Indonesia embraces festival as unity stressed

Indonesian leaders joined members of the ethnic Chinese community at a Chinese New Year event on Saturday that blended celebrations with a call for greater solidarity among Indonesians in the fight against COVID-19.

Speaking by video, President Joko Widodo urged his compatriots to "make the pandemic a bridge for building solidarity that provides an opportunity for easing the burdens of our brothers and sisters with friendliness and brotherhood warmth".

For the event, most wore long-sleeved batik shirts in red. They included People's Consultative Assembly Chairwoman Puan Maharani. Maharani, who is a granddaughter of Indonesia's independence hero Sukarno and daughter of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, said the Lunar New Year was a time for demonstrating the tradition of mutual help upheld by communities across the nation.

The speakers, including Vice-President Ma'ruf Amin, extended their best wishes to all Indonesians for the festival.

At the event, young people performed dances and read poetry, in addition to calling for national unity.

Budi Santoso Tanuwibowo, chairman of Supreme Council for the Confucian Religion in Indonesia, said: "That the president has addressed us is a very good thing. It is really encouraging to those of us in the Khonghucu community."

The Khonghucu is a religious group that promotes the teaching of Confucius.

Khonghucu adherents, mostly ethnic Chinese, account for less than 0.5 percent of the country's population of 272 million people, according to official data.

Strength shown

Tanuwibowo said the Khonghucu community has shown strength during the pandemic. Its members have provided face masks, hand sanitizers and medicines to those in need.

Tanuwibowo expressed his community's appreciation for the government's campaign to maintain religious harmony over the years. He was one of a team of Chinese Indonesians who encouraged then-president Abdurrahman Wahid, beginning in 1999, to allow Khonghucu believers to openly celebrate the Lunar New Year.

After Wahid declared Chinese New Year an optional holiday, it has been celebrated publicly since 2001. His successor, Megawati, made it an official national holiday from 2003.

Social observer Iskandar Yusuf said Indonesia is making progress in maintaining harmony among ethnic groups.

Yusuf rejects any suggestion that Chinese Indonesians tend to keep to themselves. However, he noted that the older generations of Chinese could not easily mingle because they spoke too little Indonesian and because of the colonial policy of dividing the population into separate groups.

Hanny Handoko, a 40-year-old entrepreneur of Chinese descent in Bandar Lampung in southern Sumatra, said that in his area ethnic Chinese get along well with other Indonesians. However, he expressed worries about potential racial conflicts incited by social media.

Handoko said he and his Chinese peers view the Lunar New Year as a joyful opportunity for getting together with family.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.