Re: nightmare butchery of lastnames (was Re: Whiteness?)

On Wed, Sep 06, 2000 at 02:14:47AM +0000, Leo Caesius wrote:
[snip]
>     I once met a fellow of Chinese ancestry who had been raised in
> Indonesia.  Apparently, during the time when he was born, the government had
> outlawed Chinese names (in an attempt to force the Chinese minority there to
> assimilate).  So his parents were forced to choose a non-Chinese name for
> him - and he was christened "David Williams."  I kid you not.
[snip]

I could be wrong, but I don't think the government actually outlawed it.
The problem is that the Indonesians are *very* discriminated against the
Chinese. And I mean, *very*. If you registered with the government with a
Chinese name, that's a sure ticket to reduced rights, harrassment, etc..
Solution? Most Chinese in Indonesia just adopt a non-Chinese name, like
the "David Williams" example you gave, or, more commonly (so I heard)
just pick an Indonesian name, so that nobody could tell whether they were
racially Chinese or Indonesian unless they physically met them. (Of
course, within the family they'd probably use their "real" names.)

As for assimilating... IMNSHO they just want the Chinese people in
Indonesia to be *out*, period. I won't bother stating plausible reasons
because I'm biased; but basically, they just want to get rid of the
Chinese people there. Things are probably better in more important cities,
but in smaller towns/villages, just being of Chinese descent is valid
excuse when somebody wants to plunder your house, abuse your family, etc.,
etc.. Add to this a not-so-competent government (previously, that is, I
don't know about now), and you have an explanation of why those nasty
riots happened a few years ago. Believe me, those riots didn't just
happened that time. It's just that that particular time was widely
publicized.

I had an Indonesian friend who told me about a certain rich Chinese
merchant in the not-so-urban areas of Indonesia. Something happened, and
made people there jealous/angry at him, so one day, they murdered him,
raped the wife, plundered his belongings, burnt down his house, and "never
got caught". (More likely "overlooked" by the local authorities, but then
again, I *am* biased, so who knows.)

But anyway, this is veering wildly off-topic, so I'll stop here :-)
Let's get back to conlanging, folks :-)


T