| Chapter : | Introduction |
|
|
to this as the “once a Jew, always a Jew” (p. 112) syndrome. Therefore, the political, economic, and social conditions of the country have plunged the generation of Chinese Indonesians born after 1966 into a perpetual identity crisis. They have become more Indonesian as a result of forced assimilation but can never escape their status as scapegoats in times of political, economic, and social instabilities.
The trajectories that the generation of Chinese Indonesians born after 1966 experienced provide a unique context to explore how this group of people constructed their identities while growing up in an environment that formally repressed the Chinese language and culture. Due to Suharto’s policy of assimilation, which was in place for 33 years (1965–1998), they could not learn the Chinese language in schools; read Chinese-language publications other than Harian Indonesia, a newspaper that is controlled and run by the government; and saw very limited representations of the Chinese on indigenously produced television programs.
Despite these restrictions, this particular generation had access to videotapes of kung fu (martial arts) and drama series and films that were imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan.6 Some of the most popular videos that they watched were The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes, and Duke of Mount Deer. Of these, the most popular was The Return of the Condor Heroes. In my conversations with the women of this generation, they revealed their fascination with the gracious Xiao Long Nu (Little Dragon Lady), the female protagonist in the series, whose languid movements and pure, white diaphanous fabrics offered the perfect example of an elegant Chinese woman. Xiao Long Nu’s love affair with her much younger protè, Yoko, also enthralled them because it was a forbidden romance. While the women were enamored by Xiao