Ancestry: A bad word in Indonesian<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Ancestry: It's something quite a lot of people
\nreflect on with pride. There are associations in the U.S. like
\nthe Mayflower Descendants and the Daughters of the American
\nRevolution which sing the praises of the heroics of their
\nforefathers and foremothers who settled and fought for the
\nfreedom of their country.<\/p>\n
There are, of course, many time periods in which the acts of
\npast generations should be looked upon with shame instead. The
\nJapanese, vis-a-vis the way their country treated neighboring
\nnations occupied during World War II, are an unlaudable example
\nas to how a country looks at such past acts, whereas their
\nallies, the Germans, have faced their heinous acts squarely.<\/p>\n
Still, where less praiseworthy aspects are concerned, there's
\nat least one country in which many of its citizens are rather
\nproud of being descended from rum-swilling men and women:
\nAustralia. Even more to their credit, most Australians are
\ncurrently well aware of the atrocities committed against the
\nnative aborigines and the need to redress the situation. But by
\nand large, people everywhere look on their ancestry with
\naffection.<\/p>\n
Except in Indonesia. This is one country in which a segment of
\nits population have every reason not to even mention their
\nancestry: the Chinese Indonesians. The country's recent upheaval
\nhas made this all too clear. Again they have become the butt of
\norganized rioting. I can't prove this, but I am unshakable in my
\nbelief that the ordinary Indonesian, the man on the street, does
\nnot have it in him to go on a rampage against anyone unless he's
\nrunning amok -- in which case he'd be killing indigenous
\nIndonesians too before turning on himself. One must look beyond
\nthe looting mobs to find the educated group hiding behind them.
\nAfter all, hatred, as Oscar Hammerstein said, must be carefully
\ntaught.<\/p>\n
"Ancestry" could well be one of the most negative words in the
\nIndonesian language. Some of you will dispute this, and come up
\nwith quite a lot of others like the ones about bodily waste, for
\ninstance, or coarser expressions referring to the process of
\nprocreation. But these are merely foul words, producing no worse
\nthan a raised eyebrow, a mild, short-term shock, or a slap across
\nthe beezer if you're underage and your parents happen to be
\naround to hear you say it.<\/p>\n
But ancestry (keturunan in Indonesian) has become a word that
\nis bereft of any connotation except bad, wrong, immoral,
\nunscrupulous, rich and ... Chinese Indonesian. And don't think
\nthat the unsavory reputation of keturunan had to go through an
\nevolutionary process before reaching its current meaning. It was
\nenshrined in our laws and regulations, as any minor immigration
\nofficial can tell you. All right, the government has decreed that
\nChinese Indonesians are no longer required to declare their
\nancestry on official documents, but after some 40 years of
\nconstant rubbing in (call it brain washing, if you like),
\neverybody associates keturunan with Chinese Indonesian. How do
\nyou erase it from their psyche? Will the passing of time help?<\/p>\n
I'm sure that by now you have noticed that there's no further
\ndefinition in the use of the term. You don't, for instance, say
\nketurunan Cina (Chinese ancestry), and this, I'm sure, is to
\nspare the feelings of those other Indonesians who have a
\ndifferent alien ancestry, like foreign affairs minister Ali
\nAlatas, or former minister of tourism, post and telecommunication
\nJoop Ave.<\/p>\n
Come to think of it, I can't remember ever having come across
\nan article or any kind of writing referring to former industry
\nand trade minister Mohammad Hasan as a warga negara keturunan
\n(national with an ancestry), especially during his two-month
\nposition in the cabinet.<\/p>\n
But scrapping decrees from the book is not the same as wiping
\nthem out of the people's minds. Or news publications either.
\nIndonesian rags keep on referring to warga negara keturunan.
\nEnglish language ones, like the one you're holding now, use
\n"descent".<\/p>\n
I am not Chinese and can trace my lineage back to my great-
\ngreat-grandparents who were equally un-Chinese. But of course I
\ncannot vouch for the sexual mores of my forebears beyond that
\nlevel. After all, who can say whether there was an ancestor of
\nmine who wasn't averse to a fling with an Arab, say, or Chinese,
\nPortuguese, whatever, from which union I would surely have
\ninherited more interesting features than the boring Malay ones
\nI'm sporting now. I have nothing in particular against the
\nChinese; in fact, besides the cousins, nephews and nieces I have
\nwho happen to be of Chinese descent, I genuinely like a lot of
\nthem, though I am not ashamed to say that there are some I would
\nrather see dead than alive. But then, there are also some
\nAmbonese, Bataks, Javanese, Manadonese, Americans, Australians,
\nwhat have you, about whom I think that this world would be
\nabsolutely beautiful if they weren't around. I still say dasar
\nCina! (what do you expect from a Chinese!) but just as often I
\nalso exclaim dasar Sunda!, or dasar Bule!<\/p>\n
But let's look at this ancestry thing from a different angle.
\nYou see, I feel that the enshrinement in our regulations of the
\ndefinition that Chinese Indonesians are warga negara keturunan,
\nimplies that, officially, I have no ancestry and all that its
\nmeaning entails, including culture. Somehow, to me it also seems
\nto imply that only Chinese Indonesians have a right to an
\nancestry. If this isn't extremely objectionable, I don't know
\nwhat is. Of course it also means that the government officials
\nwho enacted the regulation have no ancestry either, but I find
\nthat scant comfort because it is not the kind of company I dig.<\/p>\n
These scribblings are dedicated to my mom, dad, uncles, aunts,
\ngrandparents, teachers, lecturers, etc., who haven't taught me to
\nhate. And when I look over the rest of the clan, neither have the
\nJavanese, Buginese, Minang, Chinese, Dutch, Ambonese parents of
\nmy many cousins, nephews and nieces. Would that the requirement
\nto declare one's ancestry be a must for all Indonesians! The
\ndaughter of very dear friends would have to be wallowing in
\nluxury, being able to chose either Acehnese, or Javanese,
\nSundanese and Manadonese. I, poor me, have only one! Anyway, from
\nthis moment on, anyone who asks will be told that I am an
\nIndonesian of Iban ancestry. Maybe I should say "any stranger who
\nasks" because I have the type of friends and acquaintances,
\nincluding Javanese, Sundanese, Chinese, Germans, Americans,
\nwhatever, who couldn't care less.<\/p>\n
-- Jak Jaunt<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ancestry-a-bad-word-in-indonesian-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }