Chinese New Year euphoria and political trauma<\/p>\n
Frans H. Winarta, Member of the Advisory Board IBA Human Rights Institute,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesians, and especially those of Chinese descent, have
\njust celebrated Chinese New Year. Chinese-Indonesians who, for
\nover 30 years during the New Order regime, were forced to
\ncelebrate this event behind closed doors, are now free once again
\nto celebrate it publicly.<\/p>\n
Whereas during the 300 years of Dutch colonial subjugation
\nthis event could be celebrated freely, in an independent
\nIndonesia under the Soeharto regime, ironically, basic cultural,
\nreligious and language rights were severely restricted. Citizens
\nof Chinese descent were even required to change their names and
\ncould not attend Chinese schools.<\/p>\n
It is true that now many of the cultural rights of the ethnic
\nChinese have been restored. In actuality, however, the government
\nis still far from going all the way in recognizing the human
\nrights of our ethnic Chinese population. Many of their political
\nrights are still limited, and as human rights are universal, to
\ngrant some cultural rights and to deny others is simply wrong.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the cultural rights of the Chinese does not give
\nthe government an excuse to forget about the recognition of other
\nrights. Human rights are something that cannot be abolished or
\nlimited in any way. For 30 years under the New Order regime, the
\npolitical rights of ethnic Chinese citizens were violated and
\ncompletely ignored -- a fact that, to the present day, causes
\nunease and trepidation among Chinese communities throughout
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Such restrictively encompassing political pressure as suffered
\nby Chinese-Indonesians during the Soeharto regime has caused a
\nsection of the Indonesian community to lose their identity. Many
\nethnic Chinese have tried to deny their identity in various ways
\ndue to this political pressure that, at times, associated their
\n\"Chineseness\" with Communism, betrayal, disloyalty, insularism,
\nwith their ancestral country and various other undesirable
\nattributes that added to the political pressure and stigma
\nweighted against them.<\/p>\n
The result is that the Chinese community is still afraid to
\nbecome engaged in or even talk about politics, let alone, become
\npoliticians themselves. There are few communities in the world as
\napolitical as Chinese-Indonesians.<\/p>\n
It is difficult to convince them that, in order to struggle
\nfor equality in political rights and equality before the law,
\nthey must link up with other democratic forces in Indonesia.
\nEthnic Chinese are passengers in this ship we call Indonesia, and
\nwhat is experienced by some passengers will also be experienced
\nby others.<\/p>\n
What must be fought for is the destiny of Indonesia as a whole
\n-- the struggle for democracy, rule of law and respect for human
\nrights. If these things can be achieved, then discrimination
\nagainst the ethnic Chinese will surely be eradicated.<\/p>\n
The discriminative legal system inherited from the Dutch and
\npropagated by the New Order regime through political segregation
\nmust be abolished in its entirety, because it creates different
\nclasses of citizens based on ethnicity.<\/p>\n
Already from birth, citizens are classified according to race
\nand ethnicity. The state gazette on civil registration must be
\nreplaced with a national law on civil registration that is more
\nhumane and respects equality before the law. The Constitution
\nmust also guarantee democracy, respect for human rights and
\nadherence to the ideal of rule of law.<\/p>\n
This is the second year in which Chinese New Year has been
\ncelebrated as a national holiday. There is a kind of euphoria
\nabout marking Chinese New Year, but the rights of ethnic Chinese
\n-- like other human rights conditions in this country -- are
\nstill far from perfect due to violations by power-holders who do
\nnot respect law and human rights.<\/p>\n
For instance, the anti-Chinese riots of May 1998 are still yet
\nto be investigated properly and those responsible held
\naccountable for their crimes. This increases the possibility that
\nsuch tragedies can recur. It is ironic that Chinese New Year is
\nbeing celebrated as a national holiday just five years after the
\ntragedy of May 1998.<\/p>\n
The struggle to abolish discrimination is still a long one,
\nbecause discriminative laws against ethnic Chinese still exist
\nand the DPR and the government show no political will to abolish
\nthem. Although the government has annulled the Indonesian
\nCitizenship Certificate required solely by ethnic Chinese
\n(SBKRI), in practice it is still often required in day-to-day
\nadministrative processes.<\/p>\n
The SBKRI requirement has been perpetuated through a new
\ncitizenship law, although the original intent was to provide
\nproof that a foreigner had been naturalized as an Indonesian
\ncitizen. Worse still, Karawang and Bekasi still issue national
\nidentity cards that specify keturunan, which indicates persons of
\nChinese descent). This may have occurred through ignorance,
\nstupidity or because the official was racist -- nevertheless, the
\ndiscriminative mentality is evident.<\/p>\n
According to the principles of human rights, all human beings
\nare equal and must not be discriminated against based on race,
\nreligion, skin color, socio-economic status, cultural identity,
\npolitical belief or ethnicity. Indonesia has signed the
\nInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
\nDiscrimination and therefore must be consistent in implementing
\nthis in its legal, political, cultural and economic spheres.<\/p>\n
There is euphoria now as we celebrate Chinese New Year; but
\nthe actual struggle for equality before the law is only begun and
\nit may be some time before real equality can be achieved. Ethnic
\nChinese youth need to get involved in politics and join in the
\nreform struggle with other democratic forces.<\/p>\n
In this struggle, we must eradicate the fears of the past and
\nlook forward to a new day when democracy, human rights and the
\nrule of law are respected. Ethnic Chinese must enter fields like
\npublic administration, law, national defense, policing, the
\njudiciary and education in order to develop Indonesia in the
\nright direction in partnership with other ethnic groups of this
\ngreat and diverse nation.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the government and legislature need to open
\nup to Chinese-Indonesians so that they, too, can contribute fully
\nto national development.<\/p>",
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