'Gong Xi Fa Cai'<\/p>\n
For the first time, the Chinese New Year in Indonesia has been
\ndeclared a national holiday by the government.<\/p>\n
This is a long-awaited recognition of not only the presence of
\nthe largest minority ethnic group in this country, but also of
\nits contributions to the nation, and to the process of nation
\nbuilding over the years.<\/p>\n
Recognition it may be, but it is only a token gesture.<\/p>\n
Chinese-Indonesians still face discrimination because of the
\ncolor of their skin. We hope the government will follow up this
\nrecognition by revoking all remaining laws, decrees and
\nregulations that smack of racial discrimination.<\/p>\n
There are no official statistics on the size of the ethnic
\nChinese community in Indonesia. Estimates, however, put it at
\nbetween six million and 10 million, including intermarriages.<\/p>\n
Because they have lived in Indonesia for generations, ethnic
\nChinese should have the same rights as others in the nation.
\nAlas, this has not been the case these last four decades or so.<\/p>\n
Making the Chinese New Year a national holiday was probably
\nthe least that the community needed. Even without official
\nrecognition, the Chinese have marked the New Year within the
\nconfines of their private homes all these years. Only recently,
\nwith more openness and tolerance, have we started to see again
\nthe colorful lion and dragon dances being performed in the open.<\/p>\n
Under the Soeharto regime, as part of its assimilation policy,
\nthe Chinese were banned not only from celebrating their New Year
\nopenly, but also from making an open display of cultural
\nexpressions. The use of Chinese characters was banned, Chinese
\nwere told to shed their names and adopt \"Indonesian\" sounding
\nnames, Chinese-language schools were closed down and they were
\ntold to adopt one of the five officially recognized faiths.
\nEthnic Chinese were barred from entering the civil service, the
\nmilitary and politics, and faced restrictions in the
\nentertainment industry.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's assimilation policy gave justification to the
\ndiscriminatory policies. This in turn bred the prejudices against
\nthe Chinese among the majority \"indigenous\" population. These
\nprejudices, in turn, have been the source of the anti-Chinese
\nriots that have sporadically taken place in the country.<\/p>\n
Reformasi changed some of that, but has not removed the chief
\nproblem: institutionalized racial discrimination.<\/p>\n
Then president Abdurrahman Wahid gave the official recognition
\nof Confucianism as a faith recognized by the state and declared
\nin 2000 the Chinese New Year a \"facultative\" holiday, meaning
\nthat those who celebrate it may take the day off. President
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri this year formalized it into a full-
\nfledged national holiday.<\/p>\n
Many ethnic Chinese also are beginning to appear in the
\npolitical scene. One of them has even served in the Cabinet under
\nboth Abdurrahman and Megawati. More Chinese-Indonesians are
\nstarting to enrich the local pop culture.<\/p>\n
This limited participation by ethnic Chinese in various walks
\nof life shows that given the chance, they can make even greater
\ncontributions to society, besides their already well-recognized
\nachievements in the trade and business sectors, and to a lesser
\nextent in sports, particularly badminton.<\/p>\n
All this is encouraging, because Indonesia is all the better
\noff with the unrestricted and wider participation of minority
\nethnic groups in the nation's life. Racial harmony is best
\npromoted not through forced assimilation, but by ensuring that
\nevery citizen of whatever race has equal rights in this country.<\/p>\n
The development of recent years should be ground enough for
\nPresident Megawati to remove, once and for all, every remaining
\nlaw and regulation that discriminates against people on the basis
\nof the color of their skin.<\/p>\n
A pledge, with a concrete plan to remove this
\ninstitutionalized racial discrimination, would be the best New
\nYear's present the President could give to the Chinese community.<\/p>\n
Gong Xi Fa Cai.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gong-xi-fa-cai-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }