Do we embrace unity in diversity?
Thursday, March 29, 2007
I NEVER thought I would experience it on a street in Amsterdam; that all-too-familiar taunt Cina, pronounced like the English China. But it did happen to me and a Dutch friend as we walked down a street through the centre of this multicultural city. The two of us do look like we come from China, as the name-caller thought. We both have Chinese backgrounds: I am a Chinese-Indonesian whereas she is Dutch with parents who came from Hong Kong to the Netherlands decades ago.
I was surprised by the incident but I also found it hilarious, due to the low — at least, I thought — likelihood of experiencing name-calling not on a street in Bandung or Jakarta but somewhere in West Europe.
Unlike me, who laughed at the incident, my friend did not see the funny side of it. She, who was born and raised in Holland, told me she hated such name-calling, which she had apparently experienced many times.
"In big cities like Amsterdam, the name-callers are usually not Dutch (she means white Dutch). But in Maastricht (a small city where she grew up) most of them are (white) Dutch farmers, we call them farmers although they are not really farmers," she told me.
Later, I realised that if the same thing happened to me in Indonesia, my reaction would be more or less the same as hers. I would take it seriously and be slightly hurt, because if it happened in Indonesia, the experience would not be a one-time funny incident in a foreign country.
In other words, not something you would share with your friends, laughing over it while sipping coffee or knocking back beers. Like her, I think I would be presented with something like a lifetime problem — a commitment instead of a one-night stand.
This incident made me think more about migration and ethnic negotiation between migrants and their "hosts" around the world, well, at least in the Netherlands and in Indonesia. How different the negotiation process is and how similarly painful is the struggle, especially on the migrant side with the exception of a few cases like the American and Australian continents.
One thing I found out in the Netherlands is that the negotiation process between migrants and their hosts is no easier than anywhere else in the world. In Holland there are ethnic groups that are considered "problematic" like the Turks and the Moroccans and there are those who are "invisible", like Asians.
This invisibility misleads the public to think that Asians have no identity or citizenship problem in Holland. When the Dutch public talk about migrants, or, in Dutch, allochtone, they are mostly referring to Turks, Moroccans and Surinamese.
Dismissing the Asian group as a non-issue, I think, is a mistake. There is the notion that so long as the allochtone keep out of trouble, as most Asians do, there will be no serious problems, no discrimination, no conflicts. This suggests the "problematic" ethnic groups should stop making problems — like maintaining their relatively low-level of education, asking for a mosque, or being poorer than the rest of the population — if they want to be welcomed with open arms that is.
Indeed, compared to the "problematic" ethnic groups, Asians are well-off, fare better in education, contribute less to crime statistics and hardly ever ask for a particular worship place. However, still, not all members of the host society appreciate this low-profile approach.
"Sometimes Dutch people say ni hao ("how are you" in Chinese) to me on the street. They say it's a polite greeting. But I know better, it's mocking," my friend once told me.
This is only one example of how Chinese people feel they are not really welcome in the Netherlands. The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
I was surprised by the incident but I also found it hilarious, due to the low — at least, I thought — likelihood of experiencing name-calling not on a street in Bandung or Jakarta but somewhere in West Europe.
Unlike me, who laughed at the incident, my friend did not see the funny side of it. She, who was born and raised in Holland, told me she hated such name-calling, which she had apparently experienced many times.
"In big cities like Amsterdam, the name-callers are usually not Dutch (she means white Dutch). But in Maastricht (a small city where she grew up) most of them are (white) Dutch farmers, we call them farmers although they are not really farmers," she told me.
Later, I realised that if the same thing happened to me in Indonesia, my reaction would be more or less the same as hers. I would take it seriously and be slightly hurt, because if it happened in Indonesia, the experience would not be a one-time funny incident in a foreign country.
In other words, not something you would share with your friends, laughing over it while sipping coffee or knocking back beers. Like her, I think I would be presented with something like a lifetime problem — a commitment instead of a one-night stand.
This incident made me think more about migration and ethnic negotiation between migrants and their "hosts" around the world, well, at least in the Netherlands and in Indonesia. How different the negotiation process is and how similarly painful is the struggle, especially on the migrant side with the exception of a few cases like the American and Australian continents.
One thing I found out in the Netherlands is that the negotiation process between migrants and their hosts is no easier than anywhere else in the world. In Holland there are ethnic groups that are considered "problematic" like the Turks and the Moroccans and there are those who are "invisible", like Asians.
This invisibility misleads the public to think that Asians have no identity or citizenship problem in Holland. When the Dutch public talk about migrants, or, in Dutch, allochtone, they are mostly referring to Turks, Moroccans and Surinamese.
Dismissing the Asian group as a non-issue, I think, is a mistake. There is the notion that so long as the allochtone keep out of trouble, as most Asians do, there will be no serious problems, no discrimination, no conflicts. This suggests the "problematic" ethnic groups should stop making problems — like maintaining their relatively low-level of education, asking for a mosque, or being poorer than the rest of the population — if they want to be welcomed with open arms that is.
Indeed, compared to the "problematic" ethnic groups, Asians are well-off, fare better in education, contribute less to crime statistics and hardly ever ask for a particular worship place. However, still, not all members of the host society appreciate this low-profile approach.
"Sometimes Dutch people say ni hao ("how are you" in Chinese) to me on the street. They say it's a polite greeting. But I know better, it's mocking," my friend once told me.
This is only one example of how Chinese people feel they are not really welcome in the Netherlands. The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
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