For the first time in more than three decades, the Chinese community in Indonesia has openly celebrated the Lunar New Year.

Thousands crowded into temples with offerings of flowers and incense; Chinese shops were decked out in red, and traditional dragon dances and opera took to the streets again.

The festivities followed the lifting of a ban on public Chinese celebrations imposed in the 1960s by President Suharto after ethnic Chinese communists were accused of involvement in an attempted coup.

The BBC Jakarta correspondent says that under the new government of President Wahid, Chinese community leaders believe that years of official oppression may finally be over.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service