Chinese welcome Wahid's equality call

The Lunar New Year was an optional holiday for the first time

Leaders of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority have welcomed President Abdurrahman Wahid's call to fight discrimination against their community.

All discriminative actions against Confucianism must end

President Wahid

President Wahid stressed that Indonesian Chinese should be allowed to keep their own names and to practise Confucianism.

During the Suharto era, Indonesia's Chinese - who make up 4% of the country's 200 million people - were not allowed to use the Chinese script or to promote their culture.

Some people are still afraid to say they practice Confucianism

Indonesian Chinese Ong Hok Ham

They were also forced to adopt Indonesian-sounding names, or else give up their citizenship.

"Just as with other believers, Confucius followers also have equal rights and opportunities in Indonesia... all discriminative actions against Confucianism must end," the president said during celebrations for Chinese New Year on Sunday.

Last week, the government declared the Chinese Lunar New Year - known locally as Imlek - as an optional state holiday for the first time.

Chinese targetted

Political lecturer Ong Hok Ham, one of a handful of Indonesian Chinese who openly use traditional names, said the president's call was a positive step toward reconciliation.

"I hope his comments will be heard and respected by everyone," he told the Associated Press news agency.

Soldiers kept watch at temples over the Lunar New Year in case of trouble

"Some people are still afraid to say they practice Confucianism."

The ethnic Chinese community has often been targeted during civil unrest, and a number of Chinese were raped and killed during riots in 1998.

Former President Suharto outlawed the teaching of Confucianist beliefs in 1967 after a bloody political transition in which the Chinese minority was targeted, along with leftists.

Memories are strong of the near genocidal killings of the 1960s, when hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered.

The violence then was nominally directed against suspected communists, but many ethnic Chinese were targeted because of their economic power.