Imlek in the eyes of INTI chairman

By Oei Eng Goan

JAKARTA (JP): Gone are the days when Indonesians of Chinese origin had to restrain themselves from celebrating the Lunar New Year in festive mood and with colorful attractions like the traditional lion and dragon dances.

Under former president Soeharto's rule, everything related to Chinese culture was banned from public display and the ethnic Chinese here were discouraged from celebrating the Lunar New Year in the grand, traditional Chinese style.

All this has changed under the fledgling democratic government of President Abdurrahman Wahid, better known as Gus Dur.

The Lunar or Chinese New Year, better known locally as Imlek, which this year falls on Jan. 24, marks the beginning of a new year in the lunar calendar believed to be have been introduced by China's legendary Emperor Huangdi in the year 2637 B.C.

For scores of centuries, the Chinese New Year, based on the lunar calendar, would fall sometime between Jan. 20 and Feb. 19. And those are the days that mark the end of the winter season. This explains why China today celebrates the Lunar Year as the Spring Festival.

Earlier this week, a number of Indonesian Chinese organizations proposed to the Jakarta government that the Lunar New Year be declared a national holiday, giving rise to pros and cons being voiced among the general public, including the ethnic Chinese community.

Minister of Religious Affairs Muhammad Tolchah Hasan told journalists earlier this week that he had recommended to President Abdurrahman that Imlek be made a national holiday and was awaiting a presidential decision.

In a bid to give a better insight on the significance of Imlek to the Chinese people in general, The Jakarta Post interviewed on Thursday a leading entrepreneur turned community leader, Eddie Lembong, who himself is an Indonesian of Chinese origin.

Eddie is currently the chairman of the Association of Indonesians of Chinese Descent (INTI), which was set up in February 1999 in Jakarta, nine months after the bloody anti- Chinese riots in the capital that brought about international condemnation.

INTI aims at guiding and developing the entire potential of Chinese Indonesians as an integral part of the Indonesian nation and people.

The following are excerpts from Eddie's comments on Imlek and its celebration in the country:

"Imlek is an inherent part of Chinese culture. Even in Indonesia, especially in Java and some parts of Sumatra, it has been well and traditionally celebrated for centuries. The Confucianists regard it as a holy day to revere their parents and to drive away evil spirits and bad omens so that all the family members will be able to pass the year joyfully and safely.

"If we consider Imlek as a religious day for the Confucianists, then it is worth considering making it a national holiday, be it a full national holiday or just an optional one, as it is in line with the government's policy of treating all religions here as equal. But if Imlek is regarded as the new year of the ethnic Chinese, then it is a different argument. As the ethnic Chinese here are part of the Indonesian nation, we, in INTI, believe that it is inappropriate to ask the government to declare Imlek a national holiday. There are hundreds of other ethnic groups in Indonesia, so one can imagine how many national holidays there would be in a year if each ethnic group were to demand that their traditional festivals be made national holidays.

"Just like our other Indonesian brothers and sisters, the Chinese Indonesians themselves are not homogeneous (as their ancestors comprise people from various provinces in China who speak and have adopted different dialects and customs). Based on this awareness, we have to wisely welcome Gus Dur's democratic policy that respects and upholds the plurality of Indonesian cultures and peoples.

"We, Indonesians of Chinese descent, should by no means be immersed in a state of euphoria now that the President has given us a respected status like any other (indigenous) Indonesian nationals, because we must also realize that there are still many Indonesian people who will not readily accept the new policy (after years of discrimination against the ethnic Chinese).

"We should be grateful for the introduction of the new policy. We have to do our best in return. We should give something in return or in gratitude, not to Gus Dur but to our motherland Indonesia and the Indonesian nation and people.

"Don't let the euphoria lead us to engage in improper conduct or behavior that could hurt the feelings of the majority of Indonesian people. This doesn't mean that we should not celebrate Imlek. On the contrary, feel free to celebrate it. Feel at ease as if you were celebrating Imlek in your own home, because Indonesia is our home and we are part of the Indonesian people.

"Celebrate it in an entertaining way, but don't be wasteful, especially at a time like this when many of our Indonesian brothers and sisters are living in poverty due to the myriad of problems still plaguing the country."

Those were the views of Eddie Lembong, 64, a pharmacist who founded the Pharos pharmaceutical company in 1971 and, along with his associates, developed it into one of the country's leading enterprises, one that has withstood the economic woes which began to assail the country in late 1997 and which brought many large local companies to ruin.

He called on Chinese Indonesians to make this year's Imlek celebration a force for driving away all the bad luck that may befall the country so that all the Indonesian people, regardless of their cultural and religious backgrounds or ethnicity, can pass the year in happiness and safety.

Gong Xi Fa Cai