Semua Berawal dari Pabrik Mainan Muslim Uighur di China
Semua Berawal dari Pabrik Mainan Muslim Uighur di China
Kerusuhan yang berujung pada kekerasan terhadap etnis terburuk yang pernah terjadi China, hingga adanya kamp-kamp penahanan di Xinjiang, dimulai dari tempat yang tidak diduga: sebuah pabrik mainan.
5 Juli 2019 menjadi peringatan 10 tahun kerusuhan Urumqi, antara etnis Muslim Uyghur dengan etnis Han di jalanan ibukota Xinjiang.
Uyghur adalah suku minoritas China dari Asia Tengah yang berbahasa Turki memiliki perbedaan dengan suku Han, dimana Urumqi berlokasi lebih dekat ke Kabul, Afghanistan daripada ke ibukota Beijing.
Dimulai dengan protes damai turun ke jalan dan poker online uang asli kemudian menjadi liar dengan aksi penjarahan, pemukulan hingga pembunuhan warga China dan kematian yang memakan korban dari kedua suku.
Insiden satu dekade lalu telah menyebabkan konsekuensi panjang, di mana lebih dari 1 juta Muslim Uyghur dilaporkan dimasukkan ke kamp penahanan untuk "dididik ulang" dan Xinjiang menjadi provinsi yang memata-matai warganya.
Apa yang terjadi pada 5 Juli?
Warga Uyghur menggelar protes dan terlibat konflik dengan warga Han di tahun 2009 hingga berakhir pada kekerasan yang mematikan. (Reuters, Nir Elias)
Akhir Juni 2009, seorang pekerja mengunggah rumor di dunia maya jika seorang perempuan dari etnis Han telah mengalami pelecehan seksual oleh pekerja migran Uighur di sebuah pabrik mainan di Shaoguan, tenggara Cina.
Sebagai tanggapan, beberapa pekerja China kemudian memukuli warga suku Uyghur di sebuah pabrik mainan yang menewaskan dua orang.
Rekaman serangan menyebar dengan cepat secara online dan bahkan memanas hingga provinsi Xinjiang.
Mahasiswa Uyghur melakukan demonstrasi di kawasan Urumqi, di mana beberapa orang mengklaim polisi menembakkan amunisi langsung kepada para demonstran, yang memicu kerusuhan.
Pihak berwenang China melaporkan 197 orang, kebanyakan dari warga suku Han, tewas dalam insiden tersebut dan 1.700 orang lainnya terluka.
Beberapa hari berikutnya, giliran warga dari suku Han turun ke jalan dengan membawa tongkat dan besi untuk melakukan balas dendam kepada warga Uyghur.
Kerusuhan tersebut menjadi yang paling mematikan dalam beberapa dasawarsa, beberapa warga Uyghur di kamp penahanan mengaku ribuan orang mungkin terbunuh, meski berapa pasti jumlahnya masih diperdebatkan.
Seorang warga dari suku Han yang terluka di poker online uang asli antara ribuan orang lainnya (Reuters, David Gray)
Penyair dan peneliti yang berbasis di London, Aziz Isa Elkun sedang memandikan dua anak yang masih saat kecil saat mendengar ada suara keras.
"Aku melihat asap membubung dari api. Suara tembakan langsung," katanya.
Hari berikutnya, ia melihat orang-orang menggunakan air untuk mencuci darah dari jalan dekat universitas Xinjiang.
Alip Erkin, yang mengelola Buletin Uyghur dari Australia, ingat keponakannya berlari pulang melewati mayat.
Seorang warga yang dirawat setelah terjadi insiden di Urumqi tahun 2009. (Reuters, David Gray)
Seorang pencari suaka Uyghur di Australia, yang meminta agar ditulis sebagai Abu karena takut anggota keluarganya yang masih di Xinjiang terancam, teringat adegan mengerikan dari sebuah mobil yang terbalik dan melihat mayat-mayat di jalan.
Ia melihat seorang pria Uyghur meninggal karena luka tembak dan seorang perempuan tua menutupinya dengan kain putih, yang tadinya ia siapkan untuk dirinya sendiri.
"Sampai saat itu, aku tidak percaya. Tapi aku melihatnya dengan mataku sendiri," kata Abu.
Kemudian, dia melihat polisi memasuki kawasan dimana ia tinggal dan mengumpulkan lusinan pria Uyghur, menarik baju mereka hingga ke kepala dan mengikat tangan mereka di punggung dengan ikat pinggang.
