Poor Chinese, natives live in harmony in Jembatan Lima<\/p>\n
By Mehru Hasnain<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Hidden behind the glass and concrete skyscrapers
\nof Jakarta's chic main streets, acres of slums sprawl. Here life
\nis muddier, but a little less mean. Here the poor live, with
\nethnic Chinese living shoulder to shoulder with native
\nIndonesians, their private lives separated by a thin wall often
\nmade only of cardboard.<\/p>\n
Local residents are unlikely to spend their days in cutthroat
\ncompetition. In fact they are totally dependent upon each other
\nfor their very survival.<\/p>\n
\"If my native Indonesian customers stopped buying from me I
\nwould starve,\" confesses Ho A Chin from behind the counter of her
\ntiny kiosk in the Jembatan Lima area, perhaps the oldest Chinese
\nsettlement in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"I have lived here for as long I can remember. I did not ask
\nto live in Indonesia. My ancestors came here many centuries ago.
\nI am not afraid of my pribumi (native) neighbors but of the
\nstrangers that suddenly appear to threaten and rob us,\" says Ho A
\nChin, who earns less than US$1 a day selling coffee beans and
\nother items like shampoo in sachets and cigarettes. And whenever
\nthe lives and modest livelihoods of the poor are threatened, both
\nethnic Chinese and native Indonesians protect each other
\nchivalrously.<\/p>\n
Young Felicia, a first year psychology student at Atma Jaya
\nUniversity, will be eternally grateful to her Indonesian
\nneighbors who sheltered her during the irrational days of last
\nMay and again when ethnic Chinese lives and property were
\nattacked in November.<\/p>\n
\"I wanted to know if our neighbors hated us too and whether
\nthey wanted to burn our homes and kill us just because we are
\nChinese,\" says Felicia. But they assured Felicia that they also
\ndid not know who the looters were.<\/p>\n
Along with her parents, Felicia lived with her neighbors in a
\nhome not much bigger than a train compartment for several days
\nand wonders if it would be fair to hate all Javanese just because
\nsome, like Soeharto, have bled the country dry.<\/p>\n
Dr. George J. Aditjondro from Australia's University of
\nNewcastle never grows tired of repeating that Indonesia's Chinese
\nminority community controls nowhere near 70 percent of the
\ncountry's economy. The wealth of the country is in the hands of a
\nfew business families where the distinction between Chinese and
\nnon-Chinese has blurred into a web of overlapping shareholdings
\nand directorships.<\/p>\n
According to research done by the Indonesian Business Data
\nCenter, a wide gap exists among Chinese themselves and there is
\nlittle spiritual relationship or bonding between the rich and
\npoor.<\/p>\n
Beni Sindhunata, chief research officer at the center,
\nincludes Chinese among the country's 79.4 million poor with an
\naverage monthly income of less than Rp 41,000 in rural areas and
\nRp 52,000 in cities. Beni feels that the majority of the eight
\nmillion ethnic Chinese are hated for the malfeasance of a handful
\nof well-connected members of their community.<\/p>\n
\"Of course, we know who Liem Sioe Liong is and who Bob Hassan
\nis. They may be Chinese, but so what? They are not friends of
\nours. We know them only through newspapers and television,\" says
\nFelicia, adding that it is wrong to say that all Chinese-
\nIndonesians are corrupt businesspeople and are rich.<\/p>\n
Her father is a clerk who earns about Rp 650,000 a month. Her
\nmother gives private lessons to make ends meet. Her parents pay a
\nRp 1.5 million biannual tuition fee so that Felicia can get the
\nbest education possible.<\/p>\n
Ever since the currency depreciated, Felicia's family has been
\nusing less electricity, using the telephone only when necessary.
\nEven in better economic times, they could only dream of indulging
\nin the luxuries associated with the small minority of rich ethnic
\nChinese, like holidays abroad.<\/p>\n
Felicia's mother, Catharina, does let her hair down once in a
\nwhile. She has her hair trimmed and a cream bath at a modest
\nbeauty salon in the Pademangan area of North Jakarta. The Jakarta
\nPost caught up with her at the beauty salon while Felicia, her
\nonly child, talked about what it is like to be a lower middle-
\nclass Chinese in the country today.<\/p>\n
\"We are an ethnic Chinese family but we are not rich. None of
\nmy friends are rich. But I don't consider myself poor either for
\nI know people who are poorer than me. I speak only Indonesian at
\nhome. No Mandarin. My parents do not sit at the dining table
\ntelling me romantic tales about China. I don't even know when my
\nancestors came to Indonesia. All I know is that I feel
\nIndonesian. I want to help my country in its moment of crisis.
