'Imlek' rediscovered in Semarang

'Imlek' rediscovered in Semarang

Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Central Java

Wong Chao Sing was never as busy around this time of year just a
couple of years ago. The owner of a shop located in Semarang's
old Chinatown on Jl. Wotgandul Timur, was seen frantically
serving customers trying to snap up paraphernalia to be used for
the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Candles and gold paper used for offerings to Buddha, silver
papers to send prayers to ancestors and many other accessories in
relation to the upcoming festivities are available in his shop.

This will only be the third year that Chinese-Indonesians have
officially been allowed to celebrate the New Year.

In 1967 former president Soeharto issued a presidential decree
banning all activities related to Chinese culture, following the
1965 coup attempt, that Soeharto blamed on the Indonesian
Communist Party (PKI), which he believed was associated with
Communist China.

The discriminative decree was lifted in 2000 by then president
Abdurrahman Wahid.

Today the Chinese-Indonesians in Semarang, which make up about
80,000 (will be confirmed), are preparing themselves to celebrate
the Chinese New Year, or Imlek, that falls on Jan. 22.

A night market festival, called Pasar Imlek Semawis, is being
held to welcome in the Year of the Monkey. It begins on Jan. 19
and will run through Jan. 21.

In previous years, so many vendors and Chinese cultural groups
took part in the festival that their tents and stalls virtually
covered Jl. Wotgandul, Jl. Sebandaran and Jl. Beteng -- the area
previously known as Cap Kao King.

The event organizer Haryanto Halim said this year's event
would feature the Chinatown culture in the past -- meant to be a
unique tourist attraction too, initiated by the Semarang
Chinatown Community for Tourism or Kopi Semawis.

Semawis is the royal Javanese term for Semarang. The name
itself indicates an effort to acknowledge the ties between the
Chinese and Javanese cultures.

The night market is also called ji kao meh. Ji kao is 29 and
meh is night. The words mean that the event is being held on
night of the 29th of the month.

Among the activities held during the event are an exhibition,
a food bazaar and various art attractions. The sale of Imlek
accessories and an exhibition of Chinese-Malay literature will be
held on Gang Baru.

The food bazaar will serve traditional food of Chinatown and
Semarang, like onde-onde, bakpao, and masakan nyonya (dishes
influenced by the Hokkien, Malay and Javanese, like lontong cap
go meh and nasi bakmoy.

Traditional beverages like jamu jun, jolobio and wedang tahu
are also available.

"We will also make the longest cakwee (fried salty cake) and
the tallest incense stick, which will be recorded in the
Indonesian Records Museum," Haryanto said.

The performing arts activities will include wayang potehi,
wushu, tan sin, yang khiem and gambang Semarang. Fortune tellers
and sinshe (Chinese healers) will also be present.

The praying activities started a week before Imlek, with the
Toa Pe Kong celebration, and will last until cap go meh or the
15th day of the New Year.

The Imlek festivities are also felt outside of Chinatown. Just
look at Wito, whose face was wet with sweat as he worked hard to
finish a barongsai, a mythical beast which looks like a lion. The
Barongsai dance is a traditional Chinese art that has been widely
performed in the celebration of the Chinese New Year across the
country since the beginning of the Reform Era in 1998.

"We received an order to make some 30 barongsai for the
celebrations," Wito's boss, Oei Eng Tek alias Sutikno Wiroutomo,
an artist on Jl. Seteran Tengah, Semarang, told The Jakarta Post.

The order came from various places, from Medan in North
Sumatra to Toli Toli in Central Sulawesi.

Eng Tek, who usually receives an order of less than eight
barongsai a month, sells them for Rp 1.5 million each.

"They are not expensive. There are six barongsai workshops (in
town) and I have to work against some healthy competition," said
Eng Tek, who is assisted by five employees.

Meanwhile, the owner of Kie Ping candle factory, Yauw Ping
Kwie alias Yoso Diharjo on Jl. Ciloksari said that his orders had
increased by 30 percent ahead of the holidays.

"The order came from many towns in Java. The prices vary,
depending on the size of the candles. A pack of the smallest
candles, consisting of eight pairs, costs Rp 5,600, while the
biggest one, two meters high, is Rp 3 million," he said.

Eng Tek and Ping Kwie are among those who continued to
preserve the Chinese traditions despite the pressure under the
New Order government that was in power for 32 years. They
suffered a lot during the period.

The ban of Chinese culture had greatly affected the buildings
with Chinese architecture as well. This was particularly
noticeable in Chinatown.

Many buildings with Chinese architecture were partly
demolished to make way for the road widening projects between
1970s and 1980s.

And Chinatown seemed to lose its beauty and history. You could
still see buildings with Chinese architecture from the side of a
river that passes in the area. But they are gradually
disappearing too.

Temples are the ones that are well preserved. There are 24
temples in Semarang, mostly located in Chinatown. Among the
oldest one is Thay Kak Sie, which gives a glimpse about the
history of the arrival of the Chinese people on Java.

However, with the new spirit which comes along this New Year,
besides the enlivening small-scale businesses in relation with
the festivity, it is also hoped that all will feel the need to
preserve the long neglected valuable archives here, including the
legacies of culture, traditions and the property.