Ketegangan yang sudah lama
Muslim Uyghur di Xinjiang kini sepenuhnya diawasi oleh pemerintah China. (Reuters)
Ketegangan-ketegangan etnis sebenarnya sudah terjadi selama beberapa dekade, bahkan bisa jadi berabad-abad.
Selama lebih dari 200 tahun, Uyghur dan China terkungkung dalam kekacauan politik, di mana suku Uyghur berjuang untuk mempertahankan kawasan saat kekuasaan China meluas ke sebelah barat.
Uyghur pernah mendeklarasikan sebagai Republik poker online uang asli Turkistan Timur pada tahun 1933, dan kembali melakukannya di tahun 1944 dan sempat menikmati masa kemerdekaan yang singkat.
Tetapi wilayah itu berada di bawah kendali komunis di tahun 1949, ketika Republik Rakyat China berdiri dan kawasan Uyghur berubah nama menjadi Daerah Otonomi Uyghur Xinjiang.
Meskipun memiliki nama seperti itu, mereka masih diawasi ketat oleh Beijing.
Selama Revolusi Kebudayaan pimpinan Mao Zedong tahun 1960-an dan 1970-an, agama dilarang dan karenanya masjid-masjid dihancurkan dan Al-Quran dihancurkan.
'Mereka akan dikirim ke kamp-kamp'Kembali ke Aziz yang kini tinggal di Inggris, ia mengatakan butuh setidaknya lebih dari setahun bagi keluarganya "untuk bisa pulih dari mimpi buruk" dari peristiwa 5 Juli.
Tak sampai di situ, beberapa tahun setelahnya ia mengaku "kehilangan hubungan dengan semua keluarga saya, semua teman saya ... kami merasa seolah-olah telah kehilangan segalanya."
Kerusuhan Urumqi juga jadi titik balik bagi kehidupan Abu, poker online uang asli yang mengatakan diskriminasi meningkat setelah 2009.
Setelah tinggal di Australia, ia berpisah dari ayah dan dua saudara perempuannya yang masih tinggal di Xinjiang.
"Saya ingin menghubungi mereka, tetapi tidak bisa. Jika melakukannya, mereka akan dikirim ke kamp," katanya.
Pada Mei tahun lalu, ia menerima pesan dari saudara perempuannya di WeChat. Pesannya mengatakan: "Mereka membawa saya".
Hampir setahun kemudian, pada bulan April tahun ini, ia menerima video call dari saudara perempuannya, yang tadinya ia berpikir saudara perempuannya sedang berada di kantor polisi.
Ia mengatakan kepadanya bahwa mereka telah dibebaskan tetapi ini menjadi yang terakhir kalinya mereka dapat berbicara.
"Mereka tidak menyalahkan saya," katanya.
"Meskipun mereka telah ditahan hanya karena saya, selama hampir setahun."
Artikel ini telah dirangkum dari laporan aslinya dalam bahasa Inggris yang bisa dibaca Dibawah ini.
How China's mass detention of Uyghur Muslims stemmed from the 2009 Urumqi riots
The riots that led to some of China's worst ethnic violence and set the wheels in motion for today's internment camps in Xinjiang began in the most unlikely of places: a toy factory.
July 5 marks the 10th anniversary of the Urumqi riots, which pitted Uyghur Muslims against Han Chinese on the streets of Xinjiang's capital.
The Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking minority from Central Asia, are a distinct ethnic group from Han Chinese, with Urumqi being closer to Kabul than Beijing.
The riots started out as a peaceful protest but descended into looting, beatings and killings of Chinese people, with deaths occurring on both sides.
What unfolded a decade ago has had long-lasting consequences, with reports of more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims being detained in re-education camps and Xinjiang transforming into a surveillance state.
What happened on July 5?
In late June 2009, a disgruntled worker posted a rumour online that a Han Chinese woman had been sexually assaulted by Uyghur migrant workers in a toy factory in Shaoguan, in China's south-east.
In response, some Chinese workers cornered and beat Uyghurs in the factory, killing at least two of them.
Footage of the attacks spread swiftly online and, almost 4,000 kilometres away in the north-western region of Xinjiang, ethnic tensions reached boiling point.
Uyghur students staged a demonstration in Urumqi, where some claim police fired live ammunition on protesters, sparking the riots.
Chinese authorities reported that 197 people — the poker online uang asli majority of them Han Chinese — were killed in the resulting violence and 1,700 people were injured.
