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Gong Xi Fa Cai: The Story Of Sino-indonesians
2006-04-01
[The Echo Magazine]
 During the lead up to Chinese New Year, which was recently celebrated in February this year, many shops and shopping malls around the country were decorated with symbols of Chinese culture. Shopkeepers generously shared their hopes for prosperity with their buyers. Some places even openly expressed their anticipation for the upcoming year with 'Barongsai performances' of the Chinese dragon. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Ten years ago, it was almost impossible to see a Chinese cultural performance in any Indonesian public space. These were times when such cultural expressions were 'culturally incorrect', because the Chinese culture was considered 'foreign', and dissemination of foreign culture, especially Chinese, was considered a 'betrayal of nationalism'. All Chinese-ness was banished for the sake of 'national culture'. It was only after the days of 'reformation' in 1998, during the presidency of Abdurrachman Wahid, that the Chinese were granted relative freedom to express their culture more openly.
In the recent widely acclaimed Indonesian movie, "Soe Hok Gie", an interesting scene depicts an important moment that has marked the lives of many Indonesian-Chinese around the country. The scene begins with the question, "What is your new name?" Soe Hok Gie, whose name is also the title of the movie, answers the question with yet another question, "A new name?"
| Staring teenage idol Nicolas Saputra as Soe Hok Gie, the movie is based on the 1960s diary of Soe Hok Gie, an Indonesian Chinese who was also a Jakarta-based university student and social activist. The movie reveals a time in the history of Indonesian Chinese, when the government implement regulations with the expressed intent of accelerating the process of pembauran, or assimilation. These regulations were announced in the form of instructions or decisions on a presidential and ministerial level. Among the most important points was a special regulation for Indonesian Chinese to change their names to become more unified with 'Indonesian culture'.
What was the logic behind such a policy of anti-Chinese-ness? It was actually related to the anti-communism politics of the new order government. The People's Republic of China was a communist country, and with some inexplicable logic, anything related to Chinese-ness was also considered 'communist'. Strange indeed, as Confucianism or Taoism philosophies, despite being of Chinese origin, were readily accepted. Many locals were deemed 'communists' simply because of the shape of their eyes.
The first government regulation on "The Basic Policy for the Solution of the Chinese Problem" was publicized in June 1967 and was followed in December of the same year by another regulation on religion, beliefs, and Chinese customs. In addition, there were a number of specific regulations concerned with the education of ethnic Chinese children whose parents were Indonesian citizens as well as those whose parents were foreigners. From these regulations it was clear that for the government, assimilation, defined as the eventual disappearance of a group as a socio-cultural entity, was the best way to resolve what is usually referred to as the "Chinese problem" (masalah Cina).
In a matter of months after the regulation was officially implemented, new family names appeared from the void. Some Sino-Indonesians creatively blended 'Chinese content' and 'local content' for their new names. The Tan family living in Bogor, West Java changed their clan name into Taniwijaya, while their family in Central Java became Tondokusumo, reshaping the memory of the old clan under the tension of political cum cultural regulation. The Oei family clan became "Wijaya" or Wiranata, the name Can turned into Candra or Condro and Kwee into Kusuma or Kwiaji.
Other Sino-Indonesian families took a different approach. They translated their Chinese name to make up a new family name. For instance, "Liem" means 'forest' and for that reason, a branch of Liem family in Jakarta became the 'Wanandi' family, wana in Sanskrit means 'forest'. Interesting enough, to become more Indonesian, a Chinese family became Indianised. They figured out another root for their names, another biggest culture of Asia, the rival of Chinese culture: India.
| The official differentiation between 'native' and the oriental foreigner (timur asing) is actually a legacy of the colonial past. The Dutch colonial authority even created some 'Chinese ghettos' or 'Chinatown's' called Pecinan in order to separate the Chinese from the natives. This separation has persisted and, in some ways, has been aggravated since Indonesian independence. The problem is the existence in society of a relatively small (estimated at around 3 percent) but highly significant group, which the ethnic Indonesian majority perceive as alien in appearance and culture. In their view, the group's grip on the economy is disproportionate to its numbers.
As the result of social differentiation during colonial years, there is an image of 'exclusive Chinese' among the ethnic majority of Indonesian. According to such image version, Chinese tend to segregate themselves socially and residentially. The 'natives' see this behaviour as an arrogant expression of feeling superior. These perceived characteristics have generated resentment towards the group, which at times has exploded into actions of violence against them.
The Chinese regulation policy, to some extent, is not a product of the Soeharto government alone. Previously, the Sukarno regime also espoused the idea of assimilation, although he was not as insistent about it as the Soeharto regime. At the time, he also allowed an opposing view to flourish, no doubt to balance the view of assimilation. The opposite view to this, as promoted by the ethnic Chinese mass organization Baperki, supported integration rather than assimilation. Baperki defined integration as the acceptance of the ethnic Chinese as an integral part of Indonesian society by recognizing the validity of their existence as a social entity similar to indigenous ethnic groups.
In the aftermath of the 1965 abortive coup, this organization was banned because of its close relations with the Indonesian Communist party. Since 1965, perspectives of assimilation won, and the New Order government determined to accelerate the process through regulation. It is evident that the cultural factor is considered the main obstacle to this process. Hence as stated in the regulations, "Guidance in assimilation in the framework of the realization of unity of the nation should be geared towards the establishment of unity in the value system." To this end, "All forms of cultural affinity based on the country of origin should be removed, in order to give all elements of culture in Indonesia the opportunity to develop according to the Pancasila."
Our leading figure in the abovementioned film, Soe Hok Gie, never changed his name. But his brother, Soe Hok Jien, who did change his name to Arief Budiman went on to become renowned for his critical views of the development process in Indonesia. Another "Gie", who was a minister under the Megawati presidency, Kwik Kian Gie, also declined to change his name. Apart from their choice to keep their respective names, both of the Gie-s have long been known for their honest political, cultural and social identification that is completely and solely Indonesian. They became role models for many politically critical university students.
| Chinese and Local
The mixture of Chinese and local culture is actually centuries-old phenomena in the archipelago. In Bali, there is the 'Baris Cina' dance, which is considered a sacred dance and only performed on very special days at a temple in Renon village, Denpasar. There is a neighbourhood banjar community called Blanjong, which means belahan (wreckage) of jung (Chinese boat). The name itself records the Balinese-Chinese relationship.
Historically, there have been small Chinese settlements for centuries on various shores of the island. Some have disappeared, like Gumicik (from gumi encik = the land of Chinese) near Ketewel, a Balinese village in Gianyar, where only the cemetery remains from the past. Others have remained, as the immigrant Chinese mixed with the local population. There are Chinese klenteng temples in Tanjung Benoa, Blahbatuh, Denpasar, and Singaraja. Reciprocally the Balinese have integrated Chinese elements within their cult. Quite a few Balinese temples have Pelinggih Cina (Chinese shrine), either addressed to the goddess of the sea Kim Lin or to local Chinese-Balinese turned ancestor.
The most interesting phenomena, however, is in the north Bali. If you ask the people of Singaraja about their specialty food, most will answer "Siobak Singaraja". Yes it is a kind of Chinese food. In fact the Chinese have migrated to most corners of the world and even in places where they may not be readily accepted their food has always been welcome. According to one Javanese saying, 'love is all about taste'.
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
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