February 1 marked the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Water Tiger, predicating a good year, as symbolized by the tiger’s strength and courage, qualities we need to brave the latest wave of Covid-19 and persevere in our economic recovery efforts.
Ethnic Chinese around the world welcomed the new year with the same optimism as all who welcome a fresh beginning, albeit in a more subdued manner. Ethnic Chinese Indonesians are no different except that for them, the celebration should carry deeper significance than just a family get-together honoring traditional rituals.
In the aftermath of the political turmoil of September 1965 — a confusing time of ideological competition between major powers, a power struggle within the armed forces and a political vacuum compounded by economic hardship — President Suharto’s New Order stripped the ethnic Chinese of their identity and their heritage. The Indonesian Communist Party was accused of playing a decisive role in the atrocities that occurred and the ethnic Chinese were considered to be the ‘fifth column’, an extension of the Chinese Communist Party. Diplomatic relations with China were frozen in 1967 and Suharto banned all things Chinese. The ethnic Chinese were forbidden to speak Chinese, whether Mandarin or its dialects, nor practice their cultural traditions and religious rituals. Instead, assimilation into the Indonesian social fabric was forced upon them.
Since the fall of Suharto, historians have been able to piece together a more complicated political scenario of those tumultuous years, during which millions of Indonesians died in the fray and the ethnic Chinese became victims of systemic state-sanction racism, tragically manifested in the horrific incidents of the 1998 leadership transition.
But we set out to do the right thing in the following years. President BJ Habibie took the first step by issuing a decree to end the divisive use of the term “pribumi” and “non-pribumi”, or ‘native’ and ‘non-native,’ leading to Indonesia’s ratification of the “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination” in 1999. The watershed moment, however, was when President Abdurrahman Wahid revoked Suharto’s 1967 decree banning public expression of all religious and cultural affinity to China. As of 2002, celebrating Chinese New Year openly was allowed because President Megawati believed that being able to practice one’s beliefs and faith was a basic human right. During President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Confucianism was even recognized as an official religion when in most other countries with a large Chinese diaspora, it is considered a philosophy, not an institutionalised religion. To ‘be’ ethnic Chinese no longer meant hiding behind the walls of your home.
In the past two decades, the state has endeavored to end the discrimination and racism inherited from the colonial times and perpetuated during Suharto’s time. This does not mean, however, that prejudices no longer exist and that the ethnic Chinese have stopped being targets. This became clear when Basuki (Ahok) Tjahja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese, decided to run for Jakarta Governor in 2017. To most of Jakarta’s middle-class residents, Ahok – then the deputy to Joko Widodo who relinquished his Jakarta governorship to run for the presidency –was like a breath of fresh air in the efficient way he governed the capital city. But his opponents played the race and religion card against him, not his merits or demerits, accusing him of blasphemy over a public statement he made, arousing primordial sentiments.
For those who once believed that Indonesia was on the right track by being able to vote for a governor based on his vision and professional merits, not on his ethnicity or religion, were sadly disillusioned when events led to a trial and the court sentencing him to two years in jail. It was simply the nail in the coffin of diversity.
For the ethnic Chinese, it was a reminder that despite the hopeful legal changes and the expressed intention of eliminating discrimination, the question of race and religion still remains unresolved, particularly when it pertains to the ethnic Chinese. Historian Didi Kwartanada noted that in the past, options for the ethnic Chinese as a ‘middleman minority’ were limited because of their search for political security, their loyalty to Indonesia always being questioned. This should no longer be the case.
Based on the 2006 Law on Citizenship, every child born on Indonesian soil are automatically Indonesian citizens, regardless of ethnicity. Article 2 of the same Law defines an Indonesian citizen as “native Indonesian people and other nationalities” who is formally legalized under Indonesian law as citizens, with “native” being those who are citizens since birth and have never given up their Indonesian citizenship. Since 1996 ethnic Chinese are also no longer required to have a “Surat Bukti Kewarganegaraan RI” (certificate of citizenship) as proof of their citizenship.
During this ongoing Reform Era, the ethnic Chinese should stop seeing themselves as a minority requiring protection from political patronage. Instead, they need to proactively fight for their rights as protected by our Constitution. Like all Indonesian citizens, this can be done through active political participation by entering the political arena – like Ahok and many others – or through activism in civil society organizations advocating for pluralism and inclusivity, human rights, and equality. In other words, confidently assuming all the rights and responsibilities of full-fledged citizenship and participating in all walks of life in a democracy, not just performing as economic actors.
Ringing in the Chinese New Year should not be just about bright red lanterns, lion dances and feasting on traditional foods. It should also carry a deep political significance which is rarely acknowledged. It should be an affirmation of the fact that the ethnic Chinese are an integral part of our social fabric, that throughout our nation-building history, they have played a meaningful role in shaping Indonesia’s economic, political, and cultural landscape. It is imperative that they continue to do so, despite all the trials and tribulations.
Natalia Soebagjo
Bali resident & writer