In the following days, mobs of Han Chinese people took to the streets with sticks and metal bars, meting out revenge in attacks on Uyghurs.
It was the deadliest unrest in decades, but the figures are hotly disputed — some Uyghurs in exile suggesting thousands may have been killed in the reprisals.
The Chinese Embassy in Australia said the July 5 incident was a "serious and violent crime" that had partly been "plotted and incited" by outside forces and resulted in the loss of innocent lives.
The embassy said after the incident authorities "took decisive measures in accordance with law to ease the tension, protect local people's safety and property, and maintain social stability".
Haunting scenes remembered a decade on
London-based poet and researcher Aziz Isa Elkun was bathing his two small children when he heard a loud noise and peered out the window.
The following day, he saw people using water to wash the blood from the street near Xinjiang university.
Alip Erkin, who runs the Uyghur Bulletin from Australia, remembered his niece running home past corpses.
One Uyghur asylum seeker in Australia, who asked to be known simply as Abu for fear of reprisals against his family members still in Xinjiang, recalled eerie scenes of an overturned car and seeing lifeless bodies on the street.
He saw a Uyghur man die from a bullet wound and remembers an older woman draping him in a white funerary shroud that she had prepared for herself.
Later, he watched police enter his neighbourhood and round up dozens of Uyghur men, pulling their shirts over their heads and tying their hands behind their backs with belts.
Long-simmering tensions
The Urumqi riots marked a turning point for the Uyghurs, but ethnic tensions had been simmering for decades, if not centuries.
For more than 200 years, Uyghurs and Chinese have been locked in political turmoil, with Uyghurs fighting to maintain control as China expanded westward.
Uyghurs briefly declared the East Turkestan Republic in 1933 and again 1944 — enjoying fleeting moments of independence.
But the area was brought under complete communist control in 1949 — when the People's Republic of China was established — and later renamed the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Despite the name, it is tightly controlled by Beijing.
During Chairman Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, religion was banned under communism — mosques were razed and copies of the Quran were destroyed.
Recent decades have been marked by separatist violence and Government crackdowns, with a shift in the ethnic make-up of Xinjiang compounding tensions.
State-sponsored migration saw the Han Chinese population there swell from less than 7 per cent in 1949 to 40 per cent now, while the Uyghur population dropped from 75 per cent to about 45 per cent.
Past violence used to justify mass camps
The riots, and the subsequent reprisals, catapulted the situation in Xinjiang onto the global stage.
It was distinct in the unprecedented role poker online uang asli the internet played in fuelling the violence with the rapid spread of information and has been used as a justification for a shift in China's treatment of ethnic minorities, according to La Trobe University's James Leibold.
"A lot of those people calling for a change in ethnic policy saw the Urumqi riots as a kind of turning point," he said.
"Examples of instability are used as a way to kind of demonstrate what I call an 'accommodationist' or practical set of policies had failed."
A chain of factors formed the dry tinder that sparked the horrific violence, Dr Leibold said, including the economic marginalisation of Uyghurs, the erosion of their language and the slipping away of their autonomy.
In the past, China has vehemently denied that Uyghurs are unfairly marginalised, but it rings true in Abu's experience.
Abu said ethnic policy in Xinjiang had been a "total failure", and said while he could not defend the actions of Uyghurs who beat Han Chinese, he said the violence was seen as "inevitable".
"I can't just mix my Uyghur identity to this issue, saying Uyghurs didn't commit crimes — they did commit crime there at that time," he said.
"But we were isolated from China basically … jobs had been taken away and we were discriminated against.
Turning up the heat on ethnic assimilation
Urumqi "demonstrated to many Han Chinese officials that a new approach was needed —that they needed to turn up the flames on ethnic assimilation, that they needed to push harder on bilingual education, push harder on securitising and surveilling ethnic communities," Dr Leibold said.
China's anti-terror measures were cemented after bursts of further violence, notably in 2012 and in 2014, when Uyghur separatists executed a series of bomb blasts in Xinjiang, and dozens were killed when Muslim extremists went on a stabbing rampage at a train station in Kunming.
In the era of President Xi Jinping, China's approach has taken poker online uang asli a more assimilative turn, with the most coercive aspect being Xinjiang's re-education camps, Dr Leibold said.
"We've seen the autonomous spaces in China rapidly disappear, as the state inserts themselves and their eyes and ears into the private lives of Chinese citizens, whether they be minority or Han," he said.
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