\nBut is anyone listening to me?\" asks the 18 year old in
\ndesperation. She has no clue as to what the future holds for her.<\/p>\n
She supports the student movement only from the back benches.
\n\"I have my differences with those students, who, I feel, are too
\nradical and too impatient,\" Felicia says.<\/p>\n
The next customer was a pretty, young woman. \"I am Javanese
\nand it has never ever occurred to me to boycott Chinese-owned
\nshops in my neighborhood,\" she said as clipped hair got into her
\nmouth and made it difficult for her to talk.<\/p>\n
\"I get very scared when I hear rumors that my life and
\nbusiness may be harmed. I wonder to myself, by whom and why. And
\nwhen I get no answer I get even more scared,\" said Vita, the
\nsalon owner. Vita had to close shop for nearly a week during
\nanti-Chinese riots.<\/p>\n
She is a single woman and earns about Rp 1 million a month,
\nhalf of which goes into paying the salon's bills. This is despite
\nthe fact that her salon is not connected to a water supply. She
\nhas to fill a large plastic drum with water each day to wash her
\ncustomers' hair.<\/p>\n
Just across from Vita's salon on the other side of Kalimati
\nRiver is the home of Neny, Wie and their two infants. Even before
\nthe economic meltdown, Neny always started her day at the crack
\nof dawn. After all, she has a lot to do. She feeds her three-
\nmonth-old baby before her three-year-old daughter wakes up. Then
\nshe helps her husband prepare hundreds of onde-onde cakes which
\nhe sells in the neighborhood, bringing home about Rp 30,000 at
\nthe end of the day, when he is lucky.<\/p>\n
Life is one long path of sweat and toil for the cherubic faced
\nhousewife, whose three by three-square-meter shelter in a slushy
\nstreet serves as her bedroom-cum-kitchen. A corner of the room is
\ncurtained off for a bathroom. But she is happy and while talking
\nbursts into big smiles that do not fail to light up her eyes. \"I
\nam happy because I love my husband,\" Neny beams. And she loves
\nhim even though he is ethnic Chinese.<\/p>\n
\"When I look at my husband I don't keep thinking that he is
\nChinese. We've known each since school. I always wanted to marry
\nhim,\" says the Sundanese housewife. As we talk, neighbors join
\nNeny and Wie on the only bed in the room.<\/p>\n
\"We would like to have enough money to be able to educate our
\nchildren in the hope that they won't remain as poor as we are,\"
\nWie adds, offering plastic stools to their guests.<\/p>\n
When asked how many mixed marriages between ethnic Chinese and
\nnative Indonesians take place in their neighborhood, both Neny
\nand Wie say, \"Many.\"<\/p>\n
If Wie resents anything in life, it is poverty. After all, it
\nhas dogged his family for generations. Six generations ago his
\nancestors arrived in Indonesia, probably to escape poverty in
\nChina. His parents were happy growing vegetables in Pontianak,
\nuntil they were forced to flee Kalimantan after anti-Chinese
\nsentiments flared up in 1967. But the peasant family remained ill
\nat ease in the concrete jungle of the commercial city of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Here no one seemed to have any use for their extensive
\nknowledge of seeds and crops. As their wisdom wasted away, they
\nwatched thousands of acres of land being plowed, but only to see
\nit sowed with iron and cement. They saw the yield of the land:
\nskyscrapers and grand highways.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, they found themselves incapable of picking up the
\ncunning involved in commerce. Soon life passed them by, leaving
\nthem almost penniless for over 20 years now.<\/p>\n
Bong Sun Chin is a septuagenarian, albeit a handsome one.<\/p>\n
When asked why he did not strike it as rich as Bob Hasan for
\nexample, Bong's eyes crease up into a smile as he answers,
\n\"Obviously it is not enough just to be Chinese. Bob Hasan was
\nfortunate to have a patron. I have no patron and never had any
\ncapital.\" He also only had little education.<\/p>\n
All his three children have dropped out of school, just like
\nhe did in his youth. They remain peddlers to this day and spend a
\ngreat deal of their good years fighting poverty. A far cry from
\nall the tall tales told of every Chinese being a tycoon.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/poor-chinese-natives-live-in-harmony-in-jembatan-lima-1447893297",
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