Change becomes daily phenomenon<\/p>\n
I read with interest the article Toward a true unitary nation
\nby Mr. Harkiman Racheman in The Jakarta Post, Aug. 3, 1999 and
\nwould like to comment.<\/p>\n
* It has never crossed my mind to \"ban all Chinese culture in
\nIndonesia\" as alleged in the article. Who am I to dare have such
\nwild ideas? Perhaps someone misunderstood my suggestion that
\nIndonesian of Chinese ethnicity should concentrate on their
\n\"Indonesianness\" instead on their \"Chineseness\". As we know, in
\nthe eyes of their indigenous fellow citizens, ethnic Chinese are
\nstill aliens and \"not belonging to us\". Giving priority to
\nIndonesianness will certainly help to come closer to the people
\nat grassroots level. This is of course my personal view. And
\nindeed, I represent nobody but myself. In fact, it applies to all
\nmy thinking and stance with regard to our domestic Chinese
\nproblem.<\/p>\n
* Mr. Harkiman also made remarks on my so-called \"abandonment of
\nChinese religious and cultural background\" which he looked upon
\ncynically. I will not discuss whether his allegations are true or
\nnot but would rather comment in a general sense, instead of from
\na personal angle.<\/p>\n
In my view \"abandoning\" something , changing traditions,
\nattitudes etc, are daily phenomena, happening nowadays as well as
\nin the past or future. In former times quite a number of Chinese
\nimmigrants were even assimilated into the Javanese nobility and
\nthen highly honored. This was also the case with the Nine Holy
\nSaints (Walisongo), some of whom were from Chinese descent. It is
\nobvious that they all have abandoned \"their Chinese religious and
\ncultural backgrounds\".<\/p>\n
Nowadays the same is true with ethnic Chinese from Indonesia
\nemigrating to Western countries. Their mother tongue is
\nIndonesian (since World War II most of them do not speak Chinese
\nanymore) and they have more or less a religious Chinese and
\ncultural background. But these so-called Peranakan Chinese and
\ntheir offspring in daily life immediately speak the language and
\nfollow the traditions of their newly adopted country. Moreover,
\nthe majority even converts to nonChinese religions and customs
\nShould we look upon these people with their new attitudes
\ncynically and with disgust since they have \"abandoned\" old values
\nfrom the past? I think we should be wiser.<\/p>\n
*As to the allegation about my evil influence on the government,
\nI think that the author gave me too much \"credit\". Prof Dr.
\nStuart Greif in his book Indonesians of Chinese Origin (1988)
\nstated that the solution of the Chinese problem was in fact
\noutlined at the Army Seminar in 1966. Further laws and rules were
\nderived from this seminar. However, I was unfortunately (or
\nfortunately?) not a participant.<\/p>\n
* In Siauw Giok Tjhan, a book written by his son Siauw Tiong Djin
\nmore than 600,000 were members of Baperki (page 372). This means
\none out of four ethnic Chinese in 1965 were members. We further
\nknow that the above organization was banned since there was a
\nstrong indication being involved in the September 1965 coup. This
\nfact strengthened the already existing antiChinese mood.
\nAccording to Prof Stuart Greif of New Zealand it is to the credit
\nof the military men and civilians who created the New Order that
\nthey resisted the temptation to solve the Chinese problem by
\nmassive expulsion such as was applied by communist Vietnam 10
\nyears later with their boat people. It is also a credit to the
\naverage Indonesian who is basically tolerant.<\/p>\n
With consolidation of power, the New Order government later
\nembarked upon a program of rational economic development with the
\nChinese of Indonesia as their assistants. And honor to whom honor
\nis due: we should be grateful to the Military for this peaceful
\ncourse of history.<\/p>\n
H. JUNUS JAHJA<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/change-becomes-daily-phenomenon-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }