No longer 'cash cows' and 'black goats'?

No longer 'cash cows' and 'black goats'?

Christine Susanna Tjhin
Department of Politics
and Social Change
Centre for Strategic and
International Studies
(CSIS)
Jakarta

"If the world knows about 12 Chinese signs of the zodiac,
Chinese-Indonesians know only of two -- the cash cow and black
goat," joked Mely G. Tan years ago. The sardonic joke seems to
have endured throughout Indonesian history and may be further
accentuated in the 2004 elections -- or not.

The post-1999 political climate has been more conducive to
greater participation. Increased Chinese-Indonesian participation
as legislative (House of Representatives) and Regional
Representatives Council (DPD) candidates can clearly be seen --
172 so far, as noted by The Jakarta Post. Quality, however, is
not as apparent.

Last Saturday, Paguyuban Sosial Marga Tionghoa Indonesia
(PSMTI) and Forum Masyarakat Tionghoa (FORMAT), two of
Indonesia's distinguished Chinese-Indonesian associations,
cohosted a "Meet the Chinese-Indonesian candidates" gathering.
Three DPD candidates and 12 legislative candidates of Chinese
descent from 8 different political parties were given an
opportunity to campaign in front of just over 600 PSMTI
members/associates.

The enthusiasm seemed very encouraging. The audience was eager
to listen, question, clap, yell support and wait, for around
seven hours. Candidates were also full of brio in using their
allotted time. Except for one person during the first session,
who seemed appallingly self-content with his lack-luster answer
"We are in the process of discussing it", whenever asked about
his party's platform on gender and other matters.

The intense forum, for all its worth and triviality, was an
interesting portrait of Chinese-Indonesian political
participation, particularly with regard to social associations
and political party affiliation.

First, it reconfirms the heterogeneous nature of Chinese-
Indonesians. Twelve candidates are spread between eight different
parties. When a participant criticized the three DPD candidates
for not letting just one candidate run, thereby focusing the
Chinese-Indonesian vote, others vehemently rejected this. While
one participant regretted that no Chinese-Indonesian political
parties had passed the electoral threshold, others did not.

Second, creativity of the candidates has so far been limited
to form (style of presentation and facilities) rather than
substance (issues or ideas). Ideas presented were mostly uniform,
distinguishable only by eloquence, noise level or forcefulness.

Third, in terms of substance, the "ethnic discrimination"
theme remained dominant on all platforms. This is not to say that
one should drop the antidiscrimination movement. There must be a
balance between making rightful demands against discrimination
and delivering responsible civil and political obligations.
Unless the balance is evident in the eyes of the public, the
theme will generate only vague sympathy. It will also become
increasingly less empowering for Chinese-Indonesians themselves.

Fourth, gender and youth issues occupy a miniscule place in
the agenda, if at all. This may be a consequence of the current
patriarchal system within society and/or the Confucianist concept
of filial piety. Or was 10 minutes simply not enough to do
justice to their vision and mission? Still, much has to be
developed.

The overall tone of efforts to overcome the prevalent
apolitical situation was pretty optimistic. But was this simply
election hubbub or something more significant?

Many people might be curious about how the Chinese-Indonesian
vote will be distributed, for reliable polling is well-nigh
impossible. Chinese-Indonesians are obviously anxious about where
their vote should go. But the more important, yet often
overlooked, moment of democratization is actually the period
between elections.

Most of the candidates in the forum were baffled when a female
participant solemnly asked what they would do if not elected. Had
she asked the entire audience what they would do after casting
their vote, I wonder what would have happened?

Ideally, as responsible citizens, Chinese-Indonesians should
be more involved in social and political participation. This goes
beyond party membership or pursuing electoral candidacy. Chinese-
Indonesian associations, to a certain extent, can play a critical
role in stimulating participation, at least among their members.

Political education may well depend on the creativity of these
longer-established associations. What PSMTI, FORMAT and others
have done must be given credit, provided that they can maintain
their non-exclusive objectives, engage in creative repositioning
and apply a facilitative approach to their upcoming activities.

While their membership may be exclusive, their objectives and
activities must remain far-reaching. Allegations that these
associations are exclusive will automatically be rendered invalid
once action proves otherwise. The forum has shown how
associations can relate to party members. The associations have
created the space for members to engage in dialog with candidates
without imposing a collective party preference.

Though no social contracts were signed, the event has produced
a moral commitment between members of associations and
candidates. What can be pushed further on both actors is creative
repositioning from "passive victims" to "proactive contributors".
Becoming quasi-watchdogs/moral guardians by scrutinizing and
"punishing" rotten Chinese-Indonesian politicians could be an
alternative way of supporting the national movement against
rotten politicians.

Of course, Chinese Indonesian associations are not the only
catalyst for greater participation, but they remain influential.
They still have a lot of gaps, for example limited participation
by young people and women. Empowerment, unfortunately, does not
seem to be on the associations' main agenda thus far. The
relevance, sustainability and quality of these associations are
pretty much determined by how well they deal with the empowerment
of young people and women because both will definitely bring a
fresh nuance to the whole endeavor.

Ultimately, cash cows and black goats may soon be replaced by
something else: Honorable hares and daring dragons, perhaps?