Chinese New Year euphoria and political trauma

Chinese New Year euphoria and political trauma

Frans H. Winarta, Member of the Advisory Board IBA Human Rights Institute,
Jakarta

Indonesians, and especially those of Chinese descent, have
just celebrated Chinese New Year. Chinese-Indonesians who, for
over 30 years during the New Order regime, were forced to
celebrate this event behind closed doors, are now free once again
to celebrate it publicly.

Whereas during the 300 years of Dutch colonial subjugation
this event could be celebrated freely, in an independent
Indonesia under the Soeharto regime, ironically, basic cultural,
religious and language rights were severely restricted. Citizens
of Chinese descent were even required to change their names and
could not attend Chinese schools.

It is true that now many of the cultural rights of the ethnic
Chinese have been restored. In actuality, however, the government
is still far from going all the way in recognizing the human
rights of our ethnic Chinese population. Many of their political
rights are still limited, and as human rights are universal, to
grant some cultural rights and to deny others is simply wrong.

Acknowledging the cultural rights of the Chinese does not give
the government an excuse to forget about the recognition of other
rights. Human rights are something that cannot be abolished or
limited in any way. For 30 years under the New Order regime, the
political rights of ethnic Chinese citizens were violated and
completely ignored -- a fact that, to the present day, causes
unease and trepidation among Chinese communities throughout
Indonesia.

Such restrictively encompassing political pressure as suffered
by Chinese-Indonesians during the Soeharto regime has caused a
section of the Indonesian community to lose their identity. Many
ethnic Chinese have tried to deny their identity in various ways
due to this political pressure that, at times, associated their
"Chineseness" with Communism, betrayal, disloyalty, insularism,
with their ancestral country and various other undesirable
attributes that added to the political pressure and stigma
weighted against them.

The result is that the Chinese community is still afraid to
become engaged in or even talk about politics, let alone, become
politicians themselves. There are few communities in the world as
apolitical as Chinese-Indonesians.

It is difficult to convince them that, in order to struggle
for equality in political rights and equality before the law,
they must link up with other democratic forces in Indonesia.
Ethnic Chinese are passengers in this ship we call Indonesia, and
what is experienced by some passengers will also be experienced
by others.

What must be fought for is the destiny of Indonesia as a whole
-- the struggle for democracy, rule of law and respect for human
rights. If these things can be achieved, then discrimination
against the ethnic Chinese will surely be eradicated.

The discriminative legal system inherited from the Dutch and
propagated by the New Order regime through political segregation
must be abolished in its entirety, because it creates different
classes of citizens based on ethnicity.

Already from birth, citizens are classified according to race
and ethnicity. The state gazette on civil registration must be
replaced with a national law on civil registration that is more
humane and respects equality before the law. The Constitution
must also guarantee democracy, respect for human rights and
adherence to the ideal of rule of law.

This is the second year in which Chinese New Year has been
celebrated as a national holiday. There is a kind of euphoria
about marking Chinese New Year, but the rights of ethnic Chinese
-- like other human rights conditions in this country -- are
still far from perfect due to violations by power-holders who do
not respect law and human rights.

For instance, the anti-Chinese riots of May 1998 are still yet
to be investigated properly and those responsible held
accountable for their crimes. This increases the possibility that
such tragedies can recur. It is ironic that Chinese New Year is
being celebrated as a national holiday just five years after the
tragedy of May 1998.

The struggle to abolish discrimination is still a long one,
because discriminative laws against ethnic Chinese still exist
and the DPR and the government show no political will to abolish
them. Although the government has annulled the Indonesian
Citizenship Certificate required solely by ethnic Chinese
(SBKRI), in practice it is still often required in day-to-day
administrative processes.

The SBKRI requirement has been perpetuated through a new
citizenship law, although the original intent was to provide
proof that a foreigner had been naturalized as an Indonesian
citizen. Worse still, Karawang and Bekasi still issue national
identity cards that specify keturunan, which indicates persons of
Chinese descent). This may have occurred through ignorance,
stupidity or because the official was racist -- nevertheless, the
discriminative mentality is evident.

According to the principles of human rights, all human beings
are equal and must not be discriminated against based on race,
religion, skin color, socio-economic status, cultural identity,
political belief or ethnicity. Indonesia has signed the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination and therefore must be consistent in implementing
this in its legal, political, cultural and economic spheres.

There is euphoria now as we celebrate Chinese New Year; but
the actual struggle for equality before the law is only begun and
it may be some time before real equality can be achieved. Ethnic
Chinese youth need to get involved in politics and join in the
reform struggle with other democratic forces.

In this struggle, we must eradicate the fears of the past and
look forward to a new day when democracy, human rights and the
rule of law are respected. Ethnic Chinese must enter fields like
public administration, law, national defense, policing, the
judiciary and education in order to develop Indonesia in the
right direction in partnership with other ethnic groups of this
great and diverse nation.

At the same time, the government and legislature need to open
up to Chinese-Indonesians so that they, too, can contribute fully
to national development.