However, he refused to comment on whether he will apologise to Indonesian Chinese, particular families of the victims in the tragedy.
Although it has been 16 years after the outbreak of the "Black May riots", the victims' families still gather at the presidential residence on Thursdays to request for the truth and thus, he will address the issue after taking the office, Widodo told Sin Chew Daily in an interview at his office in Jakarta on the eve Indonesia's Constitutional Court ruled on an appeal against the presidential election result by defeated candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Sin Chew Daily is the world's first Chinese-language newspaper that interviewed Widodo after he won the election. Two English-language Malaysian newspaper that jointly interviewed the president-elect were The Star and The Sun Daily.
Widodo and his running mate Jusuf Kalla promised in their election campaign that they will address human rights related tragedies including the May 1998 riots that targeted Chinese.
The families chose to rally on Thursdays as Suharto stepped down on Thursday.
In fact, those participate in the "Thursday rally (Kamisan)" also include families of those who have mysteriously gone missing in 1998.
Although the Indonesian government has not made an apology for the May 1998 riots, Widodo said that today's Indonesian Chinese are contributing to national development just like other Indonesians.
He pointed out that the current racial relations in Indonesia showed the progress of the country's democratisation. The life of Indonesians today has aptly reflected the national motto of Indonesia, that is, "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity)".
He added that Indonesia is now a democratic country and all citizens enjoy equal rights.
"We will never divert from this principle," he stressed.
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