Racial unrest: Results of political and cultural alienation

Racial unrest: Results of political and cultural alienation

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Last month's massive riots saw thousands of
buildings damaged or burned by looters and hundreds of people
killed, injured, raped or sexually harassed. Unfortunately, but
not surprisingly, Chinese-Indonesians were the targets of most of
this violence.

Observers argue that the riots were a result of the Soeharto
regime's racially discriminatory policies, which included the
exclusion of Chinese-Indonesians from the public sector so they
could only be active in business.

One observer, Pratiwo, notes that the New Order issued many
documents, including proof of citizenship papers (SBKRI) and name
change documents, aimed at alienating Chinese-Indonesians.

The government prohibited displays of Chinese culture and set
up this ethnic group to be the scapegoat for its failures in the
country's development.

Christianto Wibisono, of the Indonesian Business Data Center,
noted in the Suara Pembaruan daily that Chinese-Indonesians were
not merely "economic animals" who had no stake in the history of
the nation's struggle.

As a number of people have pointed out, he said that the
ethnic Chinese had played a key role since the inception of the
nation. Four out of 62 members of the Council for the Preparation
of Indonesian Independence were individuals of Chinese descent.

In essence, the political alienation of Chinese-Indonesians
has caused the public to perceive the ethnic Chinese in terms of
stereotypes maintained with the help of the government. Many
Indonesians judge ethnic Chinese as a group, not individually by
their character. As a consequence, Chinese-Indonesians continue
to be judged by the color of their skin.

Furthermore, Chinese culture has been maimed throughout the
New Order's rule. The use of Chinese characters in publications
has been banned. The teaching of Chinese languages has been
monitored with tremendous suspicion. To take one symbolic
example, the use of the word klenteng for a Chinese temple has
even been prohibited. Chinese beliefs are categorized under
Buddhism, and therefore the Chinese temple has to be called
wihara.

Rituals and festivals that include Chinese cultural elements
have been prohibited in many areas. In the past, the ethnic
Chinese and pribumi (indigenous Indonesians) performed barongsay
dances together.

Evolution

Some of the Chinese potehi wayang performances have been
performed by indigenous Javanese, and watched by a predominantly
pribumi audience. Now, however, it is increasingly hard to find
elements of Chinese culture enjoyed together by both Chinese and
pribumi alike.

While talking about barongsay performances in villages near
Cirebon, ethnomusicologist Endo Suanda explained that "in its
evolution, there is no longer a clear differentiation about
whether this form of art is Chinese or local."

Suanda envisioned that participative socio-cultural activities
would enhance a collective social experience. According to him,
it is likely that the intensification of these socio-cultural
events would decrease social tension and the social gap that
exists between races.

Early this month, Suanda and artist Herry Dim conceived the
staging of a performance of Sundanese arts by artists of Chinese
descent and a barongsay dance by Cirebon artists at the Festival
Ganesha in Bandung. According to Suanda, the performances' main
goal was to promote a multicultural perception and appreciation
of culture through democracy.

This event was informally linked to the Solidaritas Nusa
Bangsa work group of the Indonesian Youth Committee Against
Racial Discrimination and was meant to promote the organization's
activities.

The festival also featured performances derived from Madurese
folk dances performed by the Cempaka group, which is composed of
eight dancers of Chinese descent. In addition, Sundanese
classical music was performed by a group led by Tan Deseng and
Aida Liem.

Of course, the festival was not enough to mend the broken
cultural ties of Chinese-Indonesians and the pribumi.

It was indeed only a beginning, and more efforts to create a
conducive environment for the coexistence of diverse cultures
should and will appear in the future.

The promotion of cultural diversity within communities
initially may seem to create tension among ethnic groups. But in
the long run, it will actually foster a better understanding
among different cultures.

Suanda also presented a cultural oration in the festival. He
stated: "In the last few decades, we have been overly dominated
by a belief in governmental hegemony for the sake of national
development. We seem to believe that there is a 'standard'
culture which has universal values to gauge the advancement of
our national culture, and that there is a myth of 'identity'.

"This 'standard' culture refers to the development of uniform
values (through institutions, the bureaucracy and academic
teachings), while our 'identity' pushes us toward narrow-
mindedness about 'original' versus 'non-original' and
'indigenous' versus 'nonindigenous'."

Since before the 17th century, urban centers throughout the
Indonesian archipelago have been places of tremendous ethnic
diversity. People in Indonesia have for centuries learned how to
live with what Americans have only recently coined as
multiculturalism.

Much can be learned from the history of our urban communities,
particularly in Kota, which is one of the areas in Jakarta that
was severely hit by the recent riots.

There, ironically, many ethnic groups have lived together in
the same neighborhoods and built diverse communities for
centuries.

By the 18th century, Kota saw the mingling of Buginese,
Balinese, Ambonese, Javanese and Malay residents together with
Chinese, Moorish Portuguese, Indian and European communities.

Trade between Batavia (the name of Jakarta under Dutch rule)
and many of Asia's most prominent ports was very well established
at the time, adding to the diversity of the city. The area
continues to be ethnically diverse to this day. Unfortunately,
somewhere along the line, it seems that its history has been
forgotten and ignored.

Multicultural understanding among Indonesia's communities
should be fostered once again. As we gear ourselves toward
becoming a truly democratic nation, perhaps it is time to start
developing community museums, where we would not only learn about
ethnic diversity but, more importantly, also about democracy.