Barongsai, & Cultural Assimilation
Feb 25th, 2008, in News, by PatungThe assimilation of Chinese into Indonesian society, and rules for celebrating Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year/Imlek and Cap Go Meh 2559
Since the year 2000 public celebrations of Chinese New Year in Indonesia have been legally permitted however in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, the mayor of the town issued a special decree, No 127/2008, forbidding any staging of barongsai and liong, or lion and dragon dance parades, to mark the New Year, on the streets.
Barongsai
Mayor Buchary Abdurrachman said any lion/dragon processions would cause traffic jams and might create social-ethnic conflicts among the people.
We’re not telling people they can’t celebrate Chinese New Year, they can have lion/dragon displays but only in specified places [the Sultan Syarif Abdurrachman soccer stadium], not on the street/in kampungs.
City authorities also instructed people to celebrate the New Year in a simple fashion. antara
Islam
Meanwhile Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leader and former president Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) said on 30th January that Imlek was a cultural celebration, not a religious one, and therefore Chinese people who were Muslim were not forbidden from taking part in it. antara
Assimilation
On 17th February President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) asked Chinese people to better mix in with society and not keep their distance from others. waspada
For those with the financial capacity, give help to those who need it.
In a similar tone a sociologist at Airlangga University (Unair) in Surabaya, Hotman Siahaan, advised Chinese Indonesians not to adopt an “exclusive” attitude.
Just because they now have the freedom to they shouldn’t speak in Mandarin and use Chinese names.
The discrimination that Chinese had suffered in the past should not create any desire for revenge, he said, in the form of a new exclusivism. The formation of a Chinese political party, the Partai Tionghoa Indonesia, was a worrying sign of the trend, he said. waspada
54 Comments on “Barongsai, & Cultural Assimilation”
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Murphy says:
The Bataks have their cultural homeland somewhere in the archipelago, same as the Bugis, the Dayaks and other Indonesia’s indigeneous tribes. The Chinese descendants here, on the other hand do not. Wherever they live they will be forever a “guest” in somebody else’s homeland. It’s not easy to accept somebody as “one of us” while at the same time encourage them to be themselves. It’s really just human nature. I think that’s the spirit of Mr. Siahaan advice. It takes sensitivity from both sides to make this work.
The Minangkabaus, one of the ethnics you are most likely to find living outside their cultural homeland tell us their secret about their succesful foray outside West Sumatra: di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung. Wherever on earth you plant your feet, always respect the sky above you.
Most people (not only the Chinese) that escape from this host vs. guest situation are the ones who “assimilate” with the surrounding culture; i.e., respect the sky above them. Not necessarily the ones who forget their own cultural identity, but more of the ones who can master the culture and language of their “host” city/village.
The Chinese in Pontianak, I suspect are not part of this “assimilated” group. You wouldn’t see such cautions from Pontianak mayor given by mayors of coastal towns in Banten, East, or Central Java. Most of the Chinese there speak Javanese and quite fluent in Javanese culture. They are already “one of us” and therefore they can be themselves, i.e., have barongsai parade on the street.
Just my 2 rupiahs.
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sputjam says:
That is like what the australians were trying to tell immigrants all along. Adapt to aussie way of life. But when it comes to indonesia, the locals have to bend over backwards to receive immigrants demands.
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Andrew says:
Just because they now have the freedom to they shouldn’t speak in Mandarin, use Chinese names
I find this hard to swallow. If Mr. Siahaan can have Batak name and speak Bataknese, why can’t the Chinese have Chinese name and speak Chinese?
Funny how people confuse ethnicity from a country/political system.
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dragonwall says:
Yeah Andrew you were right but perhaps you might have missed that Siahaan is a Muslim. Even SBY is beginning to behave in such a manner now by way of speech.
There are lot of people you thought that they have opened up their mind, but in actual fact what they said were not what they meant. “The Chinese Have Their Freedom”. Until today what freedom are they referring to or talking about. What does the Chinese have.
What they have now is like what they have long ago, nothing has changed. Nothing prominent seen.
In any society, any country there are exclusivity. In any country there are rich people living in exclusive areas and it is their sovereign right to do so. Whereas in Indonesia you can find people just jumping into any plot of empty land to build a hut and claim it is theirs, even though it is in an exclusive areas. There has been nothing exclusive at all in actual fact.
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Odinius says:
Yup. Maybe Mr. Siahaan should be more concerned about the large number of pribumi that can only speak their ethnic languages and not Bahasa Indonesia, rather than the very small number of ethnic Chinese who speak Mandarin in addition to Bahasa Indonesia.
