Indonesia to mark Chinese New Year

The president of Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri, has declared that Chinese lunar New Year will be a national holiday starting from next year.

Speaking at a lunar new year celebration, she said she had decided to declare the day a public holiday for the sake of national solidarity.

Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia have only been allowed to openly celebrate lunar New Year for two years.

Former President Suharto imposed a series of decrees banning the Chinese population from practising their religion or culture in 1967.

The government had blamed Chinese communists for an abortive coup attempt two years before that, which led to the killings of hundreds of thousands of people.

Correspondents say there is still much resentment against ethnic Chinese, who make up only about 5% of Indonesia's population, but control 80% of its wealth.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service