Pramoedya's view of ethnic Chinese still apt

Pramoedya's view of ethnic Chinese still apt

Hoakiau in Indonesia;
(Overseas Chinese in Indonesia);
By Pramoedya Ananta Toer;
Garba Budaya, Jakarta, 1998;
xi + 293 pp

JAKARTA (JP): This book was originally a long essay in the
form of letters -- nine all together -- addressed to a certain
Hs-y (later identified as Chen Hsia-yu or Chen Xiaru, his
interpreter in a 1958 visit to China, with whom he later
established a close friendship) and published in Bintang Minggu
between November 1959 and early March 1960.

As this epistolary essay later came out in 10 other
newspapers, Pramoedya saw the need to have it published in book
form.

So Hoakiau saw the light of day as a book some time in March
1960. It was published in 10,000 copies, translated into Chinese
and distributed in Indonesia, Burma (now Myanmar), Cambodia and
China.

As Hoakiau was obviously Pramoedya's immediate reaction to the
issuance of the Government Regulation No. 10/1959 which banned
Chinese-Indonesians from doing business in rural areas. The
policy led to large scale voluntary repatriation.

The book was banned almost as soon as it was published and the
writer incarcerated for close to a year.

As is stated in the publisher's foreword, Hoakiau has now been
re-published because the subject matter that Pramoedya dwells on
is still relevant today, especially in the context of the tragic
May 13 to May 15, 1998 anti-Chinese mass rioting in Jakarta.

In Hoakiau Pramoedya tries to trace back the position of
ethnic Chinese in Indonesia's history in order to find out the
root cause of anti-Chinese sentiment which has often been fanned
for some ulterior motives by the powers that be. In the third
letter he writes:

"Hs-y, the anti-Chinese cliche, which was first implanted by
the colonial rulers because of their fear of being pushed away
from their position -- although the Chinese themselves have never
proved the correctness of this prejudice -- was later passed on
and expanded to the non-Chinese bourgeoisie". (p. 82)

Obviously, Pramoedya is convinced that the anti-Chinese
feeling has never been part of the Indonesian people and writes
in the same letter that:

"Before the establishment of VOC (the Dutch East Indies
Trading Company) there never was any confusion in the relation
ship between the people and ethnic Chinese." (p. 77)

In Hoakiau Pramoedya argues that the Indonesian people do not
generally harbor anti-Chinese sentiment.

".... In the midst of their hard work, the people do not see
any need to develop a sentiment against another race, as long as
there are no destructive elements manipulating the honesty of
these people." (p. 50)

To Pramoedya, the indigenous Indonesians and the ethnic
Chinese do not really have problems in their relationship until
some people with destructive ulterior motives come along and fan
the anti-Chinese sentiment.

Hoakiau also gives readers ample information about what the
ethnic Chinese in Indonesia did for the good of the country in
the past and how they fought along the indigenous Indonesians
against colonial powers.

In plain language Pramoedya describes how the ethnic Chinese
in Indonesia began to get a firm foothold in the trade and
business sectors and how they also began to find their place in
the existing social system. All this dated back long before the
presence of the Dutch colonialism in Indonesia.

Although Pramoedya is not writing a scientific book, his
Hoakiau is rich in detailed sociohistorical explanation about the
presence of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. In this way he wants the
readers to see that ethnic Chinese are actually not to blame for
the sins they are usually accused of. Very touchingly he writes:

"In the serenity of Christmas Eve, I sincerely pray that all
political commanders today are bestowed with sufficient courage
to be able to deal with current difficulties, and do not postpone
or run away from their problems by sacrificing certain groups in
society, ..." (p. 102).

To him, the banning of some 500,000 ethnic Chinese from doing
business in rural areas, as prompted by the enforcement of
Government Regulation No. 10/1959, was only an unjust act to run
away from the real problems by scapegoating other people. In this
context, the ethnic Chinese have always served as fitting and
regular scapegoats for the government. Therefore, the anti-
Chinese problem will disappear once the government decides to no
longer treat the ethnic Chinese as its political scapegoats.

About how the anti-Chinese sentiment will fare, Pramoedya
aptly writes:

"We must come forward and state that anything violating
humanity is savagery. And as a human being must be one with
humanity, a human being devoid of any humanity is only half-
human. The other half is beastly ...

"A certain policy devoid of humanity may temporarily succeed.
Perhaps. But this success is not intended for the people, because
anywhere, in any country, people never harbor an enmity against
other people in any other country. And anywhere people faithfully
devote themselves to humanity, it is that they give life to
mankind on earth. So, whatever the political moves will be that
the power holders and high-ranking officials may make, we must
ask whether these moves benefit the people or only pretend to
benefit them ...

"...I also view the Hoakiau question from the point of view of
the people's interest, because I am myself part of the people and
do not belong to the powerholder or high-ranking official class."
(pp 273-274).

Apparently Pramoedya is convinced that once the government
decides to do everything exactly in the interest of the people,
the question of the ethnic Chinese will disappear by itself.

-- Lie Hua

(The reviewer teaches at the Department of English, School of
Letters, private National University, Jakarta).