JP/5/JOURNO

Indonesian Chinese fight to position themselves in RI media

ID Nugroho The Jakarta Post/Surabaya

As if enthralled, a crowd of people attending an event in a field in Madura suddenly turn their heads toward a fair-skinned female walking past them on the edge of the field.

Their eyes were glued to her wherever she went, followed by laughter, wolf cries and whistles.

"Isn't that the Yellow Princess," said a spectator, followed by howls of laughter from the crowd.

This is just a another day for Fabiola Ponto, a female Kompas journalist posted in East Java. In every news assignment she embarks on, this woman of Manadonese-Chinese descent always faces problems relating to her skin color. "Perhaps I look too Chinese, so people look at me strangely," Febi told The Jakarta Post.

Discrimination against ethnic Chinese journalists carrying out their journalistic duties is one of the many problems highlighted with the commemoration of World Free Press Day which fell on Tuesday last week.

Although exact data is hard to come by, the Surabaya chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) estimates that at least 2 percent of the 2,000 or so journalists working in the 269 media companies in East Java are ethnic Chinese. Among them, Fabiola Ponto.

Febi said that it was sometimes difficult for citizens of Chinese descent to carry out their jobs as journalists, especially because they are not universally accepted by many indigenous Indonesians.

"Very often, questions arise about whether I'm Chinese or not. It shows that Indonesians still have reservations about the color of skin and race," she said.

According to Feby, who has been a journalist for two years now, the racial ridicule she encounters in fact comes from middle class people.

"People from remote areas have no qualms about whether I'm Chinese or not. The mockery usually comes from middle class people," said Feby, who was once discouraged by her family to become a journalist.

One female Indonesian-Chinese journalist who is inseparable from the world of journalism in East Java is Nany Wijaya. The 45- year-old woman is now a director at the Jawa Pos daily and the Nyata tabloid.

Nany, who still is still active writing, told the Post that her career in the world of journalism began when she was "forced" to write an article. She was on her way to Malang when a traffic accident occurred.

"I still remember how I was forced to write about the accident by Jawa Pos deputy chief editor Subali. It was really hard then," she recollected.

But it was the start of her passion for the world of journalism. "Since then, it was as if I couldn't stop writing," she said.

In her 25-year career, Nany acknowledged that she had never encountered any significant obstacles, including discrimination. "Communication savvy is the key," she said.

A media observer from Airlangga University Henry Subiyakto said that the presence of journalists from the Indonesian-Chinese community was not something new.

Henry mentioned the name of an Indonesian-Chinese journalist from the Kompas daily who is acclaimed as a legend. "The name is Threes Nio, a Kompas journalist posted in the USA, whose reports have become Indonesia's political reference to the international sphere," he said.

Indonesian-Chinese are disinclined to be involved in politics, while a journalist's job cannot be separated from politics.

"People are still wary about Indonesians of Chinese descent. They shouldn't be, because basically everyone has the same opportunity in any field, including journalism," explained the Media Consumers Agency (LKM) member.

Henry said that the public had started to realize this. The presence of a journalist like Nany Wijaya for instance, is such an example.

"How Nany became a director of a large media company in East Java should be noted, that a journalist of Indonesian-Chinese descent can also be accepted into the media world," he said.