But I guess it’s okay for everyone to have their ethnic culture unless they are Chinese. I believe there are a few words that usefully describe that way of thinking!
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Teng says:
I believe there are a few words that usefully describe that way of thinking!
I can only think of one.
“The Chinese have their freedom”… although I doubt that I am sure of one thing… the Chinese have to pay more for things.
My wife has to pay extra for a passport, a huge amount more for a birthcertificate etcetera… all because her greatgrandpa was an immigrant from China
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If you read the source news from Waspada, Mr. Siahaan only reminded that this freedom should not be turned into some kind of political revenge by forcing identitites to those who don’t need new identity.
Many Chinese in Indonesia have already been culturally indistinguishable from the rest of Indonesians, which is good. Just like you can’t tell a Javanese and a Minangkabau when they have been neighbour in Bukittinggi for 20 years. The Javanese will still refer to his primbon to find the auspicious date for his daughter’s wedding, but when he goes out, he eats rendang with his local buddies and share dirty jokes in local language.
Some others feel that they need to assert their Chinese identity, which is fine too. Mr. Siahaan just reminded that the this second group should not force the first group to join them to make political statement. Let the changes happen “naturally”.
The Bataks are free to speak their language and use Batak name, just like the Chinese. But when the Bataks who have been living in Yogyakarta for 20 years insist to speak their own language among the Javanese crowd instead of learning how to speak in Bahasa Indonesia or better, in Javanese, that’s when you know something important is missing. That thing is called sensitivity.
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Anything to do with chinese issues in south east asia is deemed sensitive. It does not matter that madurese were butchered by locals in Pontianak. That has happened and same mistake must not reccur. But mention massacre on chinese in predominantly Java and sumatra, especially in 1997 and the story never dies.
If anything, chinese massacre more natives of south east asia than anyone. Pol Pot was of chinese descent. So was members of the numerous communist parties fighting to impose their ideology in south east asia.
In Malaysia the reverse happens. If you are non-chinese, you will have to pay more for services rendered. But do anyone hear any bumis making a big hay out of it? maybe it is due to the NEP(national economic policy whereby bumis are given special prefferences in education/businesses with government and its agencies etc.)
Or take the example of Thaksin(another ethnic chinese) in thailand. In my opinion, he misused his position to escape taxation from the sale of his company to temasek of singapore. But the local native still voted him in power recently by proxy. All these bumis in thailand are suckers as far as i can tell. Thaksin escaped taxation, and use everyone else’s tax contribution to subsidies the poor in the rural north in order to stay in power.The good news was that temasek paid for the purchase of Manchester city football club on his behalf. Now that he is back in power, singapore may as well eat the thais alive.
After the fall of the saigon regime in south vietnam, it was mostly refugees of chinese descend that tried their best to escape the north vietmanese communist regime. But guess what. Singapore, a mostly chinese state, refused them entry. But Indonesia, Thailand, hong Kong(british administered) and malaysia allowed them to land and built refugee camps. I wonder why no viet boat people sail back to china. It is so strange. But then, maybe they understand their own kind better.
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Take the example of Thaksin (another ethnic chinese) in thailand. In my opinion, he misused his position to escape taxation from the sale of his company to temasek of singapore. But the local native still voted him in power recently by proxy. All these bumis in thailand are suckers as far as i can tell.
You mean the thais are suckers? Comparing his case to Yusril are there any difference? Or Aburizal Bakrie perhaps!
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sputjam said
I wonder why no viet boat people sail back to china. It is so strange. But then, maybe they understand their own kind better.
DUH, I guess it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that going back to China is no different than going back to the problem they’re trying to escape from. What has that got to do with their being Chinese descent?
Why do people sound like a broken record, doing what the Indonesian government has been doing for decades – blaming their own problems on a group of people that won’t bite back.
So, what are you trying to say – Suharto is a Chinese because he swindled a lot of money, too?
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Deng Xiao Phing says:
I maybe miss the whole pictures, why seems Indonesian Chinese so desperate living in Indonesia ?
