Hundreds of Chinese people had been murdered and Chinese women had been raped and insulted in the streets in front of crowds of Indonesians. Some of the Chinese that escaped the massacre had taken refuge in the nearest countries.
The Indonesians have adopted an anti-Chinese nature in the recent decades and most Chinese are denied several human rights. On of the reasons for why Indonesians might hate Chinese people would be their wealth. In reality, the number of poor Chinese-Indonesians is far greater than that of the wealthy Chinese-Indonesians with most of them owning small businesses or having low-skilled jobs.
As a method of making Chinese leave the country, Indonesians have adopted a series of laws restricting Chinese people from following their customs and traditions in public display. Furthermore, names of Chinese origin had been forbidden, Chinese people being forced to choose Indonesian names.
According to Hoon Chang Yau, after the overthrow of former president Suharto's regime, things are beginning to brighten up in the case of Chinese-Indonesians. Chinese people presently live a better life in Indonesia with most of their values...
However, the Chinese-Indonesians now fear a new wave of repressive measures against them with Vice-President Jusuf Kalla announcing a new law favoring the Indonesian owners of small businesses. Presumably, this law is indirectly intended to condemn all minorities owning businesses in Indonesian territory. (Andreas Harsono)
Predictably, most of the Chinese that took refuge when the Indonesian riot occurred are not likely to ever return to Indonesia while it still keeps racists within its governing ranks.
Works Cited
Harsono, Andreas. "Indonesian Chinese Fear Economic Discrimination." 2004. 5 Dec. 2008. http://andreasharsono.blogspot.com/2004/11/indonesian-chinese-fears-economic.html
Chinese Identity in Post-Suharto Indonesia: CY Hoon's New Book." Knowledge SMU. 4 Nov. 2008. 5 Dec. 2008. http://knowledge.smu.edu.sg/article.cfm?articleid=1173
The Chinese dilemma." BBC News. 1 Jun. 1999.
