'Current conditions are much better'

On Saturday, the Chinese community will celebrate the Chinese New Year or Imlek and it has even been nominally recognized as a public holiday by the government. During the Soeharto regime, nobody was even allowed to celebrate the holiday openly as the government banned all things pertaining to the Chinese and their culture. The Jakarta Post spoke to some Chinese-Indonesians to get their ideas on the subject:

Chung Chen Mai, 43, a housewife who resides in Jelambar, West Jakarta, with her husband and two children:

I feel grateful that the current government has given some recognition of the Chinese New Year as one of the national holidays. That's a good sign that the government is starting to acknowledge our existence here.

But personally, I don't have any plans to celebrate it. I would rather save my money for other things. Everything now is very expensive, and worse still, we only rely on my husband's monthly income. He is an employee at a shop in Glodok Market.

So I don't have a very large budget for our household. Perhaps I will just buy new clothes for my children. That's all.

Not every Chinese family is well off. The rich Chinese might spend millions for the Imlek celebration. But the poor ones like me do not have that much money for it. Daily survival is much more important for me.

I'm happy to be Chinese here as there is no more discrimination against the Chinese. I wonder why we always have to make a distinction between the natives and the non-natives. We are all humans and we eat the same rice.

I guess, in general, the current conditions are much better and safer than during the Soeharto era when the Chinese were treated badly.

Mery, 54, a housewife who lives in Jelambar, West Jakarta, with her husband and only son:

I'm happy to observe the upcoming Chinese New Year, at least the government has granted its recognition to us, the Chinese.

However, I have no plans to make the day very special. It will be like Idul Fitri, Christmas or New Year when I prepare some cookies or special food for the family.

Perhaps the one thing that makes it special is that when we visit all of our relatives. That's the happiest moment for us.

I feel that I rarely recieve discriminative treatment from the other ethnic groups, except, of course, during the 1998 tragedy here. At that time I felt scared to death.

Only one of my neighbors obviously discriminates against me due to my ethnicity. She does not want to know me. But it's okay for me. I get along well with all my other neighbors who are mostly Chinese.

It again depends on the way we behave. We are all equal human beings despite the different ethnic backgrounds.

My husband is the only Chinese-Indonesian among the thousands of workers at his textile factory where he works at the moment. But he gets along well with all his colleagues.

Apang, 40, a vendor selling ornamental fish in Cibinong, West Java. He used to be a resident of Jembatan Lima, West Jakarta with his wife and five children:

I feel nothing special despite the fact that the Chinese New Year is drawing near. But it will make me happy to celebrate it.

At least the lion dance is now allowed to be performed in public. It is not like years ago when the dance was only performed in the Chinese temples.

Nevertheless, I'm not sure how long this sort of tolerance will last. The current government has acknowledged it as one of the national holidays, but it also depends on the next regime, right?

I have felt lately, that there is no more discriminative treatment among the Chinese and the other ethnicities in the city. I feel all right to live among the non-Chinese in my residential area.

I hope there will be no more riots and turbulence in the future in which Chinese are again targeted for cruel treatment, and the government continues to acknowledge Imlek as a valid, legal Chinese tradition here in the country.

Rini, 29, a housewife who resides in Pademangan, North Jakarta, with her husband and three children:

I don't know why I feel that there is nothing too special about this year's Chinese New Year celebration. I won't be doing anything extraordinary like serving special dishes. No. It'll just be like another day.

But personally, I feel relieved because the Chinese have official acknowledgement from the government, particularly with the declaration of Imlek as a public holiday.

I don't really have any serious problems with discrimination in my neighborhood because most of my neighbors are Chinese. In public places I have never been treated discriminatively by other ethnicities.

Only when the massive riots took place in 1998. Then, I was worried a lot about my ethnicity. Thank God, now everybody is equal. So I have no problem living in the city.

-- Leo Wahyudi S