Merangkai SinoLogika: Bunga Rampai - Christine Susanna Tjhin

On 17 January 2005, the Fellowship of Indonesian Christians in America (FICA) published an interview with Christine Susanna Tjhin, a Chinese Indonesian who worked with an INTI relief team in Medan which was tasked with investigating “the validity of rumors of persecutions towards Indonesian Chinese minority”. Tjhin, who is a researcher for the Jakarta based Center for Strategic Studies (CSIS), told FICA that “information from the first hand sources” revealed “that these were just unsubstantiated issues”. Though Tjhin did not herself travel beyond Medan and into Aceh itself, she felt informed enough to advise FICA that the rumour of “an organized and collective persecution in Aceh against the Indonesian Chinese” “was simply untrue”. According to Tjhin, the most significant incidents of xenophobic and/or sectarian agitation that she did learn of were the work of outside Javanese Islamist organisations, and not of the local Acehnese. Some relevant extracts follow in detail:  ...

The Jakarta Post, 2 February 2006.  Chinese ornaments on sale in Glodok ahead of Chinese New Year. Often people identify the physical cultural symbols of others as a measurements of their level of identity. Less often, people go beyond symbols and seek actions, processes and outcomes. Imlek (Chinese New Year) may well be the annual climax of Chinese Indonesian identity expression -- regardless of who expresses it. I've been seeing red here and there, gold there and here. Gongxi Facai calligraphy, oriental ornaments, cheongsam in boutiques, barongsai dances, and many other things. It seems that Imlek gets increasingly festive with each passing year. Reactions to this are manifold, despite it being obvious that it is mainly the commercial sector that is providing the festive regalia. Money, perhaps, has no identity card. At one extreme, some claim that Imlek manifests the "Rise (or Victory) of the Chinese Indonesian". At the other extreme, "resinification"...

Kompas, 28 Januari 2006 Pedagang pernak-pernik Imlek di Glodok menjajakan barang dagangannya. (Foto: CNN Indonesia/Andry Novelino). Imlek di Indonesia dari tahun ke tahun kian meriah. Di pusat perbelanjaan, televisi, reklame, koran, majalah, ornamen oriental, dan kaligrafi, Gong Xi Fa Chai bertebaran. Suasana Imlek sering dijadikan salah satu ukuran guna menilai "kebangkitan etnis Tionghoa". Penilaian itu beragam, dari "kemenangan" hingga "kebablasan", bahkan "resinifikasi". Imlek dijadikan salah satu strategi esensialisme ( essentialism ), di mana simbol-simbol identitas Tionghoa kembali dihadirkan dalam proses politik pengakuan ( politics of recognition ). Politik pengakuan Charles Taylor (1992) menjelaskan, dinamika identitas tidak terlepas dari politik pengakuan yang memiliki karakter dialogis ( dialogical ). Identitas individu terbentuk melalui proses dialog antara individu itu dan individu atau kelompok lain. Di tataran publik, ...

PERSPEKTIF BARU BERSAMA WIMAR WITOELAR: Christine Susanna Tjhin adalah seorang peneliti di Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) sejak 2003. Kami sering mendengarkan pandangannya di forum umum dan tulisannya di berbagai media, terutama juga kehadirannya dalam forum riset. Tapi yang kami ingin sorot sekarang beberapa pandangannya mengenai topik pembawaan perilaku peran kaum turunan Tionghoa di Indonesia. Ini bukan hanya karena dia keturunan Tionghoa tapi minat pribadinya dan juga terkait banyak aspek seperti dirinya sebagai peneliti, aspek kelompok minoritas, dan aspek perkembangan demokrasi di Indonesia. Menurut Christine, kini sudah mulai ada pergeseran pandangan pada etnis Tionghoa untuk pengakuan. Mereka melihat tuntutan untuk mendapatkan keadilan terhadap kejadian Mei itu sudah tidak kena strateginya. Kini mereka sudah punya semacam pemahaman bahwa perjuangan pengakuan terhadap komunitas Tionghoa itu tidak cuma di sana. Selain itu, pada saat ini juga sudah muncul ...

