Those Who Hurts The Most

Only after I earned my Canadian citizenship, I can now proudly say I am Canadian and enjoying a better living. This was the opportunity that I did not have before. As an immigrant, I came to Canada for the first time in April 1999 when I was only fifteen years old. It was a big decision that our family had to do. Some people might not understand the main reason behind someone leaving one’s country for another. It is a complexity for others to comprehend on how one could not be proud of one’s home country. What makes it even more difficult is to explain why we leave Indonesia, the beautiful country, at the first place.

Indonesia is the largest Muslim population country in the world. As a Chinese heritage, we were included in the 3% minorities of the population. It was not matter whether the fact that our great-great-grandparents were born in Indonesia, had been living in Indonesia for centuries, none of us in our family even speak Chinese, and we use Indonesian language like everyone else in everyday life. We were still alleged as the minorities, especially since we have Catholic, Christian, or Buddhist as our religion.

Similarly, this also happens in businesses. I am not saying that all of the Chinese heritages have more money than the native Indonesians. There are plenty of us that are actually living below the poverty line. However, seeing one or two of us driving around with the newest Mercedes Benz edition gives a conclusion that we, the Chinese heritages, conquered the country’s economy. Not because he or she might be a hard worker who is successful enough in the business, but it must because he or she is a Chinese.

Moreover, the 1998 riots went down on the Indonesian history. It began with the Asian economic crisis that hurt Indonesia the most. Students were rioting and chanting on the streets for true democracy. The controversy began when the army tried to stabilize the country by the president’s order. It was horrifying as the poor later joined the riots for economic protests and the criminals exploited the situations with the houses-and-automobiles burning and vandalisms. The circumstances were no longer safe for everyone. In the end, our president at that time, Soeharto, was taken down from his presidency after persistently holding the position for 30 years.

Although everyone knows that his families were responsible for the major corruptions and prosperity imbalance in the country-even one of his sons owns a casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, the USA, the rioters could not burn or vandalize the governors’ houses since the whole districts were untouchable and highly protected by the army. As the result, they went to the Chinese areas and begun expressing all the hatred. Why? It must because tens or hundreds of us drive the Mercedes Benz that have had causing the country’s monetary imbalance.

The riots grew uncontrollable as the government lost its power. It was