Dragon dance performed again after 20 years of neglect

By Sugianto Tandra

SINGKAWANG, West Kalimantan (JP): Carpenter Cen Hian Sen is no Jet Lee, the famous kungfu actor from Hong Kong. In fact, Hian Sen does not do the ancient Chinese martial arts.

But Hian Sen resembled the film star when he performed the dragon dance here early this month. Although perhaps Hian Sen's footholds were not so firm.

"I had not practiced (performing the dance) for about 20 years," the exhausted 35-year-old bachelor said with sweat pouring down his sun-tanned face.

"I have to start it all over again ... it's very tiring," he said. Hian Sen said he was 15 years old when he first joined his village dragon dance troupe. But he did not have the chance to develop the skill as the dance was officially banned.

But on that fine morning, Hian Sen, along with 10 other men -- plus several other substitute dancers -- performed the dance, carrying a 20-meter-long "sacred dragon" decorated with red, yellow and green cloth. A lion dance was also performed by a group of teenage boys carrying three red, white and black lions.

They all danced to the festive beat of drums and cymbals.

Around 3,000 people flocked there from near and far to watch the show performed on a wet soccer field here. They were more than willing to buy tickets for Rp 5,000 (60 US cents).

"I am very happy. It's really great," Yap Doni, a 15-year-old ethnic Chinese boy, said.

Many of the visitors came with their families, friends and relatives, taking turns to have their pictures taken near the dragon and lion models before the dances begun.

It was just another day for most non-Chinese people. But for Chinese all over the world, it was the much-anticipated 15th day of the Year of the Rabbit.

Traditionally, this is the day for Chinese people to celebrate with big family feasts and parading troupes of the dancing dragon and lions. And that night is the paper lantern festival, called Cap Go Me (the night of the 15th).

On the Sinkawang soccer field, the celebration was really special.

Lim Fuk Luk, in his 60s, a clerk at the Tri Darma Bumi Raya temple -- the towns's biggest and oldest temple -- said it was no ordinary dragon in the town that day.

The most senior performer that afternoon, Bun Jan Chin, 64 -- he held the stick with the dragon fire balls on its ends -- had to agree with him.

The dragon head needed blessing.

Fuk Luk said that if not, the dragon dance -- said to bring prosperity, security and luck to the town -- would be just a waste.

"Its players could even be possessed by evil spirits (if the blessing ritual was not done)," Jan Chin added.

So Singkawang was made merry by people parading around town on trucks to prepare for the 15th day.

And in this town by the mountain, the festivities were not just confined to that particular soccer field.

Throughout the day, sounds of cymbals and drums filled the air from almost all the hundreds of Chinese temples and shrines across the town.

Smaller lions, operated by teenage boys, were seen going from house to house, expecting to be given angpau (red envelopes containing money). Residents, knew the deal, and were more than willing to oblige. The Chinese believe they will get heavenly rewards in return.

An elderly local at the soccer field, interviewed shortly before the dragon was set in motion by Hian Sen and his friends, said he hoped the government would let the shows go on for Chinese-Indonesians across the country.

"It's more than 25 years now," Ng Ka Kui, 68, said in his Hakka Chinese dialect.

The population of Singkawang, 145 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Pontianak, is 57 percent Chinese of Hakka decent.

Chinese-Indonesians in Pontianak saw even larger festivities .

The celebration of traditional Chinese cultural events like the dragon and lion dance festivals was banned in 1967 through Presidential Decree No. 14 of that year.

The ban was said to be placed on Chinese cultural festivities was because of the often close association between Chinese- Indonesians and mainland Communist China.

Particularly resented by Chinese-Indonesians here concerning the Jiang Liong (dragon dance) banning was Presidential Instruction No. 14/1967 on Chinese religions, beliefs and traditions.

"It represses our culture," Budiman, chief organizer of that afternoon dragon dance on the soccer field, said.

"It must be scrapped," asserted Bong Cin Nen, a councilor at the local legislative body.

Both agreed the regulation was only the tip of the iceberg of many discriminatory legal measures curtailing the basic rights of Chinese-Indonesians.

The festival, if nurtured, is a potential tourist attraction.

"It should be promoted instead of banned," Budiman said.

"It was 1976 when the dragon festival was last performed in this town," he said.

In Pontianak, local press reported that Governor Aspar Aswin, shortly after witnessing the dragon festivals in the capital, said he would promote the cultural activities.