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t'€™s the festive time of the year again. There is a tangible air of revelry as people start to prepare for Imlek, the Chinese New Year, a festival that, however, has never been of importance to me or my family.

A member of the Indonesian generation born in the middle of the New Order era, I can'€™t remember Chinese New Year in my childhood. I didn'€™t even realize that it existed. It was not until a few years ago that I began to learn about Chinese New Year and its substance.

The assimilation policy of Soeharto'€™s regime from 1965 to 1998 banned the display of Chinese-related activities in public, including symbols and language.

After decades of official discrimination, Chinese-Indonesians were then allowed to celebrate Imlek openly, thanks to our former president, the late Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), who in 2001 lifted the ban on Chinese cultural and linguistic expression in Indonesia.

However, this freedom of Chinese expression didn'€™t change the way my family lived, nor did it give us a reason to celebrate Chinese New Year.

My parents'€™ reasoning was that we had already been living in the country for many generations, so we opted to live as Indonesians.

Yes, I always regard myself as Indonesian first and Chinese second. And I feel that I have a lot more in common with my fellow Indonesians than with unknown ancestors somewhere in China.

But I believe being Chinese is about culture and tradition, not religion.

First, I feel sorry that a whole generation of Chinese-Indonesians had to live through a loss of Chinese culture and language because of the ban. Many may have forgotten traditions and abandoned their ethnic cultural background.

Some of them even had to replace their religion on their ID cards with one acknowledged by the New Order government.

Secondly, granting a public holiday for the Imlek festivities puts Chinese New Year on par with religious holy days.

No other cultural group has the privilege of celebrating their special festival as a national public holiday, as almost all of the public holidays mark religious ceremonies.

While we may consider ethnic Chinese culture to be almost exclusive as a religion, in fact it is simply a culture and tradition that has existed in this country since the 15th century.

History has awarded Chinese culture exclusivity, and lately this has become more positive e.g. the law on the elimination of racial and ethnic discrimination in 2008.

Still, there is a lot of work to do toward harmony in pluralist Indonesia.

One approach is to open up Chinese culture by bringing it into the country'€™s limelight.

Naturally, it is the Chinese-Indonesians themselves who could best highlight Chinese culture in society. Therefore, it is crucial for Chinese-Indonesians, especially the younger generation, to understand their own basic culture and traditions.

They could learn how to cook, read, sing, play music and exercise in ways considered part of Chinese culture. They could also learn from their elders their family history, norms, customs and beliefs.

Furthermore, Chinese-Indonesians need to let their identities be known first, prior to expressing their culture and tradition.

It is essential that Chinese-Indonesians show less timidity about their identity.

To avoid red tape or negative public sentiment, every so often some Chinese-Indonesians have a tendency to dissimulate or play down their cultural identity.

The more Chinese-Indonesians open up, the better society will understand their culture. Concealing one'€™s identity does not only create curiosity and suspicion, but also misleading assumptions.

There are already many stereotypes or stigma of Chinese-Indonesians based on such predispositions, and we need to deflate them.

Therefore, Chinese-Indonesians should be proud of their identity and show their good traits, other than their culture and traditions.

Eventually people would get to understand them better, creating greater respect and acceptance from the whole of Indonesian society.

This is a path of social cohesion for Chinese-Indonesians to live in harmony in pluralist Indonesia. One excellent role model is Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama.

In the meantime, let the celebration of Chinese New Year be part of Indonesian culture and tradition, to bring about natural acculturation.

The festival is indeed the time to celebrate Indonesia'€™s diversity.

Chinese-Indonesians have been and are always one substantial color in our country'€™s rainbow culture.

This is why I should be proud of and enthusiastically celebrate Chinese New Year.

Xin Nian Kuai Le to everyone, wishing you a prosperous year ahead!