Defining Imlek in 2018

Kompas/Agus Susanto

A worker repairs the floor at Hok Tek Tjeng Sin Temple in South Jakarta on Wednesday (14/2). The Chinese New Year, or Imlek 2569, will fall on Friday (16/2).

Chinese New Year, locally known as Imlek, will be celebrated on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. It has been declared a national holiday and an atmosphere of joy is palpable everywhere.

Across many regions, Chinese paraphernalia such as lanterns and barongsai (lion dance) masks are visible everywhere. This reinforces our richness and diversity as a nation. The images of Chinese culture, which was banned during the New Order, can now be displayed and enjoyed by all. The Reform Era has made this possible, and is inseparable from the decisions of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who first initiated the idea of declaring Imlek a national holiday, and President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who issued the declaration.

Although his term was cut short, the late Gus Dur – as Abdurrahman Wahid was affectionately called – has left a valuable legacy for the nation. Gus Dur grounded Indonesia’s diversity and gave room for Chinese cultural expressions, such as the liong and barongsai performances during Chinese New Year.

Every leader should leave a positive legacy for the nation. A leader will be remembered not only for his time in power, but also for the legacies he leaves behind for his people.

Through this year’s Imlek celebration, the achievements of Chinese-Indonesians reaffirm the constitutional mandate of championing Bhinneka Tunggal Ika,or Unity in Diversity. Indonesia is diverse in all aspects, but remains united as a nation-state.

The nation should be grateful to Gus Dur for breaking down the restrictive barriers surrounding Imlek. Political, economic and cultural space is now available to everyone, including our brothers and sisters of Chinese descent. Opening these economic, political and cultural spaces surely requires our sense of responsibility. Every citizen has the same responsibility for resolving national issues.

Diversity is inevitable. Amid the efforts to undermine and tear down our nation’s diversity, we believe that the nation is committed to living together as a nation as affirmed in Pancasila’s third principle of a “United Indonesia”. If the commitment to live together does not exist, then Indonesia’s dissolution is only a matter of time.

Therefore, as Ernest Renan once said, all elements of the nation, including those of Chinese descent, must respond to the call to live together as citizens. The problems the nation is facing, including the rampant corruption, widening economic gap, poverty and educational underdevelopment, are the collective responsibility of all citizens. The nation needs ideas and sacrifice to reinforce the pledge to live together within the framework of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

As Renan said, living together is a commitment not only for when a nation is happy and content, but also for when a nation is facing difficult times. It is then that our sacrifice as citizens is necessary.

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone who celebrates it.