![\"BarongsaiImlek\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/indonesian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/02\/BarongsaiImlek.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThere are banners, Chinese paper lanterns, Ang Pau envelopes, and the holiday\u2019s signature food found in most of the malls, streets, and houses, especially in \u2018Pecinan\u2019 or Chinatown. The celebration dominated by the\u00a0color of red to symbolize luck and to be believed to ward away evil. The activities during the festivities are praying at \u2018kelenteng\u2019 or \u2018kuil\u2019\u00a0 (temple or shrine), and giving Ang Pau, a Chinese tradition of money gift placed in red envelope, to children, younger people, and the poor. And at midnight, children or young adults play with \u2018petasan\/mercon\u2019 \u2018firecrackers,\u2019 lite the fireworks outside the house, and serve \u2018Lontong Cap Go Meh,\u2019 named from the 15th day of the last day of the\u00a0Chinese New Year, known as Cap Go Meh.<\/p>\n
Chinese New Year\u2019s celebrated in Indonesia today. Besides the\u00a0welcoming of\u00a0a new lunar year, it also represents a new beginning for Chinese ethnicity in Indonesia,\u00a0after decades of discrimination under Dutch colonial rule. This\u00a0discrimination continued severely under Soeharto, in\u00a0the\u00a0New Era, after the coup orchestrated by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) on September 30, 1965, known as G30S PKI, which\u00a0is\u00a0believed\u00a0to\u00a0have\u00a0been supported by the\u00a0People\u2019s Republic of China (RRC). To prevent China’s influence, the government issues anti-Chinese laws and regulations, limiting Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations and Tao worship activities\u00a0and prohibiting the use of the\u00a0Chinese language and writing system and the establishment of schools. However, when Indonesia\u2019s former president, the late Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) took office, he lifted the ban on Chinese cultural and linguistic expression in Indonesia on the grounds of human rights.<\/p>\n Chinese-Indonesians now can freely\u00a0express their ethnic identity because\u00a0in 2003, a law forbidding Chinese cultural performances and the use of Chinese names was revoked, and Chinese New Year became a national holiday. Therefore, today, the\u00a0young Chinese generation are on the fast track to embracing their heritage of culture, customs, and beliefs as a\u00a0part of their unique identity. Even more, they are now participating in politics and civil service, which was not possible in the past. Some of them can hold a high-level job as civil servants, as a governor, and\u00a0as a\u00a0minister. Nowadays, they can proudly claim themselves as Chinese \u2018Saya orang Tionghoa or Saya orang Cina\u2019 and as \u2018Keturunan Cina\u2019 \u2018Indonesian with Chinese descent.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n