Social norms, cultural prejudices, and ethnic minorities

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“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognise, accept, and celebrate those differences,” American writer and civil rights activist Audre Lorde said.

In this culturally diverse society that we live in, it isn’t a complete surprise that individuals belonging to ethnic minority groups have more than few encounters with racism — be it in subtle or complex forms. Numerous psychology research on discrimination, consequently, have shown that people take into account social norms when behaving towards minority groups.

That particular statement leads us to today’s discussion topic: how Indonesian social norms as well as cultural prejudices perpetuate racism towards ethnic minorities.

Defined as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group,” racism may be found in the many corners of Indonesia, oftentimes aimed towards minority groups. The occurrence of such events are greatly influenced by social norms as well as cultural prejudices upheld by Indonesian society.

In a handful of Indonesian communities, racism is treated very lightly; often dismissed as a ‘joke’, or in other circumstances, justified.

An example of normalised racism in Indonesia is the persistent prejudice against and discrimination of Papuans. In professional, academic, and even personal spheres, Papuans are thought to be intellectually slow, weak-minded, and lived primitive lifestyles.

Papuans are also held prejudiced against by countless government officials, as they (government officials) seem to think Papuans will cause trouble (and that they were all political activists working for separatism).

Chinese-Indonesians are also frequent victims to racism, often mocked for their ethnic features and, by mainstream media, portrayed as cunning and snake-like individuals.

According to a research done by Widjajanti ‘Inge’ W. Dharmowijono, racial hatred and prejudices against Chinese-Indonesians were primarily based on the perception that Chinese-Indonesians took the Dutch’s side during the Indonesian colonial period. The racial hatred against Chinese-Indonesians never cooled down, even after the Dutch left Indonesia.

In fact, racial hatred against Chinese-Indonesians have been fueled due to the pandemic; as a large part of the population blames people of Chinese descent for “starting the virus” (despite COVID-19 not giving people the right to be racist nor do an individual’s ethnic background make them accountable for a global situation).

Through a study of over 800 students, social psychology experts found that racism has huge mental health impacts on those who have experienced it, including: 1) ongoing feelings of sadness, anger, depression, and being left out, 2) constant fear of being physically or verbally harassed, as well as 3) having little to no trust in anybody, usually apart from family members.

As previously mentioned, Indonesia is a very culturally diverse country — and when racial tensions develop, not only do they affect one or two of us; they affect us all (neighbours, friends, family members, and fellow Indonesians). Racism creates a society in which people do not trust nor do they respect one another.

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In the past, there have been few political attempts in discouraging racism.

For example, in the reformasi era, all three presidents (B.J. Habibie, Abdurachman ‘Gus Dur’ Wahid, and Megawati Soekarnoputri) have issued similar decrees ordering civil servants to treat all citizens equally regardless of their ethnicity.

B.J. Habibie also banned any official use of the words ‘pribumi’ and ‘nonpribumi’. The regime then attempted to reinforce the initiatives of Soeharto in 1996 by issuing Decree №26/1988, which ordered government bureaucrats to give the same service to everyone.

Efforts to address and eliminate discriminatory clauses in the 1945 State Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia also began from within the legislative branch of the Indonesian government. In 2000, for example, the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) focused on the JAP, Nomor 2 Volume 2003 Oktober 2003, ISSN 1214–7040 210 Second Amendment to the 1945 Constitution with the aim of adding a new chapter on human rights.

The new chapter, which was concerned with anti-discrimination, was added in August of 2000, and in Article 28 I paragraph 2 it was stated that:

“Everyone has the right to be free from any discriminative action on whatever basis and is entitled to a protection from such discriminatory action.”

Focusing on social norms as a way to address racism.

“Social norms play a key role in the dynamics of racism and prejudice because they establish the boundaries around which people act toward those they see as ‘other’,” Keith Neuman and Michael Adams stated.

Focusing on social norms can be a ‘meaningful’ and effective way of addressing racism. In order to be able to do that, we need to be able to properly define and measure specific social norms on race-related actions as well as speech to determine their ‘strength’ across the population. We, as a society, then should reinforce “positive norms” that are currently prevalent in society and de-normalise “negative norms”.

How we as individuals can help address and prevent racism.

1. Learning to recognise and understand your privilege. One of the first steps to eliminating racial discrimination is learning to recognise and understand your own privilege,
2. Call out racist ‘jokes’ or statements. Let people know that racist comments are not okay,
3. Validate the experiences and feelings of those who have experienced racism. Another way to address bias and recognise privilege is to support the experiences of other people and engage in conversations about race and injustice.

In conclusion, racism should not be tolerated nor should it be taken lightly. Regardless of the situation being faced or the individual’s ethnic background, there are no justifications for acts or speeches expressing racism.

Resources used,

• Hamdani, Sylvia. “Not our fate: Researcher unearths roots of racism against Chinese-Indonesians.” The Jakarta Post, 31 May 2021, 03:32pm, www.thejakartapost.com/life/2021/05/26/not-our-fate-researcher-unearths-roots-of-racism-against-chinese-indonesians.html.
• Munro, Jenny. “Let’s Talk More about Racism in Indonesia.” The Conversation, 6 Sept. 2019, theconversation.com/lets-talk-more-about-racism-in-indonesia-123019.
• Neuman, Keith, and Michael Adams. “Changing Social Norms Is the Key to Addressing Racism.” Insight Details, Environics Institute, 6 Feb. 2021, www.environicsinstitute.org/insights/insight-details/changing-social-norms-is-the-key-to-addressing-racism.
• Purdey, Jemma, et al. “It’s Time to Talk about Racism.” Inside Indonesia, 3 May 2021, www.insideindonesia.org/it-s-time-to-talk-about-racism.
• Tyson, Adam. REALITIES OF DISCRIMINATION IN INDONESIA: THE CASE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE, vol. 2003, Oct. 2003, pp. 203–219., doi:https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/73144-EN-realities-of-discrimination-in-indonesia.pdf.