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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sputjam says:
Aluang anak bayang said-
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 malay world include the phillipines, who are mostly catholics and had Presidents of chinese descent (but similar religion) like Marcos and Acquino.
In brunei, due to low taxes, the Tow Kays drive porsches and ferraris and their children drive mercedes and BMW’s. But many are denied citizenship, only PR’s(permanent residence)In malaysia, they have chinese and indian schools financed entirely by the govenrment. And enrollment in chinese school amongst all races is increasing, due to unpopularity of national type schools taught in the malay language. In order to make national type schools popular again, they have decided to dump malay for english in science and mathematics, and introduce mandarin and tamil(indian) as subjects.
Comparing to what you have said, how is it that Indonesia is more tolerant than the other two neighbours.
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Aluang Anak Bayang says:
Mas sputjam,
The malay world include the phillipines, who are mostly catholics and had Presidents of chinese descent (but similar religion) like Marcos and Acquino….
Okay, I agree that I missed the Fillipinoes. They are part of the Malay families.
In brunei, due to low taxes, the Tow Kays drive porsches and ferraris and their children drive mercedes and BMW’s. But many are denied citizenship, only PR’s(permanent residence)
By ‘Tow Kays’, I presume you mean Bruneian Chinese. Drive Porches, Ferraris, Merc and BMWs; sputjam, you are rehashing the same old ‘Brunei is a rich country, then everyone is millionaires’ myth. Not even the local Melayus are allowed high powered vehicles, let alone the ‘Tow Kays’. It is illegal to own prestigious sport cars and certain top class Merc and BMWs; unless you are related to the Royal families. The best one can get is a Toyota MR2 or a Subaru WRX.
Rich Bruneian ‘Tow Kays’ are small fry compared to Indonesian and Malaysian ‘Tow Kays’. In Brunei, the wealthiest ‘Tow Kays’ are grocery shop owners, they liked to call it ‘supermarket’ there; whereas Indonesian ‘Tow Kays’ are conglomerate owners. Besides the Royal families, no one is rich in Brunei. Let’s not go further until you speak to a Bruneian ‘Tow Kay’ on discrimination on the Tionghuas.
ps. You are speaking to someone who spent a third of his life in Brunei.
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Deng Xiao Phing says:
THose who have accessed to TV Satelite & able to tap the Channel News Asia, you may hv seen Ch News Asia interviewed the Indonesian chinese PR who has live for 30 years in Singapore successfully, namanya bapak Setiadi Ongkowidjaya, origin of Bandung. He runs a very successful architect contractor firm in Singapore with his local Chinese Singaporean partner professionally, successfully & happily without being affraid of driving his porche or mercedez and without being object of jealousy or constant suspicous by the pribumi which commonly happen in Indonesia.
I believe many other untold stories, the successful chinese Indonesian can survive and work well with other chinese immigrants around the world.
Why would you always beg living in INdonesia ? unless your mind is corrupt, weak, lazy, or always think that business = bribery to corrupt gov’t officers to get facility/monopoly/’kemudahan’ – but that is not always a good way of making money -
Why would you sacrifice your life, origin value for the ‘cultural assimilation’ ? think about it, these kind of gov’t request is too much ! I don’t think the reverse will be acceptable by those officers, can they become a christian & assimilate to marry the Dutch if they happened to be a child of a migrant Javanese origin living in the Dutch land ?
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Lairedion says:
Murphy said some true words with:
di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung
If you choose to live in another country a certain level of assimilation is inevitable in order to be accepted by your host. This does not mean you have to abandon your cultural identity. If you’re participating and contributing to the society of your host by learning, understanding and applying its local customs and habits, the host generally will have no problem with your cultural manifestations and celebrations and sometimes will see these as enrichments to its own culture.
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Deng Xiao Phing says:
This does not mean you have to abandon your cultural identity. If you’re participating and contributing to the society of your host by learning, understanding and applying its local customs and habits, the host generally will have no problem with your cultural manifestations and celebrations and sometimes will see these as enrichments to its own culture.
I want to hear other comments, do the above statement reflect the reality ??
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Jay Larkham says:
History repeats always itself. Wait till PRC is a super power again…it will become like the old days when local chiefs would clamour for more Chinese trade and people to help jack up their economy. You can also add the Indians into the mix as well.
