Sugiharti Halim (2008): A Cinematic Portrayal of Chinese Indonesian's Ambiguous Identity

Christina - Christina

doi:10.15294/rainbow.v10i2.47963

Abstract

Sugiharti Halim (2008) provides a cinematic insight into the lives of Chinese Indonesians whose identities are perpetually labeled as liyan (other) in the eyes of the inlanders (pribumi). It narrates the story of Sugiharti Halim, a Chinese Indonesian girl, who struggles with her Indonesian sounding name which, instead of successfully assimilating her Chinese identity, makes her even more Chinese than before. This study aims to investigate the cinematic portrayal of Chinese Indonesian’s ambiguous identity as experienced by the female protagonist. The writer employs close textual analysis of the indie film and approaches the issue by the reading of cinematic codes (mise en scene) and the theoretical perspective of name giving developed by Watzlawik in 2016. The conflict highlited in this “indie” criticizes the position of Chinese filmmaker for being pigeoholed on the ground of their ethnicity as portrayed in most commercial films which put Chinese more as a marginalized group. Therefore, the study reveals that films have become a new means of politicizing the interest of certain ethnic group which somehow puts the Chinese Indonesians in their most vulnerable position. The study also concludes that independent films help the young Chinese filmmakers to reconnect with their Chinese heritage as they begin to pick up bits of their Chineseness which were previously miscontrued by the inherited ideals of the New Order regime.

Highlights

The discourse on Chinese Indonesians has, from time to time, invoked numerous controversies over their ambiguous identities
In 1966, the leader of New Order regime, Suharto issued a presidential decree noted as follows: Indonesian citizens who still use Chinese names, and who wish to change their names to conform to indigenous Indonesian names, need p-ISSN: 2252-6323 e-ISSN: 2721-4540
Sugiharti Halim brilliantly captures the main character’s concern and discontentment over her silly sounding Indonesian name which situates her and fellow Chinese Indonesians in the most vulnerable position. This is especially highlighted by the use of montage sequences throughout the film, displaying fragments of ethnical prejudices and stereotypes and some artefacts of sentimental values to older generation of Chinese p-ISSN: 2252-6323 e-ISSN: 2721-4540

Summary

Introduction

The discourse on Chinese Indonesians has, from time to time, invoked numerous controversies over their ambiguous identities. Despite the laborious attempt to localize their Chinese identity, they are still labeled as “perpetual foreigner” due to the past ideologies inherited from the New Order regime in. They were, in every respect, restricted from their expression of Chineseness in all public domains namely schools, media, and most importantly their cultural practices (Hoon, 2017). Even the more contemporary box offices like Ernest Prakasa’s Ngenest (Thaniago, 2017) It is not until late 2008, that filmmakers began to portray the discourse of Chinese Indonesian in an honest way by means of a new filming medium of Independent film (Indies)

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