Year of the Pig

Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation, launched a special set of postal stamps to mark the Lunar New Year for the first time in its history.

But concerns over Muslim sensitivities led the postal service to drop plans to put a large pig on the stamps.

Instead, it chose an image of a Chinese temple on a red background surrounded by the 12 tiny signs of the Chinese Zodiac, including the pig, said Hana Suryana, director of PT Pos Indonesia.

"We took the middle path,'' he said, adding the decision was made after discussions with Muslim and Chinese leaders.

Ethnic Chinese make up about 5 percent of Indonesia's population of 220 million. Under the dictatorship of Suharto, which ended in 1998, the Chinese were subject to state discrimination and were prevented from celebrating the Lunar New Year.

"That has changed now, but we still feel uncomfortable celebrating the day in a large way because there are some people who cannot accept that Chinese culture is a part of Indonesian culture,'' said Jhony Tan, a trader in Jakarta's Chinatown, which was decked out with banners and bustling with shoppers.

Yusri Mohammad, president of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, said he had no problem with the Chinese celebrating the pig year in his country.

"The Year of the Pig is just a symbolic concept,'' he said.

"We shouldn't feel negative about it as long as the celebrations take into account Muslim sensitivities.'' - AP

Source