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Odinius says:
If you choose to live in another country a certain level of assimilation is inevitable in order to be accepted by your host. This does not mean you have to abandon your cultural identity. If you’re participating and contributing to the society of your host by learning, understanding and applying its local customs and habits, the host generally will have no problem with your cultural manifestations and celebrations and sometimes will see these as enrichments to its own culture.
I think one of the main problems here, though, is that the “pribumi” often expect Chinese Indonesians to simultaneously assimilate to the point of having no cultural traditions that are specifically Chinese, but simultaneously expect them to not be able to participate meaningfully in any aspect of Indonesian life outside the economy. Assimilation and multiculturalism should be complementary, rather than contradictory. Indonesians should be free to practice their ethnic cultures while feeling broadly included in what it means to be “Indonesian,” a loyalty which should IMO come first. But it’s not just up to the minorities to accept it, it has to be accepting of them as well. If not, you can’t blame them for wanting to carve an ethnic niche outside the mainstream.
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dragonwall says:
DXP you mention something about a threat of discussion? I don’t get what that means.
First let me just say who the f**k are you to say that they Chinese in Indonesia doesn’t have their rights? I am well aware that what JK say is a time bomb as I had said long long time ago. It reflects just what people like Prabowo, Habibie, Aburizal Bakrie and the bunch of bigot had said about the status of Chinese. What they had done was deemed to be detrimental to he safety of the Chinese born and bred in Indonesia.
To fight for ones rights is their right and I don’t think anyone is crying over that like you whinning of being poor. You have the right to be poor, but you do not have the right to tell others that when you are poor, others need to help you out. You have to work it yourself. And I suppose this is cultural attitude.
You talk about assimilation but you detest the Chinese presence in Indonesia. You talk about being a poor pri but you cannot sleep when some of the Chinese are rich. And just because some of them are rich you take for assumption that all are rich and should move out of Indonesia. I know well that many CHinese hopes to leave Indonesia.
Like I said people like you are that you hope that these people leave so that you could come in and claim this is yours that is yours, right!I really think that by way of what you said, people like you should not be left to live in places like Indonesia. You should be place in the middle east and let those camels gothe you to consider yourself halal. Arsehole.
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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.
Like I said from the start, sore losers like you are those being spoon fed.
(I did ask earlier to see if there was something missing, which your IQ was not high enough to understand. I did say your name isn’t worth mentioning, that is why whatever you present yourself I will call you that name)
Do I really need Indonesia? When I step into Indonesia I am not sure where were you, moleface. I don’t need Indonesia. After I left and is now in the US, I made more than what I lost in Indonesia. I think areshole like you should wake up your ideas and be at least a little more literate.
The tionghoas that may live like kings is because they work for it, you didn’t gave them, JK, AB, and all those moronic bigots didn’t gave them their wealth.
One year after I step into Indonesia, I made half a mil, so what has that got to do with you. We manage buildings and business there, WTF has that got to do with you?
I worked 18 hours a day how many hours you work. I would guess at most 6 and the rest of your time you spend were to just shut the lights and cause population explosion.
Like you mention that you dad told you, if you cannot make good of yourself in Indonesia then you are a failure. I really think so because by way of your comments you don’t seemed to be succeeding at all alwyas whinning and sighing on other, cursing and swearing upon you God on others.
Take a good look at all your comments and tell people in this blogs what you are really up to. JEALOUS, PETTY, UNBECOMING sore loser.
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Hadz says:
Nice…. BARONGSAI!!!
Lol, the PTA parents from South Eastern Asia and China at my school organized this event where there’s a Chinese New Year sort of party..
There were barongsai and angpaos..
I got old France Frank and Dutch Gulden.. I love them though, I collect coins..
I’m in an International School in Amsterdam, so the people who watched those are mostly the Americans and Dutch.. It’s so funny, they were taking pictures and watched so enthusiastically.. I didn’t, I mean, I can watch those all the time in Jakarta!
That is, when I’m BACK to Jakarta.. 🙂
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Take a good look at all your comments and tell people in this blogs what you are really up to. JEALOUS, PETTY, UNBECOMING sore loser.
That’s…. nice? I don’t get what you’re talking about though, I just came.. XD
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If you are an immigrant, and you cannot get along with locals, who is at fault?
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That’s”¦. nice? I don’t get what you’re talking about though, I just came.. XD
Don’t blame you I am referring to this guy who always feels nice throwing stones with hiding his hands behind his back.
And as for you
If you are an immigrant, and you cannot get along with locals, who is at fault?
