sullies Jakarta’s reputation in the eyes of the
world. The perpetrators of this illegal action should be arrested and
prosecuted.
David
Jakarta
It’s one thing to burn our flag. Please don’t burn our people in your backyard
too.
Zulkifli
Sri Hartamas, Malaysia
My god! Wonder what they will do if they find a Malaysian. Where the hell are
the cops anyway?
Budi Mokhtar
Subang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur
It is very disturbing that some so-called ‘democratic’ activists were even
allowed to carry out their threat of ‘sweeping’ out Malaysians from Indonesia,
as happened on Sept. 8, on Jl.Diponegoro in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Stopping people in the street and demanding to see their IDs is the job of the
police and public order officers, and not of some misguided individuals with a
grudge against another country for real or perceived misdeeds.
How come the police did not immediately intervene to halt this harassment?
Occurrences like this give Jakarta a worse image than the seasonal beggars the
local government is busy trying to sweep off
the streets.
V.T. Hopkins
Jakarta
They are guilty of hate crimes. They are guilty of inciting unrest. They are
guilty of assault. They are guilty of stupidity
Brien D
Brisbane
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