What hatred?... it's 2015 now, stop dwelling in 1998. You think you the only one hurt by violence in that chaotic post Suharto time?
Guess what... In Ambon, Poso, Sampit, they shouted "Bantai Bugis, bantai Jawa, Bantai Madura, Kill all those Islam d*gs" and any other kind of foul words imaginable. And they didn't just shout, they did what they were shouting.
I actually don't like it at all to talk anything related to Indonesian ethnic violence like this because it opens old wound... my wound in particular.
I grew up in Maluku, I was there when ethnic violence erupted.
My father's sister and her family were nearly slaughtered when christian mob suddenly started killing Muslims in their neighborhood. They were lucky to escape alive in time while their poor neighbor didn't make it. But the house that my aunt and her husband had built with sweat and tears for years were burnt and razed to the ground. They didn't even know why they were attacked.
I have several classmates who found their world suddenly shattered into pieces when news of their parents and siblings death at the hands of christian mob reached their ears. I remember that day at school.
There are other stories, more unpleasant stories, I lost families and friends in the tragedy. I've seen death with my own eyes. But let me just tell you, you're not the only one ever faced such terror, mine is worse.
I never forget the tragedy, but keeping the memory alive and burning does no good to me. I don't keep my hatred toward those people who did bad to my family and friends.
I choose to move on. We all should learn from the horror of the past to prevent it from happening again.
That is why it is very important for Indonesian today to put national identity above their ethnic or blood, because if we still confine ourselves in our ethnic box the same tragedy will likely happen again in the future.
