Doors open for Chinese-Indonesians
Chinese-Indonesians can breathe a little easier in showing their cultural identity after the lifting of a ban imposed by the New Order administration in 1967. Harder to eradicate, however, are entrenched social stereotypes and discrimination. The Jakarta Post contributor I. Christianto discusses the status of Chinese- Indonesians today.
JAKARTA (JP): Ping Ping occasionally hummed along to the Mandarin song playing on the radio.
She suddenly put down the Mandarin-language newspaper she was reading and called the radio station, asking for the title of the song. She spoke in Indonesian.
Ping Ping lives in Glodok, West Jakarta, and is a regular listener of Radio Cakrawala, an FM radio station specializing in Mandarin music.
"It's not so unusual because Cakrawala has been airing Mandarin music for several years. But, yes, this newspaper is new," she said as she held up the copy of Xin Sheng Ri Bao (The New Life).
The Soeharto government banned public displays of Chinese culture following the abortive coup in 1965. The coup attempt was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was believed to have been backed by China but Beijing denied the accusation. The government argued the policy would accelerate the assimilation process.
It took 33 years until newly elected President Abdurrahman Wahid announced last October the lifting of the ban. Mandarin music cassettes, CDs, VCDs and DVDs are now on sale in every corner of Chinatown and other parts of the city. Newspapers and magazines in Mandarin crowd newsstands. Cakrawala, which has broadcast Mandarin music and songs since 1989, plans to provide a Mandarin education program, station programmer Titien Hidayat said.
Evidence of the changed fortunes of Chinese-Indonesians came when the capital hosted the first ASEAN Hakka Convention earlier this month. The event was opened by President Abdurrahman Wahid, who urged the Hakka community in Southeast Asia to support the recovery of Indonesia's ravaged economy.
The President, known as Gus Dur, is doing his part to assure the ethnic Chinese community that they will receive equal treatment. One of his striking moves was to appoint Kwik Kian Gie as the coordinating minister of the economy, finance and industry. During his 32-year rule, Soeharto kept Chinese- Indonesians out of the civil service.
Many Chinese-Indonesians hope the new administration is ushering in a brighter future and the government's openness will eventually lead to greater acceptance by the general public.
Others recognize there is a long way to go.
"We can now see the barongsai (lion dance) during the celebration of Chinese New Year in public. Confucianism has been recognized," said sociologist Mely G. Tan.
"But this is not enough. There should be equality before the law."
Ethnic Chinese continue to face discrimination, particularly when they deal with the bureaucracy.
Many fear regulations and unofficial practices singling out Chinese-Indonesians will remains despite the measures by the President.
They include Cabinet Presidium Instruction No. 37/U/IN/6/1967, to clarify Article 789, which stipulates that state schools must not have a Chinese-Indonesian enrollment exceeding 40 percent of the total student body; passport application procedures in which the immigration office still requires Chinese-Indonesians to show their Indonesian citizenship document and confirmation of the adoption of Indonesian names.
They even extend to the requirement for approval from the Attorney General's Office for the release of cassettes, CDs or VCDs with Mandarin content.
Mely said it remained difficult for the ethnic Chinese to become part of the greater society because some Indonesians still did not accept them.
Riots
Chinese-Indonesians have been the target of race riots in Jakarta in 1974 and 1998, Bandung in 1973 and Surakarta in 1980. Many argue ethnicity did not fuel the violence, but rather resentment at their economic clout. Although the ethnic Chinese make up only between 3 and 4 percent of the national population, they are regarded as controlling much of the country's private sector.
Mely said the perception of Chinese-Indonesians as wealthy led to their extortion by unscrupulous government officials.
"Originally, the Chinese have 12 signs of the zodiac, but Chinese-Indonesians have only two, the scapegoat and the milch cow," Mely joked.
Scholar Arief Budiman, who teaches at the University of Melbourne, said some Chinese-Indonesians were actually too "cooperative" and almost fed the exploitative relationship.
"In addition, there's an 'ideology' about Chinese-Indonesians which is hard to erase," Arief said of a common stereotype of ethnic Chinese as exclusivist.
"It says that Chinese-Indonesians are rich and live in houses with high fences. We know that most rich families (not only the Chinese) live in houses with such fences for security reasons."
It cannot be denied that there are some ethnic Chinese who lead an exclusive life and do not socialize with pribumi (indigenous people). A few in business refuse to employ native Indonesians in high positions.
It is a stereotype which is hard to shake even though many Chinese-Indonesians are not fantastically wealthy, and are accepting of others, honest and nationalistic.
Social jealousy
An indigenous businessman in his 30s told The Jakarta Post that he did not like Chinese-Indonesians because they did not try to socialize with other ethnic groups.
"They always think that they are from a higher level. Based on my experience, I also don't understand why it's easier for the ethnic Chinese to gain financial credit for their businesses than me. This can turn into social jealousy," said the man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Although many indigenous people assume Chinese-Indonesians lead a good life and enjoy preferential treatment, the reality is often different.
Riki, who is a native Manado from North Sulawesi but looks Chinese, said he resented Chinese-Indonesians because he was often the object of derision.
"Many times people think I am Chinese, so they humiliate and insult me because they don't like the Chinese," he said.
Struggling in Hope, edited by Ferdinand Suleeman, said Chinese-Indonesians can be categorized into four groups in facing the discrimination; those who are apathetic and hope they will not be disturbed; those opposed to the first group and who want to participate in legislative body; those who need support and to help each other; those who support the parties considered able and willing to save and protect them.
Mely said Chinese-Indonesians could not be conveniently clumped into one category. There are differences in citizenship, as some of them are foreign nationals, cultural orientation and social identification.
Cultural orientation and social identification are a continuum which changes over time. Some Chinese-Indonesians still feel more oriented to their ethnic identity, Mely said, but others, particularly the younger generation, consider themselves fully Indonesian.