– a country with the most food-courts only selling halal food
– pork are rather difficult to find
– the most corrupt country in the world
– one the lowest rank countries with low GDP & high unemployment rate
– the earthquake prones country
– too much diversity which will adverse the country’s span of tolerance to chinese culture
– climate are very hot and humid
– infrastructures are worsening due to gov’t inability, corruption & ignorance
– bad track record interm of good governance since reformation era (no progress)
– low education quality that the local university’s certificates are meaningless for international accreditation level
Can anybody help me to understand why Indonesian chinese do NOT behave like the rest of Chinese immigrants around the world who are so nimble, flexible & easily able to adapt to wherever they like to live ? -
Can anybody help me to understand why Indonesian chinese do NOT behave like the rest of Chinese immigrants around the world who are so nimble, flexible & easily able to adapt to wherever they like to live ?
It is so regrettable to say that the lack of understanding where you stand seems to be the onset of a person who is easy to say as above.
Don’t you think if there is an opportunity that the Chinese could resettle elsewhere, don’t you think they will by all means?
Is there a country that is willing to allow that much Chinese to migrate there with a high rate of illiteracy (considering many were farmers and little over 1 or 2 % or less to be considered well educated).
Have you seen the exodus during the 98 riot? I came back into the country on 19th May 98 to see if Amien Rais kept his promise which he didn’t but instead headed for the MPR.
People are willing to pay a high price to leave but it the fact that they are beyond apprehension and with all their earthly belonging and possession.
You should see how many of those pri crooks that had looted, waylaid and robbed those fleeing of what they were carrying, by becoming rich. Bet you one for sure Aburizal Bakrie from 1.2 to 5.4 billion in one year…How nice…I really hoped he could come into the IM and say something so that I could weigh my academics with his.
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Why do people sound like a broken record, doing what the Indonesian government has been doing for decades – blaming their own problems on a group of people that won’t bite back.
“Maybe if we blame these people over here, no one will realize that we’re raping and pillaging the land as bad as the Dutch!”
which of course followed from…
“Maybe if we blame these people over here, no one will realize that we, the Dutch, are raping and pillaging the land!”
Learn from the masters…
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“Maybe if we blame these people over here, no one will realize that we, the Dutch, are raping and pillaging the land!”
Who did the Dutch blame?
Furthermore is the fact you learned from bad behaviour a long time ago never an excuse for bad behaviour itself. That way noone is ever responsible for their deeds.
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Cukurungan says:
Why do people sound like a broken record, doing what the Indonesian government has been doing for decades – blaming their own problems on a group of people that won’t bite back.
Do not make another joke”¦.all over the world know that a dragon never bite anybody but if we loosen our surveillance upon them, the Chinese dragon won’t hesitate to ingest all of us alive.
Learn from the Master Buster.
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Don’t you think if there is an opportunity that the Chinese could resettle elsewhere, don’t you think they will by all means?
I almost come to my conclussion that the Indonesian chinese have the below traits attached to their heart & attitude.
1. The laziest among the rest of other Chinese Immigrants in different countries
2. It could be lack of Mandarin skills, they are unable to build network easily when moving out from Indonesia
3. It maybe their unable to leave their anchestors grave yard which were burried in Indonesia land territory
4. Easily contended being as a siao lao pan in Indonesia, they think it is better because they can practice bribery easily to the officers & pay relatively cheap Indonesian native workers. This is similar to the root cause problem no:1 which is LAZINESS problemMy proposal to Indonesian Government, if Majority Indonesian do not like to see their Chinese immigrants living side by side with you, please follow the below approach to uproot those Chinese Tionghoa Indonesia.
a. Dig-out their anchestor’ corps & revoke / take back the grave land permission, BPN can do that – also as a side income to your subordinates as Indonesian Chinese will bribe you all the way to protect the grave land
b. Encourage them to learn & practice Mandarin daily, so that they are not chicken to move out from Indonesia. If neccessary subsidize the Mandarin course for them
c. Stop accepting bribe money of anykind from Tionghoa people, if neccessary issue a Fatwa by MUI that is HARAM to accept bribe money from Tionghoa people but bribe money from PRIBUMI is HALAL
d. Apply additional Tax to pay to Tax Controller on top of the worker’s salary if the pribumi workers are employed by Tionghoa people
e. Indonesia is muslim country, ban live pigs, revoke pigs farm license throughout Indonesia immediately & no porks can be sold in the entire IndonesiaBy doing that, I guaran damn tee your Tionghoa brothers will think twice to stay living side by side with you. Long live Indonesia ! I want to see that happening soon
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By doing that, I guaran damn tee your Tionghoa brothers will think twice to stay living side by side with you. Long live Indonesia ! I want to see that happening soon
NO and NO or NO… We never do that because we love living side by side with a dragon but with the dancing dragon not the wild dragon.
