Being Chinese is A Personal Decision and Choice
[Read directly from The Jakarta Post.
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Being Chinese is a personal decision and choice
Opinion and Editorial – February 12, 2008
Jennie S. Bev, San Francisco
A recent statement by Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, a much respected, loved and admired leading ulema and a former president of Indonesia, who said he is a descendant of princess Champa, whose son Tan Eng Hwan was known by his given Indonesian aristocrat name Raden Fatah, is a breath of fresh air for all people of Chinese descent in Indonesia, and those who believe in a multicultural society.
For once, a strong and charismatic religious leader of the majority has unabashedly and courageously broken the silence by being openly pluralistic and multiculturalistic. Gus Dur has set an example that being ethnic Chinese is not something to be embarrassed about nor to be feared; instead, it is to be acknowledged wholeheartedly.
Like Gus Dur, Barack Obama, a strong American politician who is on his way to becoming the first president of African descent, has also embraced his ethnicity with a lot of grace and composure. So has Eric Liu, a strong columnist, journalist, political analyst and a member of one of the most admired think tanks in Washington DC, who wrote the best-selling memoir The Accidental Asian. A rare personality of militant toughness and philosophical softness, Indonesian Army (Ret.) Brig. Gen. Tedy Jusuf is another exemplary case of a strong person with a multiculturalistic perspective.
While Gus Dur has probably lived his whole life not as a “typical” person of Chinese ethnicity in Indonesia, Obama, who has mixed blood of American Caucasian and native African, has consciously chosen to live in a black neighborhood in a Chicago suburb and to adopt the lifestyle of most African-Americans.
Liu, an American born whose parents were immigrants from Taiwan, has also consciously chosen to declare himself a Chinese, as stated in his memoir in bold letters.
Cited from his book, “Chinese civilization as transmitted to the Overseas Chinese depends, ultimately, on consent rather than descent. Chineseness isn’t a mythical, more authentic way of being; it is just a decision to act Chinese.”
Brig. Gen. Jusuf, whom I had the privilege of hosting during his recent visit to the United States, has shown how being a member of Chinese ethnicity is a lifelong pride that he will always treasure and is a fundamental cause of his cultural activism, which is reflected in his efforts to embody Tionghoa Indonesia as an ethnicity, as symbolized in one of the pavilions at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah.
His achievements as a strong military leader and a member of a Indonesia-based think tank portray him as a rare blend of the so-called wun (intellectual) and wu (physical strength or martial arts) in Chinese philosophy, which is based on yin and yang. Above all, his admiration for Indonesia as his homeland has been echoed in his works and philosophical standings between the two cultures.
Embracing one’s culture, particularly one that is often stereotyped as “less desirable” and, unfortunately, during the New Order under Soeharto was considered a “criminal act”, as anything Chinese from written characters, publications, to bearing Chinese names was legally forbidden, might have felt like swallowing a bitter pill.
Today, people of Chinese ethnicity is enjoying more freedom in expressing their cultural traits, which is something to be grateful for. The new Citizenship Law of 2006 has also stated that those who were born in Indonesia automatically become “native” Indonesians, which sounds quite comforting de jure-wise.
With all those encouraging news, it is good timing for all Indonesians to return to our roots and embrace the missing pieces of ourselves with awareness that we are all part of the human race. After all, raciality is distinctiveness of one’s race or ethnicity that makes the world more colorful and beautiful, which should be distinguished from racism, which is a belief that one’s characteristics and abilities are determined by race. Raciality is something to be grateful for, while racism is something that we are learning to undo and unlearn throughout our lifetime.
Racism itself is an obsolete concept as the folks behind the Genographic Project, a joint effort between National Geographic and IBM, have been collecting DNA markers to create the largest database that would record human migration patterns and ancestral origins.
Eventually, this project will provide some evidence that all people from all races and ethnicities are related to one another, and that most likely every person on Earth possesses multiple DNA markers coming from multiple ethnicities. Eventually, it would prove that skin color is merely a small part of one’s genetic makeup, not an identity for belonging to a certain class, which comes with privileges, in society.
However, one of my Tracy Press column readers said, “Being ‘post-racial’, as Martin Luther King, Jr. once beckoned that he dreamed someday his children will be judged by the content of their characters instead of by the color of their skin, might always be a utopia.” He further said that he merely hopes for tolerance and acceptance for who he is, whose skin color is different from the rest of the population.
As a human being and a citizen of the world, I have embraced and acknowledged my three cultures consciously: Indonesian by birth place, Chinese by blood line and American by residence. I will always introduce myself as such because I am not just one of them. I am all three and something greater. I have a dream that someday, the whole world will transcend as one.
The writer is a columnist and a social commentator. She is also known as the motivator and inspirator of the JiangZhe Sianghainese Indonesian Young Leaders Fraternity. She can be found at JennieSBev.com.
I salute you, an Indonesian of Chinese descent, who still has a strong sense of nationalism, and optimism for our (once) great nation.
I hope you and your peers will make a difference, will eradicate idiocy amongst ignorant Indonesians and will be able to break the barriers of differences in race, culture and religion that is alarmingly strengthening in Indonesia.
