“Do you know your Chinese name?” a reporter from a Chinese daily asked me. “Of course!” I replied. “Here, I’ll show you how to write it: Yu (Family name) Wen (Culture) Juan (Grace).” I proudly wrote the Chinese characters for the reporter at the inauguration of PERPIT (Chinese-Indonesian Business Organization) Youth at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (MACAN) on Feb. 5.

I asked the woman next to me if she knew her Chinese name. An entrepreneur who owns a thriving garment manufacturing factory, she said she never had a Chinese name. On my left, a man whose family is involved in real estate claimed he neither had one.

I was familiar with this scenario, as most Chinese-Indonesians of my generation, who were born and raised during the New Order (1965-1998) could not study Chinese. Chinese medium schools were banned during that period.

Everything connected to Chinese culture and language was forbidden under Soeharto’s policy of assimilation. Chinese New Year could only be celebrated within the confines of the home.

It would be difficult to imagine such a repressive time today, as you step into malls awash with hanging dragons, faux cherry blossom trees and colorful lanterns.

Chinese songs may also be heard from the speakers of various department stores offering promotions with names like “Lucky Ang Pao” (in reference to red-colored pockets stuffed with money). Various Chinesethemed dresses and tops also feature prominently in boutiques this festive season.

Long ago, those restrictions gradually became an accepted part of the ethnic Chinese community’s daily lives. It was also during this time when the government issued a name-changing tract which encouraged Chinese-Indonesians to adopt Indonesian names.

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