The Jakarta Post, June 30, 2005. Almost seven years after reform, the rule of law as one of the key pillars of democracy remains a fragile one. In law enforcement, we seek the certainty of the law, but what we get is the cruelty of the law. According to the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association's (PBHI) report for 2002, the police are responsible for 60 percent of reported cases of state violence. In 2004, another human rights organization, Imparsial, made similar conclusion after researching media reports on violence. Since the National Police separated from the Indonesian Military (TNI) -- as part of the reform of Indonesia's security sector and the democratization process -- the police have regained their full original mandate to protect and to serve the people, as stated in Law No. 2/2002 on the National Police. We know that police reform has not been as "popular" as military reform. The police face the extensive tasks of curbing corruption and...

The Jakarta Post, February 12, 2005 It has been a hallmark of Chinese New Year (or Imlek) to share angpao (red envelopes) as a gesture of sharing wealth, luck and joy. What does a Chinese Indonesian have to share in this Imlek of 2556? In light of the tsunami catastrophe several Chinese Indonesian religious and cultural associations found it necessary to call for more moderate celebrations. Perhaps it was a futile call -- remembering how during New Year's Eve, less than a week after the disaster, frenzied parties were still held. After all, Imlek these days is no longer a closed family celebration. Since 2000 it has become a festive national occasion -- mainly thanks to the media and business sector. Nevertheless, the call is a sympathetic gesture that we ought to respect. Festive or moderate, Imlek is an expression, even at the most superficial level, of the extent to which Chinese Indonesians are freely able to express themselves and of how much they are generally accepted ...

Koran Tempo, January 11, 2005 Di tengah hiruk-pikuk fatalnya bencana tsunami, meningkatnya jumlah kematian dan korban luka-luka, derasnya aliran pengungsi ke daerah aman, ramainya bantuan kemanusiaan dari berbagai penjuru, semrawutnya koordinasi aliran bantuan, dan simpang-siurnya informasi, masyarakat Indonesia masih harus menghadapi isu-isu yang berbau suku, agama, dan ras. Maraknya isu-isu ini merupakan konflik laten yang berpotensi besar menghambat jalannya proses bantuan kemanusiaan di Aceh dan Sumatera Utara, juga melukai kebersamaan masyarakat Indonesia yang beragam, yang selama ini terbangun secara alamiah dalam merespons bencana. Berdasarkan pengamatan dari tim relawan gabungan kami di Medan dan Banda Aceh, setidaknya ada beberapa rumor yang sudah berimplikasi besar. Isu penjarahan, pembakaran, dan pemerkosaan terhadap etnis Tionghoa, isu penganiayaan terhadap kelompok agama minoritas, dan beribu macam isu lain berseliweran, terutama melalui surat elektronik dan pesan pend...

The Jakarta Post, January 8, 2005 The compassionate appeal made by Jusuf Wanandi to all citizens, particularly Chinese-Indonesians, to help Aceh and Indonesia cannot be emphasized enough (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 4). The caution to dismiss politics in the long-term handling of humanitarian aid goes hand in hand with the urgent need and grim future of the tsunami victims and refugees. The opportunity for reconciliation may be in peril because of racial and religious prejudices, if you believe the rumors circulating around Aceh, Jakarta and beyond. Based on our observations in the field, there are several major issues that could cause conflict. At stake is not only the rehabilitation of Aceh, but also the very foundation of Indonesian unity. False stories about looting, burning and rape targeting the ethnic Chinese in Aceh, the abuse of religious minorities and other rumors have been circulating via email and SMS. Some people responded to these ridiculous rumors by calling for a stop...

Kompas, Opini - 20 September 2004. JIKA selama Pemilu 1999, komunitas Tionghoa tampak malu-malu dan agak canggung dalam berpolitik, dalam Pemilu 2004, partisipasi politik komunitas Tionghoa terlihat semakin dinamis dan asertif. Bagaimana membaca dinamika itu secara kritis? "Binatang ekonomi" dan "apolitis" adalah dua stigma populer yang berurat-akar bagi orang Tionghoa. Persepsi mayoritas elite politik Indonesia tampaknya masih berkutat di situ karena menilai partisipasi Tionghoa sebatas keuntungan ekonomis. Persepsi ini adalah buah dari asumsi tidak mendasar bahwa komunitas Tionghoa yang hanya 2 persen dari populasi menguasai 70 persen perekonomian nasional. Citra kekuatan ekonomi komunitas Tionghoa memang sudah ada sejauh sejarah kolonial. Tetapi label 2 persen dan 70 persen menjadi hingar-bingar di akhir tahun 1990 an seiring krisis ekonomi Asia, dikarenakan tendensi bombastis sejumlah jurnalis masa lalu yang salah mengutip penelitian Michael Backman (1...