You were also an immigrant before. You didn’t sprout out from this country. You can’t prove that your ancestors were originated from Indonesia. So does that comments also reflects to yourself as well?
It is those that feels that the Chinese were rich and much to their envy had eventually become jealous and does not like to get along with others.
It doesn’t mean that when I buy a house I have to go through the whole kampuang and tell every who am I and I need to beg to get along with them? FO. What if you were a Chinese. Would you be saying this way?
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dewaratugedeanom says:
Lairedion said
This does not mean you have to abandon your cultural identity. If you’re participating and contributing to the society of your host by learning, understanding and applying its local customs and habits, the host generally will have no problem with your cultural manifestations and celebrations and sometimes will see these as enrichments to its own culture.
Deng Xiao Phing said
I want to hear other comments, do the above statement reflect the reality ??
The problem lies in the numbers involved. As long as ethnic minorities remain minorities, their culture mostly represents and oddity and eventually an enrichment upon the local one. But once their numbers become bigger they will become a threat, especially with those who are expansive and into proselytising. If on top of that the minorities have economic advantages – for whatever reason – be prepared because masalah tidak diduga datangnya, meaning look out because trouble is on its way.
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If you are an immigrant, and you cannot get along with locals, who is at fault?
DXP said :
the immigration officers were wrong accepting bribery from those China people thus letting them enter Indonesia territory in the past. If proven tionghoa immigrants do not contribute to this society, and I am very very sure pribumi by and large hate Chinese people then STOP accepting them entering into Indonesia territory, you pribumi control your country and created policy. Afterall Immigration can create a one of a kind in the word policy called Fiscal Tax for citizen, why not banning Chinaman Chinawomen from entering Indonesia thus protecting this territory from China Chinese Tionghoa. I beg you please sterilize Indonesia territory from China man women etc … do not let CNOOC, PETROCHINA, GEELY etc to participate investing their HARAM money to Indonesia because those chinaman eat pork you know, their word & their acts are subject to haram acts, your GOD may angry to you STUPID ASSHOLESecond answer, for those first generation China immigrants who can not get along with locals – then blame to the Immigration officers who did not provide enough bahasa training & the kelurahan unlike other country do not hv adequate facility for foreigner’s corners, sorry bung your country Indonesia is way below international standard.
Third answer, for 2nd and 50th generation china immigrants (called Tionghoa) who no longer able to speak Mandarin & already follow Soeharto rule to adopt local name using ‘Surat Ganti Nama’ (again a uniquely Indonesian way of handling Tionghoa) either Aluang, Akong or Asu and capable to speak fluently local dialect like Sunda, Jowo, Madurese, Balinese, Batakis or SUNDELISE (ups sorry) etc … then if they are not able to get along with the locals – blame to the local pribumi themself because the pri are blind to accept them who speaks their lingo. So what else do you demand MORON?
Conclussion :
1. Blame to Immigration Officers who are pribumi and local pribumi
2. You can get richer outside poor Indonesia with the national budget keep on facing deficit pressure, poor Indonesia who constantly at fear looking at the current increasingly higher international crude price & hv to adjust all the time with the more realistic yet widening gap of budget from time to time. -
Most of young Chinese Indonesian does not realize the real meaning of Barangsai.
Probabbky of the so called generation gap last time.However technology helps to encourage them to know better.
Tks
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@ Deng Xiao Phing
You should detach yourself from getting too personal and emotional when commenting.
You should live in Country like Malaysia and especially Brunei; then you will know you are under a lucky star with Javanese-ruled Indonesia.
Yes, there were name changes, Chinese culture was not allowed, etc; but other than that, you are considered ‘Indonesian’ with Indonesian citizenship and passport. There were no other restriction, the world is your oyster in Indonesia.
Ask any Bruneian Chinese how many Tionghua migrants over 10 generations are denied citizenship and stamped “STATELESS” on their travel documents and Identity Card. If they worked or studied overseas and forgot to renew their travel documents, they do not have 2nd chance. My parents had helped some of these “STATELESS” Bruneian Chinese gain Indonesian passport when the country they were born in refused them entry. Their business activities and movement are restricted. This is pure racism from Melayus controlled territories. Don’t believe sputjam about Bruneian ‘towkays’ driving Ferrari, no such thing.
