Scores of Chinese-Indonesians legislative candidates and regional representative council candidates (DPD) will be adding new color to the country's political stage, The Jakarta Post reported Monday. 

Moving forward after 32 years of being deprived of their political rights, candidates of Chinese descent are determined not to miss a chance to participate in politics.

"This is not showing off, but I see the opportunity to fight for this country and for my province in more effective ways," Dr. Sofyan Tan, a DPD candidate from North Sumatra Province, was quoted as saying.

"I believe this is the right moment and an opportunity for me to get close to the center of power and make a difference," the doctor said.

Tan's name is familiar among people in the provincial capital of Medan, where he established a school for the poor in 1990. Thousands of children from different ethnic and religious backgrounds have studied at the school.

Tan is one of the 172 Chinese-Indonesians across the country running for office, either as legislative candidates or for DPD seats. Four of the 38 Jakarta DPD candidates are of Chinese descent.

It was former President Abdurrahman Wahid who took the initiative to end discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians and lift the ban against Chinese culture.

In the 1999 general election, only four Chinese-Indonesians won positions at the House of Representatives, including senior politician Kwik Kian Gie, now the state minister for national development planning.

Despite the new opportunity, noted politician Lieus Sungkarisma, also of Chinese descent, has warned these candidates that they could be used by the parties for funding.

"I am glad that they are willing to take the chance, but they have to remember that parties could be using them only to finance their campaign," Lieus said.

Lieus, who founded the Chinese-Indonesian Reform Party (Parti) ahead of the 1999 elections, however, cited the new phenomenon as encouraging. "Hopefully, in the next elections in 2009, we'll have even better Chinese-Indonesian candidates," he added. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2004)