The Last One

The Last One

Feeling secure is the most valuable thing in people’s life because with the presence of security, people can continue their activities without feeling fear. It was May 13^th, 1998, and it seemed like a nightmare was beginning to happen to the Chinese people in Indonesia. Chinese people, who have been living in Indonesia for hundreds of years, are mostly hardworking merchants. Even though they are only four percent of the population, they play a big part of the economy. Therefore, many native Indonesians did not like the Chinese people. After years of living as a minority and under pressure, finally what I feared happened when the reform began. The students forced down the President who had been in power for thirty-two years and took over the government. The political situation became uncertain and an economic crisis occurred that the country turned into chaos. Therefore, my brother and sister who had been living in the United States for many years suggested me to join them. Eventually, the unstable political condition, the monetary crisis and the radicalism brought me to the United States.

Starting from the chaos that continued along with the transition of the government, the country was functioning without law. Then, I started to lose my sense of security because people could do anything they wanted without anyone stopping them. Even the police, whose job was to secure the country, suddenly disappeared. Moreover, racism occurred against Chinese, and the native Indonesians made Chinese the target of their anger. Burning and looting began in many Chinese areas including around my office and my house. At that time, the atmosphere was very tense, so I decided to evacuate to a hospital near my house with my whole family. In my mind, it was inevitable that something bad could happen because the state did not guarantee the citizens’ security. Therefore, all I could do was surrender and pray to God for protection.

In addition, since there was political turbulence, the economy became worse. Then, the monetary crisis occurred. The exchange rate of the Rupiah against the USD weakened, which was known as devaluation. This was followed by the liquidation of many banks due to financial problems. As a result, many companies collapsed, and my business was also affected by the crisis. Since most of the goods that I sold were imported, the selling prices followed the USD. Consequently, I needed to increase the prices many times. On the other hand, the purchasing power was very weak. Therefore, my business was in a difficult situation. My profit decreased significantly, but the operational cost increased. Unfortunately, I had to lay off half of my employees.

Moreover, radicalism that was within certain religion made things worse. After years of being controlled by the previous government, radicalism existed again. Bombing began to occur in many places in Indonesia. Even Bali that is known as the safest place in Indonesia did not escape the bombing. As a result, most places started to do very strict security checks. This situation made me affraid to travel, even going to the shopping center. Furthermore, even practicing my religion began to be difficult. Bombing occurred in many churches while the congregation was worshiping. Discrimination against certain religions was also increasingly felt. Certain group of people began to call people whose religion was not the same as their religion heathen. This made me concerned because it seemed like there was no freedom of religion anymore.

After waiting several years for the country to improve, the political situation stayed uncertain, the economy was still slow and radicalism became difficult to control. Although the government has worked hard to complete the reform agenda, the result was still far from expected. This made me even more hesitant to remain in Indonesia. Moreover, most of my family members have been successful in the United States, and I was the last one in my family who decided to immigrate to the United States. I needed to move on to the next chapter of my life, and make the United States my future, and Indonesia my past.