Doors open for Chinese-Indonesians

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.