To be extraordinary is the norm for Mely G. Tan

To be extraordinary is the norm for Mely G. Tan

By I. Christianto

JAKARTA (JP): Being extraordinary is the norm for sociologist
Mely Giok Lan Tan, most especially when she is the only
Indonesian contributor in books and articles featuring other
prominent writers from around the world.

Many times she is the only speaker from Indonesia, or even
Asia for that matter, in international seminars.

The book, Gender and the Academic Experience: Berkeley Women
Sociologists (edited by Kathryn P. Meadow Orlans and Ruth A.
Wallace, University of Nebraska Press, 1994) showcases Mely's
career as a sociologist.

Mely, who was born 70 years ago, holds a M.A. in sociology
from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of
California, Berkeley.

She is now the chairperson of the Research Institute Center at
the Atma Jaya Catholic University a lecturer at the Institute of
Police Sciences.

She used to be a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute
of Science.

As a sociologist, Mely says that she focuses on three areas in
her research and writing: Chinese living in Indonesia and other
Southeast Asian countries, societal development and women and
empowerment.

"In a way, it wasn't my decision to become a researcher and
sociologist. I didn't study science in high school so I couldn't
go into medicine or engineering like most Chinese-Indonesians
living in Indonesia back in those days. This is what my siblings
did."

She studied Sinology at the School of Letters at the
University of Indonesia because she was not interested in economy
or the law.

"This was also to show that I am different," she said.

Later, she got a fellowship to study sociology at Cornell
University, and then another fellowship from Cornell University,
Berkeley, to study sociology there.

Mely, who has written a lot about Chinese-Indonesians, said
that the problems of ethnicity in Indonesia are not only related
to the ethnic Chinese but to all other ethnic groups as well.

"There are horizontal ethnic problems, like the Dayak-Madura
in West Kalimantan, and vertical problems (between an ethnic
group and the state) like those occurring in Aceh and Papua."

She said that it was still very hard for the ethnic Chinese to
become fully integrated into Indonesian society.

"You just can't clap with one hand. You need two. If you want
harmony between disparate ethnic groups, it should come from all
sides, equally. You can't expect cooperation from one group if
the others do not cooperate also."

She said that during Soeharto's regime people talked about
persatuan (unification) and kesatuan (unity), but never discussed
the reality or the implications of being an ethnically
diversified society.

President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) has, however, gotten the
ball rolling by prohibiting government agencies from
discriminating against Indonesians because of their ethnicity or
religious beliefs.

"We know that Gus Dur is sympathetic to the plight of Chinese-
Indonesians. He has stated many times that one's belief should
not be regulated by the government. One's faith is between you
and God. He reiterated not long ago that it was not up to the
government to decide what people should believe. So his actions
to revoke all measures, laws and regulations discriminating
against Chinese-Indonesians or any other group for that matter is
in line with his belief in pluralism."

Not enough

Earlier this year, shortly before the Chinese New Year, Gus
Dur revoked Presidential Decree No. 14/1967 used as the legal
basis to repress Chinese cultural expression.

"I think it really isn't sufficient to lift just one
regulation, though. As much as I respect Gus Dur, I feel that I
must say this and, hopefully, encourage him to go further in his
reforms. Unfortunately, there's a collective feeling of euphoria
among ethnic Chinese because of the abolishment of this one
regulation, which worries me," said Mely.

"There are many more regulations that should be revoked. For
instance, even though in 1996 there was already a regulation
stipulating Chinese-Indonesians only needed to show their birth
certificates and ID cards when applying for passports -- or any
other documents or permits -- in reality they still have to show
their citizenship and name changing documents ...

This isn't just or fair. All citizens should be treated the
same, in accordance with the principal of equality before the
law."

She was aware that regulations considered discriminatory
against the ethnic Chinese were made during the old regime
because of the Soeharto policy of assimilation.

"All these regulations were enacted supposedly in the interest
of promoting and accelerating the assimilation of Chinese-
Indonesians. According to the government, assimilation means the
eventual disappearance of the Chinese Indonesians as a cultural
group."

"That's why they always focused on the expression of Chinese
culture. They closed down the Chinese schools. Why? Because if
there are no Chinese-language schools there is no systematic way
to sustain the culture. If you loose the language you lose the
culture, it's as simple as that," she said.

She added that the idea was to force the ethnic Chinese to
abandon their Chinese heritage.

The regime believed that by doing so this would help the
ethnic Chinese be accepted more easily into the larger society.

The policy was, however, riddled with ambiguity.

On the one hand, the government wanted assimilation, but on
the other hand they created discriminatory regulations as a
direct consequence of this.

Thus, what inevitably happened was that Chinese Indonesians
became milk cows faced with a life of prejudice and extortion.

There is a stereotype among the people that Chinese
Indonesians are wealthy, while they are estimated to be no more
than 3 or 4 percent of the total population.

True, they play a very fundamental role in the economy -- some
say that the Chinese control about 70 percent of the national
economy --- but not to the extent that has been claimed by the
pundits.

"I need to emphasize that it's in the private sector and not
in the national economy that they wield the most influence," Mely
said.

She added that the statement -- that Chinese-Indonesians
control 70 percent of the national economy -- was clearly dreamt
up for political purposes.

In the end, of course, it is a ridiculous assumption, not to
mention an insult to Indonesia's economy in general.

After all, the national economy consists of state-enterprises,
the private sector and cooperatives.

The state-enterprises are in fact still the strongest -- at
least before the crisis -- powerhouses in terms of assets and
volume.

Mely, who remains single, has received two medals for her long
years of service -- more than 30 in total -- at the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences.

For her role as a lecturer at the Institution of Police
Sciences, she received yet another award from the National
Police.

In 1998, she was informed by the State Secretariat that the
then president B.J. Habibie has put her on the list to receive
the Mahaputra award. She declined and sent a letter to Habibie to
explain why.

In her opinion, "You must have done an extraordinary service
to the entire nation to earn that award. So far my work has been
in research and for that I already received Bintang Jasa award in
1995."

Asked about retirement, Mely said, "I I do work with my brain
and brain work never retires. In fact, like so many other parts
of the human body, with your brain, if you don't use it, you
loose it."