I, for one, have lost faith.
rima fauzi
5 Mar 08 at 2:52 am
Rima, thank you for your encouragement. I notice that Indonesia is getting worse in many ways. It would require a lot of courage to speak up and make a difference. Please, at least, pray for all of us and Indonesia. God bless your kind heart.
Jennie
5 Mar 08 at 10:20 am
Jennie,
You remind me of myself before the last riot in ‘98. I dedicated my nergy and effort for the Indonesian people but what did I get? Fear, death and rape? I say You should look into the history of Indonesia more carefully and thoroughly while you are in America. Violence against chinese minority has happened not only once. It started before the 20th century, it happened in 1920s, 1940s, 1960s, missed the 1980s then 1998. There is no guarantee it will not happened again. in fact, I think it will happen again since there is no changes in the economic condition and well being of the Indonesian people.
Living abroad while telling your fellow chinese in Indonesia to be proud and loyal to their country which has treated them in a horrible way is unfair, as I know how it feels to be intimidated, to be discriminated and to be in the middle of the riot in 1998.
Why don’t you help your poor fellow chinese back home to leave Indonesia and start a new life in america? Find a better future. That’s what all your and my ancestor did when they came to Indonesia, right?
As for Indonesia and their people, let them decide what they want. They can rot in their poverty, stupidity and corrupt government or they can change the situation. There is nothing that Indonesian chinese can do to help them.
HItam TApi CIna
17 Mar 08 at 1:10 am
Hitam Tapi Cina, I and many others are aware of the history and things happening in Indonesia. One of the first steps to make a change is by acknowledging who we are and who our ancestors were.
Not all Chinese Indonesians wish to move to other countries and I myself and others might eventually return to Indonesia to contribute there. Meanwhile, I’m working for betterment of mankind from USA. Time will come when I have to work from Indonesia directly.
You said it correctly, let the people decide where they wanna live. But we all must acknowledge our ancestors so we have a better sense of who we are and where we are going in the future.
Keep positive!
Jennie
17 Mar 08 at 10:28 am
Jennie,
you are wrong to think that many chinese decendents do not want or like to acknowledge that. It is something that you can’t escape from anyway and you cannot hide it even if you want to. Acknowledging who we are is not going to help and we have done that for ages anyway. All these discussion for what it’s worth, however, are not getting to the ears and mind of the general population of Indonesia.The discussion about chinese and the problems surrounding them should be raised to the public area where everyone can listen and understand what they are all about.
Considering the above, I would prefer to see your articles in lower class newspapers rather than the Jakarta Post.
You know what, I found myself having the same idea like you, too. Some day I want to go back home to Indonesia and contribute to the people, too.
HItam TApi CIna
18 Mar 08 at 7:45 pm
here’s the bottomline:
indonesian chinese IS minority (very small at that) less than 10% of population who are financially MUCH better off than the majority
irwan s
19 Mar 08 at 9:20 am
@Hitam Tapi Cina, very well said, my friend, very well said.
@Irwan, for everything you and your organizations have done, I can’t thank you enough. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.
Jennie
19 Mar 08 at 10:22 am
Dear Irwan,
I understand your kind intention. I also know that in doing that you are trying to protect yourself and your family and friends from racial hatred. Sadly I have to tell you that it doesn’t work that way. What you have done will only lost in translation. Borrowing the indonesian expression, “seperti membuang garam ke laut”.
Why it’s useless, because:
1. Usually you are donating to poor community far away from your home. You should instead donate to your close neighbour who live in poverty and let them know that their neighbour chinese family is very kind to them.So when riots recur they hopefully remember your kindness and won’t burn, kill or rape you.
2. They will still be poor and uneducated despite of your kind donation. The reason they will always be poor and uneducated because the government is always corrupt. As you know uneducated people go violent easily. Therefore you should put your effort on eliminating corruption and push the government to promote education and create more jobs for the people. All have to go hand in hand, otherwise you will not be able to break the cycle of poverty and hence violence against minority.
3. Don’t be afraid to be involved in politics. Understand that, most indonesian want corruption eliminated totally from the government but they do not have enough political literacy to know how to do so. For example, they did not use their voting power during the last general election to change the corrupt government into a good one. Promoting political literacy to your fellow chinese and native Indonesian may be a good option to start with.
Being financially better is a strong point in your effort to encourage all the changes I mentioned above. Use that well for your favor. And remember being financially better is not a sin. You earned it and most of the chinese descendents honestly earned it by working very hard and managing their earnings well for more than 1 or 2 generations.
My apology for such a lengthy comment. I am not trying to patronize you, especially in the good effort you have done. I just don’t want your effort to go in vain. What you have done, has been done by many chinese in Indonesia decades or centuries ago. In spite of all those kindness, the cycle of poverty and violence never breaks. And now again you are doing the exact same thing like our predecessor. You might not know this because the government has covered up this so tightly that only few people know about our true history.
I don’t mean to discourage you, but since you have to deal with it anyway, this not a task you would expect to see results in 1 or 2 years. Expect 1 or 2 even 3 to 5 decades. But if you start right now by doing the right thing, may be things will change in the future and racial harmony is not a dream anymore.
HItam TApi CIna
23 Mar 08 at 7:56 pm