A joyous celebratipon of cultural rights

A joyous celebratipon of cultural rights

By Harkiman Racheman

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Any New Year's celebration,
especially that which is associated with a prominent culture,
will normally attract tremendous public attention. However, when
Chinese New Year celebrations in Indonesia have not for so many
years enjoyed similar public support, it is not the culture that
is to blame, and neither are Indonesians.

As is widely known, the decades-long prohibition on Chinese
New Year celebrations Hari Raya Imlek (and everything else
Chinese) has, indeed, had a great deal to do with the state's
cultural politics. It was Soeharto's administration, later
labeled as an uncompromisingly racist regime, that first
disallowed an otherwise natural celebration of cultural freedom
within the Chinese Indonesian community.

It is no wonder that when there is a sudden change of
government cultural policy, as exemplified in President
Abdurrahman Wahid's administration, that the whole political
process modifies public orientation towards Chinese culture. For
example, there are now far fewer open hostilities toward the
Chinese culture than two years ago.

Regardless of how its symbolism may be perceived, the suddenly
welcomed observance of Chinese New Year carries great
significance. It will formally cease the government-sanctioned
cultural repression of Indonesians of Chinese descent.

This year, the long lost cultural rights of Chinese
Indonesians can now be exercised in a truly democratic
atmosphere.

In the meantime, President Abdurrahman's stand regarding
oppressed minority groups, of which the Confucianist Chinese of
Indonesia are one representative, can hereby be reconfirmed. This
is clearly one of the reasons which will make this year's
celebration of the Golden Dragon Chinese New Year of utmost
importance.

The Chinese throughout the world are celebrating their new
year on Feb. 5. In the midst of our country's hard-hitting multi-
dimensional crises, Imlek celebrations will be a cultural
milestone for most Chinese Indonesians this year.

First, this year's celebration occurs at the conclusion of the
second millennium. Needless to say, this coincidence of calendars
will be a springboard for a spiritual reflection on the past
1,000 years. Chinese people all over the world will therefore
celebrate more wholeheartedly. The fact that it is the Golden
Dragon New Year only adds to the meaning.

In the Chinese mythology, the dragon is considered the chief
four-legged creature. As such, the animal carries with it a lofty
ceremonial status. In the minds of the Chinese, a dragon is not
just a dragon or simply a reptile. It sits atop the pantheon of
divinity.

Unlike conventional description of the dragon as a huge,
winged, fire-breathing lizard, the Chinese dragon is fabled to be
composed of body parts from various animals. Thus, as the myth
goes, the emergence of such a heaven-dwelling creature -- but
only in the best season of Spring -- suggests the culmination of
nature's renewed energies and productive forces.

It follows from here that the celebration of the Chinese New
Year, especially when coupled with the ritualized beginning of
the third millennium, will symbolize the start of a renewed and
fully energized life for the Indonesian Chinese.

The fact that President Abdurrahman has assured Chinese
Indonesians unprecedented liberties to observe their cultural
rights in the same way that other ethnic groups have fully
enjoyed theirs will conjure more excitement for this year's
festivities.

The racist regulation which facilitated cultural genocide
against Chinese beliefs, customs and traditions -- Presidential
Decree No. 14/1967 issued by former president Soeharto -- was
finally defused and deactivated by the democratically-elected
President Abdurrahman.

In the meantime, a new presidential decree, No. 6/ 2000, has
been passed, promising much greater cultural freedom for Chinese
Indonesians. The new decree has put an end to sporadic
speculations that President Abdurrahman's government would not
regard all his citizens as equals and that some Indonesian
citizens "would be more equal than others," as was often the case
under Soeharto's regime.

President Abdurrahman's decree has brought great relief to
Chinese Indonesians who, like other ethnic groups, have decided
to live in and die for this vast archipelagic country. The
Indonesian government has finally removed its systematic racially
discriminative practices that had been fully engineered in a top-
down manner.

Previous official racist practices show that the
conspiratorial mistreatment of the ethnic Chinese, contrary to
what we were taught to believe, could not have been solely a
bottom-up social phenomenon.

The revolutionary changes in our cultural politics, triggered
and accelerated by reformist and democratic transformations, will
hopefully mark an irreversible commitment to human rights by the
Indonesian government to treat its nationals, regardless of
ethnic descent, as respected and protected human beings and
citizens.

Let it not be forgotten, however, that for any thoroughly
meaningful New Year celebration to take place, the whole country
should be in better social, political and economic shape. As
suggested by the Jakarta-based Association of Chinese Clans,
chaired by Brig. Gen. (ret) Tedy Jusuf, this year's special
celebrations should be made as modest as possible.

"In observance of the country's poor condition," says the
Association's statement, "we call on all Chinese Indonesians to
celebrate Imlek by holding charitable activities and praying for
the country's safety" (The Jakarta Post, Jan 21, 2000).

Hopefully the planned Imlek celebrations by the highest body
of the Indonesian Confucianist religion, MATAKIN, scheduled to be
held in Jakarta and Surabaya on Feb. 17 and Feb. 19,
respectively, will be a big success.

Let us remind ourselves of the urgency of a simple but solemn
celebration and our gratefulness to the government of President
Abdurrahman Wahid for the return of our lost freedom. Kong Xi Fa
Chai! Happy Chinese New Year! Be well and prosperous!

The writer graduated from Victoria University of Wellington,
New Zealand. Based in Medan, he is currently a university
lecturer and freelance writer.