My third ‘New Years’ of my year in Indonesia…

…And it has only been six months!  Chinese New Year fell on Valentines Day this year and with it came a plethora of red lanterns and banners around the city proclaiming Gong Xi Fa Cai.  Being the provincial capital and main city (i.e. only city, and that is using the term lightly) of Jambi province, the Chinese population densely compacted here.  My usual reliable source, Sumi, informed me that Chinese make up more than 50% of the city population, which is considerable since the whole of Jambi Province is 96% Muslim. 

The most visible change that came with this new holiday consisted of a prolific selling of long bamboo poles, boxes of oranges, and… beer!  When I first saw the rising stacks of Bintang six-packs in Jambi’s chain grocery store Hypermart I was a little taken aback at the unusual sight.  What could have motivated this one store in Jambi to sell beer in such a prominent display, let alone with it packed in amounts that could get you tipsy from?  Then the upcoming holiday dawned on me.  I just have to say, thank you to the Jambi Chinese, this is now my favorite new years celebration.

The actual holiday arrived with another surprising repercussion.  It is no secret that Chinese hold the economic power in Indonesia while Indonesians hold the political power.  This has, and continues to, create some tension and resentment between the two groups.  Despite this, I admit I felt unusual displeasure for the slight reason that an economic Chinese monopoly means that a large numbers of shops are closed on Chinese New Years.  Now I hold no grudges about the fact that I was not able to find a place open to use wireless this particular day, but I found it interesting that none of these shops were closed on the Islamic New Year back in December or the normal January 1^st New Years.