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Tolerance treads peaceful path around ‘Benteng Chinese’ community
The Benteng Chinese community has existed in Tangerang, Banten since the 15th century and has set an example of harmonious assimilation.
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The Benteng Chinese Museum in Pasar Lama, Tangerang, Banten. The community of Indonesians of Chinese descent have lived in harmony with Betawi and Sundanese people in the area since the 15th century. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
A
n afternoon view of the old boats lining the banks of the Cisadane River in Tangerang, Banten, where dozens of young kids often have an after-school swim, has become a daily routine for Renni Eddi Liem, 60, a local ferryman.
In recent years, Eddi has been busy helping residents living nearby on Jl. Kalipasir Indah to cross the river, which earns him barely enough to make ends meet for his family, let alone pay for the heart disease treatment he went through in late September.
“My heart ached a lot and my breath was heavy. It might be because of the work I had done in my younger days, melting wax and sometimes lifting big candles. Fortunately, friends came to cover the X-ray procedure I needed,” he told The Jakarta Post recently.
“I am just grateful that my fellow neighbors here from different backgrounds and social statuses can walk together hand in hand without questioning the differences. We are not just tolerating each other’s presence, but trying to get to know the cultural variants and respect them.”
Having moved out of his parents’ house in Semarang, Central Java, at the age of 26, Eddi, who is now married to a Benteng Chinese community member, claimed to have learned and absorbed the local Chinese values and traditions that his wife and her family members still upheld.
Called the Benteng Chinese [Chinese of the fort], the ethnic-Chinese people currently living there are descendants of settlers who arrived in the 15th century at the Cisadane estuary (now Teluk Naga), where a Dutch fort was situated.
The Benteng Chinese spread to various areas in Tangerang. They opened up new land in the Pasar Lama, Pasar Baru and Serpong areas, marked by the remaining evidence of three old temples, namely Boen Tek Bio, Boen San Bio and Boen Hay Bio.
