•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Despite calls from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for police action against anti-Malaysia demonstrators, another rally involving bamboo stick-wielding protesters took place on Sunday.

Detik.com reported that about 50 people from the Indonesian Contract Labor Association gathered at the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Jakarta before marching, to the chant of “destroy Malaysia,” along Jalan Diponegoro to the scene of last week’s controversial protest, where the People’s Democracy Defense set up a roadblock to search for Malaysians.

“Malaysia has mistreated Indonesia and the government just doesn’t seem to care,” Neni, one of the protesters, was quoted as saying.

Though there was some disturbance to traffic, the demonstrators, wearing red and white headbands, did not actively “sweep” for Malaysians.

Effendi Choiri, an international relations expert, said active sweeps for Malaysians could have adverse consequences.

“If you really want to do something, please go march down the street, but don’t go overboard because it will cause reciprocal results for Indonesia,” he said.

Effendi said chasing Malaysians from the country and banning its students from studying at universities here would only hurt Indonesia.

“There are millions of Indonesians living in Malaysia currently,” he said. “What would happen to them if Malaysia decided to kick them out? They would lose their jobs and the students would not be able to finish their studies.”

Effendi, however, said he understood people’s reaction to the recent string of squabbles between the two countries, given their history of disputes.

He said the underlying tensions between the countries had exploded to the surface because of the recent disputes.

“In a short time, we had to deal with the Ambalat issue, Manohara and the pendet dance. Suddenly, people were reminded of all the previous issues,” he said.

Effendi said the key to easing the tensions was more intensive people-to-people contacts.

Akhyar Rido, a 27-year-old lecturer who just finished his master’s degree at University Kebangsaan Malaysia, said his friends in the neighboring country were aware of the tensions between the two sides.

“But they managed to remain calm and they still treated me very nicely, regardless of the dispute,” he said, adding he never experienced any bad treatment while living in Malaysia.

Rido did say, however, that some Malaysians looked down on Indonesians.

He also noted the “cyberwar” between Indonesian and Malaysian bloggers.

“The Malaysian prime minister has been repeatedly asking Malaysians not to be provoked. I wish our government would do the same thing,” he added.

Khairy Jamaluddin, the head of the youth wing of the United Malays National Organization, Malaysia’s largest political party, was quoted by Malaysia-based Web site thestar.com as saying Indonesians should stop “testing the patience” of Malaysians.

“Indonesians should understand that Malaysians are also sensitive and get angry at hearing our country labeled negatively and seeing our national flag burned,” he said in a statement released on Friday.

“We realize we need to understand and learn about the sensitivities of Indonesians. I hope Indonesians will not continue testing the patience of Malaysians because it will incite similar aggressive nationalism from us.”