Chinese and proud of nation’s cultural diversity

Until recently, I never thought it was too much to expect smart comments or sound moves from our beloved representatives in Senayan.

They are, after all, the chosen ones out of almost 240 million people in this country. Partisan attacks understandably come as part of the package and are still more tolerable than porn-watching during the plenary sessions. But racial slurs, that is beyond the limit.

Crossing the line is when a supposedly respected legislator attacks a well-performing, two-time government minister on racial charges.

In attacking Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar Party may have forgotten that in most court of law lies the presumption of innocence, which in Indonesia is in place based on Law No. 48/2009, concerning judicial powers.

Ironically, it is the same presumption of innocence that his own party chief has repeatedly called for when addressing legal problems faced by Golkar politicians.

So when a lawmaker ironically chooses to break free of the tenets guarding the law, don’t blame others for raising an eyebrow.

It also seems Bambang needs a refresher course on pluralism.

Though once an unfamiliar dictum, the word pluralism has now made its way into our daily walk of life. In recognizing the richness of this nation’s cultural diversity, politicians and activists alike are increasingly making it a point to promote the concept of tolerance in the corridors of religion, politics and cultures. And so it should be in these converging times.

As President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the crowd of last year’s World Movement for Democracy, “the future belongs to those who are willing to responsibly embrace pluralism, openness and freedom.”

I don’t know about others, but I do know I want to live in the future, and I want to carry with me a good legacy of the past.

Growing up in the late 1950s, my mother and her sisters got a chance to attend a Chinese language school … well, until it got closed down in the 1960s.

Childhood memories aside, she still maintains the ability to speak Mandarin thanks to the rigorous curriculum in those days.

Later on, to the surprise of many at that time, she chose as her life partner, a Batak man.

My father, born and bred in North Sumatra, is a proud Batak man to this day, who insists that all his children can memorize verses of the Bible in Bataknese and would proudly give them a Batak-Indonesian dictionary as a birthday present.

From their union came my three siblings and me, all our lives living in an odd bicultural society, one my parents proudly call the Indonesian society.

This concept got even more interesting when I married a Javanese man, and with whom I am now expecting our child, who will be a mix of Javanese-Bataknese-Chinese descendants.

A bit complicated, but I believe such pluralism portrays the real Indonesia, and I pray my child grows up to recognize her heritage and be respectful of others. The same hope I carries for my fellow Indonesians. Choose progress, not regress.

Progressing means learning from the mistakes of the past and acknowledging how it was maimed by interracial disharmony even beyond 1998. But progressing also carries the will to reform; and that starts with a good will, not hatred.

If anything, I thank Bambang for helping me narrow down my choices come 2014.

The writer is a former journalist, and is currently serving as assistant to the President’s spokesman. The opinions expressed are personal.