Therefore, the Indonesia Government should learn to other country how to control the Chinese so that they only become a dancing dragon and not a wild dragon that someday will swallow all of us alive.
Check it out in Japan, USA and Malaysia, the Chinese Dragon is only allowed to stay and make business in the designated area of the China Town not in all over the place like in here. Breeding the dragon beyond the cage is posing very serious problem as we can see on TV, the dragon can store, process and trade the illegal drug ranging from a rent house up to industrial complex.
Make no mistake, the dragon spirit is no different with a religious fanatics, they will do anything to achieve their goal, if the religious fanatic will do anything to impose their divine message whereas the dragon will do anything to escape from their embarrassing status.
In the dragon community, the most important attribute is their economical status either they are poor or rich because whatever their attribute or faith if they are poor that is the full embarrassment for the dragon family. Therefore, the dragon will do anything they can do as long as they can upgrade their economical status.
Fortunately for them but too bad for us, they have heritage a best weapon from their ancestor as below:
*Learn thoroughly the law and regulation so you can break it properly
*Buy the sword from your starved enemyThe dragon already bought the starved pribumi sword (Army General, Police, Judge an lawyer) and the dragon had fully mastered our law so nothing left for us except barren Sumatra and Kalimantan Forest, disappearance of some Riau Island and, billions us dollars drain out to Singapore and Fukian.
Learn from the master buster not to the other
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Janma says:
Awww diddums Cuk…… did the nasty chinese people take your toys!? I don’t no what ‘other’ countries you are talking about, but chinese are not kept in ‘china town’….
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Bu Janma …Why you are so penurious …we already disclosed our fable talent in many thing but you are still covering your beatify under a nasty gravatar
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Sylvester says:
Again, many lies from Cuk
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You called yourself Deng Xiao Phing, but by way of speech you are not a chinese and most likely a pribumi chinese hater.
Did you know you speak like a 2 year old sob?
Receiving bribery from Muslim is halal and from chinese haram?
Dig out the graves, how if someone dig your grave for you?
I sum you up to be someone who detest your chinese employer because he didn’t make you happy.
Therefore, the Indonesia Government should learn to other country how to control the Chinese so that they only become a dancing dragon and not a wild dragon that someday will swallow all of us alive.
And this goes to you also.
Will both of you forget of giving your false pretence.
Let me tell you that the chinese are not a problem to any government but the pris are. Look at malaysia, saudis etc..etc..
So introspect the problem before you comment.
It is that you can’t keep up the pace that makes you people lazier than others.
Tell the indonesian government what to do and see what will they say to you.
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You called yourself Deng Xiao Phing, but by way of speech you are not a chinese and most likely a pribumi chinese hater.
in this forum, we shall response / comment to others without emotion. So if possible please detach any type of accusation, that’s is better.
can Dragonwall focus to the fact ?
– don’t you agree deep in your heart that majority pri do not like ‘non-pri’ which is = tionghoa ? the proof were many many repetitive small & medium & large size of rioting against tionghoa in the past, I think without emotion I am stating only the facts, full stop
– so, I tried to seek the answers, why Tionghoa Indonesia so desperate or ‘betah’ or at home or ‘homesick’ or ‘kerasan’ living in Indonesia
– then I contrasting the Indon nature, the climate, the majority muslim practices, etc which are NOT compatible with tionghoa way of life
– then I tried to conclude … oh maybe Tionghoa Indon are the laziest HuaKiaw chinese immigrant around the globe because blah blah blah ….I hv no emotion but seeking the professional answers about this contradicting facts.
I meant, if Tionghoa Indon migrate to Singapore with lot of similarities on the way of live then I will never question the side by side compatibility between native Singaporean born or Macau born and Tionghoa Indon who migrated there. -
DXP, please note that this in not about emotion that comes first. It is the words like
don’t you agree deep in your heart that majority pri do not like ‘non-pri’ which is = tionghoa ? the proof were many many repetitive small & medium & large size of rioting against tionghoa in the past, I think without emotion I am stating only the facts
It clear shows that either you have been in Indonesia recently or to impart your knowledge to others that the Chinese were the most hated group of minorities with that many examples you set forth upon.
Noting most of the riot were pre-meditated with an intention of politicians or whoever they are.
There were riots because of food price.
There were riots because of low wages.
There were riots because of political struggle.
There were riots between ethnic Christians and Madurese.
There were also riots instigated, orchestrated by the army or the government.One answer outright. Most of them had every intention to make the Chinese the scapegoat as an easy way out. Didn’t you know that? And this has been the case of political history of Indonesia back to the era of Dutch regime as an easy way out for them to occupy Indonesia. Check out some of them in publication or ebooks pertinent to these.
