Geoff Spencer, Jakarta – They have been terrorized, their houses and businesses wrecked and burned in wave after wave of riots and political upheaval.
But as the Year of the Golden Dragon begins, Indonesia's Chinese minority is feeling uncharacteristically optimistic.
It is thanks in large part to Indonesia's new elected President Abdurrahman Wahid, coincidentally born in the last Golden Dragon year in 1940. Wahid, a Muslim cleric with a Chinese ancestor, has called for religious tolerance and lifted a 1967 ban on public Chinese festivities.
"It will be the first time we will be allowed to celebrate in the streets for more than 30 years," said an ethnic Chinese historian, Ong Hook Ham.
Hundreds of people burned offerings of incense sticks Friday at the 450-year-old Vihara Dharma Bhakti temple, a center of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations from Saturday through Monday.
In the past, worshippers were permitted only to pray quietly at the Buddhist shrine. But for the first time since the Chinese were blamed for a bloody, but abortive, communist coup in 1965, celebrations such will be held in public this year.
"People are not afraid anymore. They are happy," said temple caretaker Lau Xian Sing, who like many frightened Chinese adopted an Indonesian-sounding name, Solihan, in the 1960s.
Indonesia's Chinese minority makes up only about 3.5 percent of the 210 million population. But their success in business and commerce has generated resentment among many indigenous Indonesians.
Thousands of Chinese were imprisoned or slaughtered with other suspected leftist supporters after the 1965 coup. As former dictator Suharto consolidated his power, he banned the use of Chinese language and forced Chinese families to adopt indigenous names in a campaign of assimilation.
While a few Chinese tycoons built business empires under Suharto's patronage, the majority remained on the edge of Indonesian society, virtually barred from politics, the military and the bureaucracy.
When Indonesians pushed for greater democracy in the late 1990s, Chinese shops and homes were destroyed in rioting. Before and after Suharto stepped down in 1998, Muslim mobs rampaged through towns and villages across the sprawling archipelago. Jakarta's Chinatown was among the hardest hit.
The threat of a backlash persists, prompting leaders to ask revelers not to provoke other Indonesians with their celebrations. Some also fear Wahid, whose overseas visits have included Beijing, might be the target of a coup attempt by hard-line generals.
But for now, department stores are decorated with festive Chinese paraphernalia. Families streamed into traditional markets in Chinatown to stock up on gifts and food. Stalls were brimming with red paper decorations, candles and candies on Friday. "Business is good this year," said Yanto, a shopkeeper.