Ethnic Chinese pick up pieces from riot

JAKARTA (JP): "I once felt ashamed to be Indonesian," says fashion designer Kim Thong, 37.

The Chinese-Indonesian designer of western wedding gowns has his own reasons for feeling ashamed. He was one of the victims of the rioting that set Jakarta ablaze in mid May.

His three-story showroom on Jl. Mas Mansyur in downtown Kota, an area targeted by looters, was seriously damaged. Some 300 designer wedding gowns studded with decorative crystals and paillette, a number imported from Switzerland and France, were reduced to ashes.

Imagine the loss -- one gown can cost tens of millions of rupiahs. "My cars -- two Mercedes and one Kijang -- were also burned during the rioting," he says.

"I have suffered even bigger losses," he added. "Personal objects such as photographs of my late parents and those documenting my career from the very beginning until now, neatly arranged in date order, have all been burned," he says, adding that he saved only the clothes he was wearing.

During the riot, Kim and a number of his assistants were taken to safe refuge by one of his indigenous neighbors. They fled through narrow alleys behind the showroom.

"From the house of my indigenous neighbor I saw how the rioters destroyed the fruits of a great many years of my hard work," he says.

The fire that engulfed Kim's cars was finally put out in the late afternoon, but Kim, first-prize winner in the 1970 Jakarta painting contest for junior high schools, cannot easily erase the bitter memories of the incident. He says that he often has nightmares about the riot.

The unfavorable political situation prompted Kim, who owns a house in Santa Monica, to go to Los Angeles. "I needed time to calm myself," he says. Previously, he had established a wedding gown boutique in Seattle but did not cope well with the cold weather in the State of Washington and decided to sell the boutique to a local businessman.

He is now preparing to open a boutique in Surabaya, East Java. He says that before the outbreak of the riot, he definitely preferred to do business at home.

"I used to ignore offers for overseas cooperation because there is very little difference between doing business here and abroad. Who could have imagined that the sharp depreciation of the rupiah would make such offers highly lucrative and alluring?"

So he went to the U.S. to regain his peace of mind and to start a new business venture. However, two months later, Kim was back in Jakarta.

"One cannot escape one's origin," he says. " No matter how bad the political situation is, it is here that I grew up. My friends are all here. The graves of my parents are also here. Everything is here."

Kim has renovated his showroom and is again producing spectacular wedding gowns, this type of design work being his distinctive trademark.

"I must be responsible for my employees, most of whom are indigenous. Besides, Indonesia is home."

A similar commitment has also been shown by Chenny Han, who switched from the make-up business to wedding gown design about six years ago. Fortunately, the mid-May riots, to which many a Chinese-Indonesian businessman fell victim, left her unscathed.

"I had occasion to steal a look at the rioters. They passed by my boutique several times," says Chenny, owner of a boutique in the Kramat Sentiong area of Central Jakarta.

"They were fierce-looking. I'm convinced they were not local residents because at that time it was my own neighbors that guarded my boutique," she says.

Of some 30 employees working for her, most are her neighbors.

"I have always maintained a good relationship with my neighbors. We always help one another. I spent some time considering why my neighbors were so ready to protect me? They stood guard in front of my gate. I'm sure the key factor is a good neighborly relationship. Besides, my grandpa was a former landlord in this area."

So, Chenny has made up her mind to remain in Indonesia. "I really feel at home here," she says.

Once she did stay about 7 years in Los Angeles and ran quite a successful beauty parlor. Nevertheless, she did not feel at home there.

"I'm also sure that a number of Chinese Indonesians now fleeing abroad will some day return to Indonesia. They will never feel really at home overseas. Unless you are a child when you move abroad, you will never be able to settle there for good. If you move abroad when you are older, I think you can stay there for a maximum of 5 years. After that you will feel bored to death".

As an example, she mentioned a few famous names, such as the co-owner of Bank International Indonesia, a private bank, or the owner of a franchised cafe for the rich and famous. They both stayed some time in the United States but have now returned to Jakarta, she says.

Chenny had her own story to tell.

"You cannot be as relaxed when you are in the U.S. as you can be here. I made about US$6,000 a month when I was in Los Angeles but after deducting insurance and installments, the balance was only US$ 1,000".

"Yesterday I had a call from a friend of mine, one of the wealthiest people in Lampung. This friend has been staying in the U.S. for a month but has already started telephoning friends here, apparently not feeling at home there. I said, 'You have learnt your lesson, eh?' I'm sure this friend of mine will return to Indonesia soon".

"That is one reason why it is not likely such people will settle abroad. The other reason is that people abroad are not as friendly and hospitable as our own people. I stayed six years abroad without ever getting acquainted with a single neighbor. Of course I was ready to acquaint myself with them, or at least, be on greeting terms with them - the way we are here".

"However, seeing that they regarded me with an air of suspicion, I could not strike up a friendship with them. That is why I was away for six years and did not know a single neighbor."

Regarding business, she says she believes that people must strive to exist when the economic crisis hits hard and many have already given up their businesses.

"We must always maintain our optimism. It is true that it is impossible to boost production. My trick is that I have seized this opportunity to refine what I have created. Indeed, there are a host of difficulties".

"Materials and supporting accessories, for example, are hard to come by. Even if they are available, they are very costly. We used to depend a lot on imported items. Now if we need a particular item, it takes quite a while to find it. But, well, there's the challenge. I am convinced we will safely weather all of this." (Agni Amorita)