The Chinese are not desperate, so that you know kid, that they were trying every means to make their way out if not for a particular reason. And besides if other neighboring countries does have political asylum put up for grant then they will also take the option. The only problem is that in the east there isn’t any country that has one because fearing a population explosion that will imbalance their own citizens.
Why doesn’t the Indonesian government make the discrimination crap go away.
in fact they did on face value but it is still those idiotice Ministers, clerics, smart alek that always became a hindrance to such process of elimination. There must be a reason why. (Perhaps edge the Chinese so that they have nowhere to go and then they can come in and say this property is mine, that house is my granny girlfriend’s.One day you will see a drastic change. Even to the extent of letting th pris taking over the Chinese business like what you short VP implied, I doubted the accomplishment could be a success. He, they and all the Ministers knew f**k**g well the situation.
As long as there are money going into their own pocket, they czn’t be bothered about the rest in society.
I am also very sure that you have not suffered such predicament like the Indonesian Chinese did on all those riots especially the 65 and 98 issues.
I think you have more to say regarding the climate and condition being born and bred in Indonesia. Can you swallow that?
The question is that the Chinese born and bred in Indonesia were being denied the rights of domicile. Freedom of speech, freedom of exercising their rights, freedom to be an Indonesian.
My question will then be, what if you were in their shoes?
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I wish this threat of discussion will not be an exclusive dialog between DXP and Mr. Dragon because I want to hear the majority public say as well.
The question is that the Chinese born and bred in Indonesia were being denied the rights of domicile. Freedom of speech, freedom of exercising their rights, freedom to be an Indonesian.
My question will then be, what if you were in their shoes?
My answers :
1. So long as you have 100% chinese blood from your both parent (exclude the mixed races from mix parents) then you shall NOT cry that you are being disadvantaged from the rest of pribumi living in Indonesia
2. I do not see any advantagous to have 100% rights being as Indonesian because Indon is led by corrupt gov’t & very poor in many aspects. So it is okay you do not have full rights because the country’s capabilities are very very limited anyway.
3. You shall dig-out yourself your parents / anchestor grave and pay a lavish crematory ceremony so their respectful ashes can be compacted and it will be easy for you to carry to wherever destination country you want to migrate. Anyway when you settle in different better country, no one will ask you to bribe money to get the license / buy the 1 X 2 sq meter land for your parent’s new grave yard. That is the real incentive for sure.
4. You shall be shame if you have chinese face without capable of speaking dialecs or Mandarin at least so it will limit your networking capability around the globe
5. You shall realize that chinese culture & value are 180 degree different than Indon pri
6. Assimilation will create further long term problems, as your kids will get lost they do not know which race they will belong to ? -
One more things very important point,
7. You shall sell all your assets, belonging and transfer out your money out from Indonesia, because Indon majority do not and it is very hard for them to welcome you…. please don’t cry …. Mr. Dragon (remember what YK had said is a time bomb) -
Aluang Anak Bayang says:
@ Deng Xiao Phing
I wish this threat of discussion will not be an exclusive dialog between DXP and Mr. Dragon because I want to hear the majority public say as well.
I hear ye.
Of the three Malay World (Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia); in my opinion and from personal experiences, Indonesia is the most tolerant toward tionghuas despite earning her name as the most anti-Chinese nation. The policy in these two countries speak for itself. In both Malaysia and Brunei, the pris are predominantly Melayus who are notorious for being anti-Chinese. In Indonesia, only certain areas in Jawa Barat and Sumatra Utara are anti-Chinese hotspots. Kali Dayaks, Central & East Javanese, the Balinese do not have problem with their Chinese neighbours. My two rupiah.
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Thanks for your 2 rupiah valuable input bung Aluang.
My comments, the 3 combined Malays world of Brunei + Malaysia + Indonesia = still very small world and those are not the ideal place for chinese immigrants too.
The world are huge without those 3 countries the world live are still okay -
Wrong .. without Indonesia, how can the tionghuas live kings. Even Dragonwall came to seek his fortune as a poor lad from Singapore and struck gold with an Indon Chinese. Now he can talk big, and talk rubbish.
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Bu Janma “¦Why you are so penurious “¦we already disclosed our fable talent in many thing but you are still covering your beatify under a nasty gravatar
cukky….. you lost me with your big words hon….. penurious? Kapan sih gue pelit sama loe?
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