Racism In Indonesia

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative ephitet.  Racism is popularly associated with various activities that are illegal or commonly considered harmful, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism).

As a result, racial violence has become a common phenomenon in Indonesia. Unlike the United States or South Africa, where racism is based on skin colour, racism in Indonesia manifests itself through discrimination based on ethnicity and religion. This has given rise to human rights violations in the social, economic, political, legal and cultural spheres of society. In 1998 women of Chinese descend were targeted for rape, the rest of the ethnic Chinese community for assault, looting, and murder. Such atrocities occurred in major cities such as Medan, Makassar, Jakarta and Solo. Racial riots occurred also between the Dayaks, Malays and Madura in Kalimantan in 1997. More recently in Maluku, mass-killings occurred between civilians belonging to two different religious groups. On a smaller scale, anti-Christian violence also occurred in Mataram and anti-Chinese riots in Pekalongan.

The May 1998 Riots of Indonesia were incidents of mass violence that occurred throughout Indonesia, mainly in Medan (4–8 May),  Jakarta (12–15 May), and Solo, and eventually led to the resignation of President Suharto and the fall of the new order government. (13–15 May). The riots were triggered by economic problems including food shortages and mass unemployment.

if you wanna see part of recism in may, 1998 watch this video.....=)