Reference: The perennial path of Buddhism, Bangkok Post, May 28, 2008

In early 1998 the Indonesian Rupiah and economy had collapsed and riots erupted in Jakarta. The riots were primarily against the government but the frustration of the poor and the unemployed eventually found expression in ethnic violence against the relatively wealthy Chinese immigrants. This event has been described only in terms of economics and ethnic tensions in the region. Religion had nothing to do with it. The attempt by the Bangkok Post to represent it as religious war between Islam and Buddhism (Reference: The perennial path of Buddhism, Bangkok Post, May 28, 2008) is inconsistent with its own articles and editorials written exactly ten years ago on this date.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand