Rusuhan Urumqi: Manifestasi Tuntutan HakPersamaan dan Ekonomi Penduduk Uighur,Xinjiang, China

The Urumqi Unrests: A Manifestation ofEqual Rights and Economic Demands of theUighur Population, Xinjiang, China

Abstract

This paper analyzes the clashes between the Uighur and Han people in Xinjian, China in July 2009. The Chinese government promptly put a stop to these clashes but when western media projected these incidences as racially motivated, the issue prolonged. Even though the Chinese government categorized the clashes as normal ‘rupture’, it blamed Uighur separatist group as the main cause of this conflict because of the separatists’ aim to gain autonomy from China. It is believed that the tension between the Uighur and Han peoples in Xinjiang was due a long history of racial suppresion. The local Uighurs were sidelined economically but the Hans were given priviliges to control the economy of Xinjiang. This author is of the view that the official explanation is seen as trying to shift the main focal point of the clashes: that the Uighur peoples in Xinjiang were not given enough opportunity to prosper economically while the majority of immigrant Han people in Xinjiang were given full support of the Central Government. It is true that the separatist movement contributed to the tension on July 2009 but what is more important is to find genuine reasons as to why the clashes took place and it is the intention of this article to explore possibe causes of the clash.