Review : Social-Cultural History of Cina Benteng in Tangerang City

by Anthony Khoo

The paper by Euis Thresnawaty S. investigates a largely undocumented group of marginalized Chinese group in Tangerang, Java of Indonesia referred to as ‘Cina Benteng’. The paper focuses on the delineation of their historical and genealogical origin, relating the group to a precolonial Chinese voyagers that settled and acculturated with the local community, as well as the group’s very own culture which is a mixture of archaic Chinese customs and local traditions.

In this reflection I would like to ponder on certain themes that promulgated in the study. For first the paper presents us with an evidence of intermarriage between chinese migrants with local communities as a point of departure signifying the marriage of two cultures, while this process of intermarriage is presented as commonplace in historical context, I often speculate about the individual contexts of these interethnic unions, if the social tolerance towards intermarriages in different periods of history reflects the different normative patterns of that society, and how was the normative patterns evolved over time by influence of extraneous factors such as religious diffusion, colonialism, nationalism etc.

Another theme I would like to point out is a recurring theme of ethnic (or racial) violence against Chinese migrants, for genocidal attempts had occurred throughout history in Indonesia, from early Dutch forces in 1740 up until locally organised riots against Chinese in 1946 Republic of Indonesia, and not to mention the May 1998 riot of post-reformation Indonesia. As it is noted that most Chinese communities of Indonesia had assimilated or acculturated into the vast Indonesian culture, therefore in ways dissolved or detached of their original cultures and identities. Case in point the group of Cina Benteng who had lost their language, more so phenotypic differences as they are not at all different looking from their austronesian counterparts. However, the elimination of differences did not stop aggression oriented towards the ‘other’ in contemporary Southeast Asia. Therefore, the retention of certain aspects of their culture through modification as means of maintaining identity as a distinct group while evading antagonism from others is to me, a profound look at culture and ethnicity as elastic, malleable forms of human adaptation, an evolutionary adaptation for acclimatizing the fundamental need of humans to draw boundaries, the human nature to segregation.

The customary practices of Chiou-Thaou in Cina Benteng particularly sparked my interest as it was indicated Cina Benteng was linguistically related to a Hokkien lineage. As I myself am of Hokkien heritage, I tried to identify the origin of the tradition. The closest resemblance of a conventional Hokkien marriage custom is referred to as ‘上頭’ (siang-thau) or ‘嬙頭’ which describes the procedure of combing the hair (‘梳頭’ sue-thau) three times at the morning of the wedding. Thereupon, the difference of Cina Benteng culture from the Malaysian Chinese or Hokkien culture in general is evident not only in terms of the practice itself but the linguistic aberration, for it is only partly traceable from the similarities observed in some aspects of the overall custom. In retrospective, though classical social evolutionary perspectives had been largely dismissed in the anthropological field, the existence of Cina Benteng culture could well serve as an exemplary testimony of multilinear evolution of culture.

Returning to the Malaysian landscape of ethnic interrelations, even though tinted with tensions and frictions in the course of colonial and post-colonial periods, had been in less discordance and much more accommodating. Is our state of being therefore better or superior than our counterparts in the Malay Archipelago, for growing out of distinct colonial past, different set of nationalistic sentiments, and separate means of garnering unity? I believe the nature of human to seek difference, the demand of categorization and classification would continue to exists, however, it is only through conversations and empathy, people are able to look for mutually favourable solutions.

References
Euis Thresnawaty S. (2015). Sejarah sosial-budaya masyarakat Cina Benteng di Kota Tangerang. Jurnal Penelitian Sejarah dan Budaya, 7(1), pp. 49–64.

Source: https://medium.com/@anthony403/review-social-cultural-history-of-cina-benteng-in-tangerang-city-978c2177f67f