Equality key to Chinese-Indonesians' integration

Equality key to Chinese-Indonesians' integration

Indonesians of ethnic Chinese descent currently enjoy more
freedom to express their cultural identity, thanks to the reform
movement that started in 1998. Nevertheless, they are still
legally discriminated against in some areas. The Jakarta Post's
Maria Endah Hulupi talked to Eddie Lembong, chairman of the
Chinese-Indonesian Association (INTI) to discuss relevant issues.

Question: This Saturday, Chinese Indonesians will celebrate
Imlek, or the Chinese Lunar New Year. How do you view this
celebration?

Answer: Basically, the Imlek celebration has both cultural and
ritual aspects, but there are also Chinese who celebrate it to
rediscover their ethnic identity, which for decades had been
denied them.

Imlek can also serve as an expression of cultural freedom. I
think it helps foster understanding with other ethnic groups and
pave the way to bridging the differences to create a sort of
cultural mosaic.

This Chinese New Year will be celebrated as a national
holiday. Meanwhile, some Chinese Indonesians have filled
important positions in the political, economic, cultural and
entertainment sectors. Do you feel these are positive
developments?

These are all indeed a positive development, considering the
situation during the Soeharto regime when we were not even
considered a part of the nation. Discrimination at that time
hampered social integration and of course, were not good for the
country because they neglected the potential of the Chinese
minority. Now it seems that the orientation has shifted to
exploring the nation's potentials for the common good.

What are some of the problems Chinese Indonesians currently
face?

Indonesians of Chinese descent still have problems in various
aspects of life, ranging from nationality to legal and security
issues.

We see these problems as a heritage of the past. We don't want
to blame anybody, but we have to acknowledge that they are real.

Soeharto actively campaigned for assimilation between Chinese
Indonesians and native Indonesians. But some people said the
campaign failed. What do you think?

In my opinion, Soeharto's failures had its roots in the lack
of understanding about the problems of the Chinese in Indonesia.

What happened in the past was a forced integration and
assimilation, and that failed because it was not a true and
voluntarily process.

What about the existing anti-Chinese laws and regulations?

Discriminative rulings against the Chinese originated in the
Dutch colonial era, and these rulings inspired the Indonesian
government to issue other discriminative regulations.

During the Dutch era, these discriminative rulings were used
to segregate the people into four groups based on their race and
religion, namely the Dutch (and other Europeans), Chinese/Indian
/Arab immigrants, indigenous Christians and other indigenous
people.

Discriminative practices, unfortunately, continued until after
we gained independence (in 1945), as we were not ready to solve
social injustices as well as other problems. Little effort had
since been made to end discrimination.

Discrimination continued during the New Order in the many
registration forms, including registration for birth certificates
and identification cards. This has to stop because it allows
discriminative treatment. All other discriminative regulations
must also be scrapped.

Do you think the government has done enough to ensure
equality?

Our government has too many problems to deal with right now,
and we don't want to be pampered and spoiled by the government.

Instead, we wish to work together with the government because
the problems facing the country are huge, and we must admit that
not many officials are competent in handling them.

What does INTI do to help end this problem of discrimination?

We at INTI support efforts to promote equality in all aspects
of life. We want to solve the Chinese problem once and for all.

Chinese Indonesians should be accepted as part of the country.
There should be no discrimination and we need to lift the wall
that separates us from the others.

Internally, we also want to make the Chinese aware of their
tasks and responsibilities. Cooperation with other components is
imperative.

This is our long-term program, to foster ethnic equality
through education, and we have established cooperation with
state-owned, Islamic, Christian and other universities, as well
as formed good relationships with various religious leaders to
achieve it.

At INTI, we encourage Chinese Indonesians to set out goals in
a nationalistic framework and not think of only our own community
members. This way, the country's various elements, regardless of
their ethnic backgrounds, can make their own contributions.

What should the government and other groups do to improve
inter-ethnic understanding and cooperation?

In my opinion, what the government should do is, along with
the rich and powerful elements of society, help support the weak.
When the economic gap is narrower, this will help reduce
suspicion and develop understanding.

Education is important also. There is a Confucian adage that
says education helps bridge the gaps, including social and
economic gaps. This will, in turn, increase public awareness of
justice and equality.