Chinese New Year celebrations end

Chinese New Year celebrations end

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of Chinese people in downtown Jakarta reveled on
Sunday in a solemn procession in which Toapekong, or effigies of
gods, were carried from one temple to another, ahead of the last
day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, which falls on Tuesday.
However, despite the strong enthusiasm, many still worry that it
will not last long.

In Sunday's procession, many people, including elderly women
and children, rushed to shoulder the effigies of Cheng Guan Cheng
Kun (a heavenly god) and Tian Kao (two black dogs that are
believed to usher the former).

"I believe that by shouldering the toapekong, people will
obtain blessings and benefits from the gods," said Giok Nio, 60,
one of the revelers.

The effigies were taken from the 500-year-old Wihara Dharma
Djaja Toasebeo, known as one of the oldest Chinese temple here,
to the larger temple, Wihara Dharma Bakti, a few hundred meters
away from the former.

The parade was accompanied by the deafening sound of drums,
chimes and cymbals. It also featured a barongsay (lion dance) and
liong (dragon dance).

The parade attracted many passersby, causing heavy traffic
congestion along the narrow Jl. Kemenangan in Kota, Central
Jakarta, for more than two hours. Many onlookers joined the
procession, which was a sea of red.

The most eye-catching performance was when some semi-naked
men, entranced, started scratching their backs with sharp swords,
accompanied by Chinese songs from their entourage.

"This year's celebration is much merrier than last year's, as
thousands of enthusiasts could be seen packed into our Chinese
temples," said Husen Sjarifudin, chief of the Wihara Dharma Djaja
Toasebeo.

Husen, who like many Chinese here has adopted an Indonesian
name, expected the festival would be merrier next year, recalling
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's recent decision to declare the
Lunar New Year a national holiday, beginning in 2003.

However, Husen revealed that Chinese people needed more
freedom and equality, rather than merely the freedom to express
their culture, amid concern that their freedom as Indonesian
citizens would remain constrained.

"Besides the freedom to participate in cultural activities, as
happened today, we also expect to be treated the same as pribumi
(indigenous) Indonesians in our everyday life," said Husen.

Similarly, director of the Center for Chinese Studies (PSC)
Ignatius Wobowo also revealed that the decision to declare
Chinese New Year a national holiday was only a political gesture
to secure the support of Chinese-Indonesians for the upcoming
elections in 2004.

"The government's urgent concern must be directed toward the
abolition of all regulations and policies that are discriminatory
toward Chinese-Indonesians," Wibowo said.

There are currently 50 laws and ordinances deemed
discriminatory on the grounds of ethnicity, including the
requirement for Chinese-Indonesians to produce a certificate of
citizenship (SKBRI) every time they apply for official documents
such as identification cards or passports. These regulations
were all issued during the New Order, under former authoritarian
president Soeharto.

Soeharto banned the public display of Chinese culture and
denied citizenship to many Chinese migrants after he accused
Beijing of involvement in an attempted coup blamed on the
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965.

Although the ethnic Chinese community comprises less than
three percent of Indonesia's total 215 million population, it
dominates the country's economy. Such a situation has been the
source of envy among Indonesians, particularly the less affluent
and -- as history has shown -- it has sometimes been the source
of social conflict.