How is Tionghoa Ethnic's naming tradition?
September 30, 2019
In this time, I would like to write about naming
tradition of Tionghoa Ethnic, especially in Indonesia. When we talk about
Tionghoa Ethnic, it can’t escape from the history of Indonesia. Let’s throw
back to 1998’s incident, the incident when Tionghoa ethnic is threatened by
some people, that was such a scary situation. Beside that, the 1998’s incident
is also as the changing of Indonesia Government, from “Orde Baru” to
“Reformasi”.
Talking about “Orde Baru”, in this era, the
government requires the whole Tionghoa Ethnic in Indonesia to change their
names in order to be more “Indonesian”. This command’s purpose is to accelerate
the assimilation process between Tionghoa culture and Indonesia culture.
Out of that command,
then, how is actually Tionghoa Ethnic naming tradition?
The example is like Can San Tung, Ciong Tin Nio, and
Li Bun Hin. The words like Can, Ciong, and Li are some of family names. In some
case, people often assume that the Tionghoa people with similar family names are
related. But, in fact, it isn’t like that, the similar family names can happen
because the family name’s sound are resemble. So, for making sure that thing,
we need to learn their family trees.
Meanwhile the personal names are put after family
names. The personal names usually consist of two words like the example that I
mention before. But, there are several personal names that only consist of one
word like Liem Yanto, Oey Elok, Sim Hengki, and etc. In general, the personal
name that only consist of one word has suffered the assimilation culture. So,
for making personal names, Tionghoa Ethnic uses the names that common in our
society like Yanto and Hengki.
Turn back to the “Orde Baru” era, when the command
for Tionghoa Ethnic to change their names to be more ”Indonesian” is arised,
the unique thing happens. Mostly, Tionghoa Ethnic change their names, but their new names those
are used still show their old names.
The examples are Kan Liang Lie (Ramli Sukanta),
Oey Eng Min (Hamzah Wijaya), Oey Le Ing (Leni Wijaya), and etc. The reason why they
still insert their old names into their new names because they think, the two
elements, such as the family names and personal names have the history value,
so they still do the effort to defend their identity.
But, when the era is changed to be “Reformasi” era,
Tionghoa Ethnic is given the freedom to use or create the name for their
family. There isn’t the command that ask them, Tionghoa Ethnic, to change their
names to be more “Indonesian”.
In addition, actually, in Tionghoa traditions and
culture, there is the reason to change the names or family names that cause of
any factors that relates with fate, healthy, or fortune. It’s based on Fengshui calculations.
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Okay, I think it’s enough. But, all of you don’t
worry if you are too lazy to read this (I know that), because I also make the
video on my own youtube channel about naming tradition of Tionghoa Ethnic in
Indonesia. You can comment in this blog’s comment section below if you want to
give me some criticism or suggestion, I’m glad to know your criticism for me.
https://youtu.be/IhZU2YFEu1k (the link of naming tradition of Tionghoa Ethnic's video)
Sorry for any grammatical errors, I’m still
learning. Though I’m a college-student of English Education, but it doesn’t
mean that I’m expert in English and I won’t make any mistakes, no. Don’t expect
too much, please.
By the way, this post is dedicated for my
assignments of Post Intermediate Reading Subject ,thank you. (just fyi) J
References:
Wirawan, 2012, Penamaan pada Etnis Tionghoa Indonesia
[online] available at: https://www.kompasiana.com/,
2019 September 29
Lestari, 2018, Kerusuhan Mei 1998: “Apa salah kami sampai
(diancam) mau dibakar dan dibunuh?” [online] available at: https://www.bbc.com/, 2019 September 29
Tionghoa, 2015, Pergantian Nama dan Marga Tionghoa
[online] available at: https://www.tionghoa.info/,
2019 September 29
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