Indonesia was/is managed by the Javanese. Unlike the Melayus, we are fair-minded and gets along easily with any groups be they another pri groups or Chinese. A few of our heroes and our Javanese elites have Chinese blood or connections. The 1st Wali marrried a Chinese and I know some of their descendants; Gus Dur is another with Chinese blood. Two of my adopted siblings are Kali Chinese, and another is a mix. You are complaining too much. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
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You should live in Country like Malaysia and especially Brunei; then you will know you are under a lucky star with Javanese-ruled Indonesia.
I said very clearly in earlier postings, Malaysia + Brunei + Indonesia are NOT the ideal choice for chinese immigrants for living period.
Please do NOT assume every chinese see Indonesia as the best living & settle country, Mr Aluang – your thinking seperti katak dalam tempurung.
I also said, those 3 Malay countries are consistently being marginalized in the world economy society, you guys can only balk in the ‘Islamic context world conference’ else no progression. Even though in IOC, I don’t think most of the members more respectful to the middle east countries, sorry … these are reality of live. -
@ Deng Xiao Phing
Please do NOT assume every chinese see Indonesia as the best living & settle country, Mr Aluang – your thinking seperti katak dalam tempurung.
I beg to differ. This is not what my Chinese friends told me.
The reality’s if-you-would-admit fact is that:
No Chinese will ever want to leave Indonesia inspite of all the anti-Chinese element. It is an Aladdin’s den. Nowhere in the world they can make quick bucks and become seriously rich. Many make it, some don’t.
You sounds like you are a recent migrants or perhap the first generation.
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Murphy says:
@Deng Xiao Phing
Most chinese immigrant here are the second or third generation. They come to Indonesia when there was no immigration policy to speak of. I don’t think these days Indonesia still accepts big wave of Chinese immigrants like they did in the past. The country already has 230 million people; and if you read newspaper about crime and prostitution by the PRC’s coming in tourist visa I don’t think accepting PRC immigrant will ever become popular government policy.
Second, which part of being immigrant that you don’t understand? Your cultural homeland is 5,000 km upnorth. You are living in somebody else’s homeland. Start by accepting it. The Bataks in Solo accepted it. The Surabayan in Makassar accepted it. Why can’t you?
The onus is on the immigrants to be accepted by the society they live in. Just because you have local KTP doesn’t mean that you are culturally accepted by your neighbours. Stop demanding for this and that and start learning about the culture around you. The Chinese that I used to know is very good at doing this. They speak Javanese in Solo, they open Nasi Padang restaurant in Padang, they are first to hand “salam tempel” to the frightened kids at sunatan massal and in return nobody complaints about the smell from their incense burning or their extravagant Kuburan Cina because you they moved from being “guest” to become “local”.
Learn to do it and you will have a happier life.
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No Chinese will ever want to leave Indonesia inspite of all the anti-Chinese element. It is an Aladdin’s den. Nowhere in the world they can make quick bucks and become seriously rich. Many make it, some don’t.
You sounds like you are a recent migrants or perhap the first generation.
You shall check the immigration office and see the trend, the clean mind of young Tionghoa, well educated, never dream like your dirty dream want to be instantly rich (I really hate stereotyping statements as if every Tionghoa = Sudono Salim, f u !) are leaving Indonesia. Only the lazy & corruptors who becoming similar to pribumi corruptors are affraid of leaving Indonesia, yes I am clear about it.
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You shall check the immigration office and see the trend, the clean mind of young Tionghoa, well educated, never dream like your dirty dream want to be instantly rich …
In Bold: That is unChinese.
(I really hate stereotyping statements as if every Tionghoa = Sudono Salim, f u !) are leaving Indonesia. Only the lazy & corruptors who becoming similar to pribumi corruptors are affraid of leaving Indonesia, yes I am clear about it.
By the same token, you must be f**king in the face of all your Tionghua brothers because that was what they told me. Most Indonesian Chinese I know blamed the pogrom on other pris but not the Javanese. During the pogrom, many die alongside protecting their Chinese friends or simply had Chinese connections. Well, if you can’t get along with your own people, much less the Javanese; you are free to leave our God forsaken land. No one is stopping you.
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Cukurungan says:
Well, if you can’t get along with your own people, much less the Javanese; you are free to leave our God forsaken land. No one is stopping you.
I tell you that Mr Deng Xiao Phing will never leave Indonesia forever his pervious Nick Name was Raden…his tone is exactly the same with him that He always advocate all Chinese to leave Indonesia but NOT HIMSELF…why because his business is just to buy and sell the property and stuff owned by Chinese can be frightened by him…of course buy cheap and sell High…nice business
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